Week 6 of Pregnancy (Trimester 1 of Preganancy)

With AJ away the week is a little bit busier for me, taking Rosie to and from school and her various extra-curricular activities. I have to hide my research materials (pregnancy & birth books) and remember that this is all a big secret! When AJ phones from America it is all I can do not to spill the beans about little Blackberry (my name for the little life growing inside me)!

In the meantime, so many changes are going on inside my uterus! The embryo has a rudimentary brain and a bump for the head. The heart is developing, including a tiny tube only 0.5mm, which helps to drive blood around the embryo through its own blood vessels which have also formed. A string of these connect the embryo to the mother, and will become the umbilical cord. By the end of this week, the embryo will have a bloodstream with a functioning circulation.

The embryo doesn’t have a face yet – only thickenings were the eyes will be, and dimples on each side of the head which will become ears. Because the blocks of tissue that make up the back of the embryo are developing faster than the ones at the front, the embryo grows in a curved shape. There are bumps forming on the body which will become muscles and bones. At the corners, limb buds start to form, with the lower part looking like a tail – some books describe the embryo at this stage as resembling a sea horse. And this little miracle only measures 6mm long.