11th Week of Pregnancy – Early symptoms of pregnancy start to wane

The past weeks of pregnancy has given you a roller coaster ride of various symptoms that you think would never end. The good news is that all the early symptoms of pregnancy that you have been experiencing from the 5^th to 10^th week will start to decline. This means that you’ll be spared from nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and fatigue.

Other symptoms may persist including heartburn, indigestion, and constipation. But, you’ll feel more energetic now as your appetite will soon return once your food aversion wane. By this time, you and your growing baby need more nourishment. That’s why you should consume nutritious foods for your baby. You should also expect to gain pounds as the pregnancy advances.

Baby’s development

At the 11^th week of pregnancy, the normal weight of the baby is 7 grams or 10.25 ounce and about 1.75 inches long. The size looks like a lime or your thumb and appears more like a human.

The toes and fingers were completely separated and developed. Likewise, the bones are becoming firm, but the skin remains transparent. During this stage the baby becomes active, but isn’t enough for you to feel the movement.

The organs continue to grow and form. In fact, some of them start to do their functions like the kidneys. In the coming weeks, your baby will grow quickly. That’s why there’s a need for sufficient supply of nutrients and oxygen. The ears that initially positioned in the neck will move to the side of the head where it is should be.

Body changes

The bump starts to be visible along with gaining weight. Still, the increase in hormones greatly affects your body. Although the early pregnancy symptoms start to disappear, but you should anticipate that other symptoms prevail including the following:

• Slow digestion – During pregnancy the gastrointestinal tract relaxed due to the hormones, thus digestion slows down. The slowing down of digestion is beneficial to the baby because the nutrients from the food you eat absorbed into the bloodstream. However, it may cause embarrassing moment and discomfort to you because you may not control to fart or burp.
• Stress incontinence – A pregnant woman may experience stress incontinence that causes inability to control wetting whenever you sneeze, cough, or laugh out loud. It’s because the sphincter muscles weakened, thus the bladder is unable to control the release of urine. The increase of pressure in your bladder makes it squeezed and eliminates the urine.
• Backache – At this stage of pregnancy, you may start to feel backache because the growing uterus will put pressure and strain on muscles supporting the pelvic region and lower back. To prevent backache, the best thing to do is to lean backward that helps to maintain balance.
• Urinary tract infection – A pregnant woman is more prone to urinary tract infection because the uterus is situated on top of the bladder. In contrast with stress incontinence, when the urethra and bladder are pressed by the growing uterus, it will prevent draining the urine completely that will lead to urinary tract infection.

What to do

Strengthening the pelvic floor muscles is important to prevent experiencing stress incontinence. Likewise, it will also help a lot throughout the pregnancy and during labor. By doing Kegel exercise can make the pelvic floor muscles strong.

If you’re doing a desk job while pregnant, you should ensure to maintain a good posture while sitting to prevent back pain. Take time to stretch occasionally and use pillows when you sit on a chair or when you sleep.

Above all, always eat healthy and nutritious foods and follow doctor’s advice to ensure healthy and safe pregnancy.