12 Weeks Pregnant

12 Weeks Pregnant Podcast 🎧

Baby at 12 Weeks Pregnant 🚼

Your little sugar plum is about 2 ½ inches long now. And believe it or not, many of her vital organs and major systems have formed, so the next few months are all about growth.

Some of those organs, however, are on the move. Strange as it sounds, baby’s intestines have spent the last few weeks hanging outside of her body—in the umbilical cord, of all places! Until now, there just wasn’t enough room in her tiny tummy to accommodate all those folds of tissue.

Baby’s central nervous system is maturing, too, so she may react in utero to loud noises or sudden movements. She's also practicing things like opening and closing her mouth, wiggling her toes, as well as her sucking reflex!

You at 12 Weeks Pregnant 🚺

Hopefully your morning sickness is starting to wane, which means your appetite may be kicking back into gear. (YAY!)

And right about now you might be wondering what happened to your waistline. It’s common to start feeling... thicker through the middle at this point, even though you may be weeks away from developing a true baby bump.

If your clothes are getting snug, you might be ready to invest in what I consider a crucial component of any mama’s wardrobe: yoga pants. Or, if you need a more polished look: leggings. If you work outside the home, maternity pants are a great option.

But I do hope you're not too worried about having the perfect pregnancy diet or having the perfect pregnancy weight gain, because there just isn't one "right" way to do either. The most important thing is to listen to your body and trust the process. As long as you aren't craving Ding Dongs, you can generally trust the foods your body is telling you to eat.

You also don't need to fret about the scale. (I remember freaking out about my 10-pound first trimester weight gain, only to have it level out and be just fine.) Our bodies really do know what they're doing, so make good food choices, get some regular exercise, and don't sweat the rest!

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