11 WEEKS PREGNANT

Your Pregnancy: Week 11
Pregnancy is about indulging and abstaining, all at once. You'll be saying both, "Oooh, another scoop of ice cream? Sure, make it two!" and "No wine. Just water for me, thanks." You have 29 weeks of this all-or-nothing living to go, so focus on the perks (whipped cream, chocolate sauce and a cherry, anyone?) and think how great all the stuff you can't do now will be when you can do it later.

Wondering what's up with your body, your baby and your life this week? Read on ...

What You're Thinking:

"I am not crazy for crying like a little girl during the cheerleading championship on ESPN. Those girls work hard!"

Your Body
Finally the excuse "Not tonight honey, I have a headache" is legit! Thanks to all the new and extreme hormones surging through your body, many women experience increased headaches while pregnant. And since you're limited in which pain relievers you can take while pregnant, getting rid of a nasty headache may be especially difficult.

While acetaminophen (like Tylenol) is considered safe during pregnancy, other pain relievers like ibuprofen should be avoided. If you want to avoid taking any medication, there are a few alternative headache remedies, like cold compresses and exercise, that can help.

Unfortunately, women who have a tendency to get migraines tend to get more of them during pregnancy. Talk to your doctor if you're having trouble coping.

Your Baby
All of your baby's vital organs are now formed and functioning, so the risk of defects decreases this week as your baby becomes less susceptible to outside influences. Phew! Other exciting developments include:

Baby's ears are assuming their proper place this week and the fingernail and toenail beds are beginning to form. Your little "pumpkin head" really lives up to his nickname as his head is nearly as big as the rest of his body.

While testes or ovaries are completely formed now, don't start decorating the nursery. You won't be able to see your baby's gender for a few more weeks yet.

Your baby is really on the move now. In an ultrasound you might be able to see your little acrobat flailing his or her arms and legs and doing somersaults worthy of Cirque du Soleil. You still won't be able to feel any movement, so if you feel something "kick" in there, it's probably gas.

In the next nine weeks, your baby will increase 30 times in weight and almost triple in length. You might feel like you're increasing 30 times in weight at this point, too, but we can assure you're not—because, honey, you ain't seen nothin' yet!

Your baby now weighs a third of an ounce, about the same as two small, Starbucks-sized packets of sugar, is about 2 inches long, the length of one of those sugar packets. Isn't that sweet?

Your Life
When your future son or daughter brings home the love of his or her life, you'll be so glad you bought a digital camcorder to record every embarrassing thing he or she ever did.

Plan before you plunk down your money. It's a big buy, and you'll want this one to last for years. Scan online reviews of cameras you're considering, to see what others think.

Once you make a purchase, try out the new goods by recording a great day spent in the city or a mini-vacation that you and your partner are going to take.

Got lots of new videos to share? Post them in your LifeBook, where you can document your pregnancy (and soon, baby's life!) for your family and friends.

10 WEEKS PREGNANT

Your Pregnancy: Week 10
The roller coaster of nausea may almost be over, but the roller coaster of emotions (happy, sad, crying, mad; and that's all in the last 30 seconds) is just revving up. No one will understand why Friends reruns are making you cry, so don't bother trying to explain it.

Wondering what's up with your body, your baby and your life this week? Read on ...

What You're Thinking:

"Only 30 more weeks until I can eat raw fish and drink sake again."

Your Body
The hormones raging through your body can wreak havoc on your emotional sanity, so be prepared to spend the next few months swinging from one end of the emotional pendulum to the other. If you're feeling especially sad or depressed, talk to your doctor because prenatal depression is actually quite common.

Simple changes in exercise and diet have been proven to help women control depressive feelings. But if little things like sad songs and sappy commercials make you cry, don't worry, you're not alone. Wacky emotions can be chalked up to pregnancy hormones. So go ahead and blubber your way through Celine's greatest hits. It's OK.

Your Baby
By the end of Week 10, your baby graduates from embryo to fetus, which literally means "little one." It also translates to "I'm just going to keep getting bigger and bigger and so are you!" Other highlights this week:

Your baby has finally morphed from a little tadpole into, well, a baby. Not only is the face more human-like, but that unflattering "tail" (really just the developing spinal cord) has disappeared, fusing into the spinal column.

Your baby now has discernible fingers and toes, which will explain the steady stream of kicks and punches you'll feel down the line.

Junior's skeleton is starting to grow and harden. The ears are beginning to take shape and the eyelids are no longer transparent. Tooth buds are forming, although your baby won't get any teeth until six or seven (or eight or nine or 10) months after birth.

Baby's brain will make an incredible 25,000 new neurons every minute this week. While you may feel like you're losing as many as he's gaining, we can assure you it's not permanent. "Pregnancy brain," like nausea and bloating, is a temporary symptom that soon shall pass. (And then you'll get "Mommy brain," but we won't go there now.)

If you're baby is a boy, he's started producing that macho hormone testosterone. And whether your baby is a boy or a girl, the kidneys are creating copious amounts of urine. Lucky for you, you won't have to change a diaper for another 30 weeks.

Baby weighs only 4 grams and measures 1½ inches, about the size of a mondo Brazil nut.

Your Life
Ok, blah blah blah about the health stuff, let's talk about decorating the nursery! Thirty more weeks may seem like eons, but it might take that long to clean out the soon-to-be baby's room.

Start by painting—you'll want enough time pre-baby for the fumes to have dissipated. If you can afford it, try using low-volatile organic compounds (VOC) paints, which are much safer for pregnant women and children.

Also make sure to check for the presence of any existing toxic lead paint in your home, since safe removal methods are essential for you and your baby's health.

Don't want to spend time painting or wallpapering the joint or worried that you'll be sick of those little yellow duckies you painted on the wall in about two months? Try Blik's awesome wall decals. Totally easy to apply and remove.

Start a search for the most comfortable chair you can find for the nursery. And make sure you love it ... you'll be spending almost as much time there as you do in your bed once the baby comes.

9 WEEKS PREGNANT

Your Pregnancy: Week 9
If you've never kept a journal, do yourself a favor and start one today! Because despite the fact that your pregnancy is literally all you can think about right now, as soon as the delivery is over, you'll barely remember what it was like being pregnant (except maybe those weeks you spent with your head in the toilet). Plus, keeping a diary will help you appreciate all that amazing work your bod is doing. If you're going to spend nine months performing a miracle, you might as well document it.

Wondering what's up with your body, your baby and your life this week? Read on ...

What You're Thinking:

"I don't look pregnant but I do look like I just had ... ahem ... enhancement surgery!"

Your Body
At about this time, you may look more like a Victoria's Secret model than a pregnant woman. One of the perks, or downsides, depending on the letter bra you started with, is a new, more voluptuous chest. Get used to it. Chances are your boobs will grow even more—and that's even before your milk has come in!

Your partner may be fired up about your new curvy shape, but along with an increase in size, you're probably experiencing breast soreness and tenderness. That means it's lookie but no touchie, partner.

Don't worry if you notice lumpy breasts or changes in your areola. These are normal changes (even if you think they look abnormal).

Enjoy your new chest while it lasts (or don't worry ... it isn't permanent). After pregnancy and nursing, your breast size will most likely return to its pre-pregnancy proportions.

Your Baby
Big news! You may be able to hear the heartbeat this week with the help of a Doppler, an ultrasound device that captures the chug-a-chug sound of baby's heart. The first time you hear baby's heart, your own heart may skip a beat—it's the first real evidence that there's someone growing inside you! If you can't hear the heartbeat, no worries, your doc will just check again in a few weeks. Other amazing developments this week:

Baby is beginning to move, but you won't be able to feel anything for some time.

Baby is growing nipples and hair follicles (although there's still a chance you'll be giving birth to a baldy!) His pancreas, gallbladder, bile ducts and anus are all in place, ready to poop and pee a dozen times a day when he's born. Your baby's head is half the size of his body and his little chin is tucked into his chest. His tiny tail is beginning to shrink away, giving Junior a more human and less amphibious look.

Until now, all pre-babies look the same "down there." This week, however, your baby will begin to develop either male or female genitalia. In layman terms, your baby is beginning to develop her hoo-ha or his wee-wee. While you won't be able to find out the gender of your baby for several more weeks, the version you'll give birth to is being developed right now.

At this stage, your developing fetus is 1-inch in length, about the size of a martini olive (you remember martinis, don't you?) and weighs a mere 2 grams—a little less than a penny.

Your Life
It takes a rocket scientist to understand health care in America, so unless you are one, ask your health insurance provider to explain your coverage to you as if you were a small child.

Don't currently have health insurance? Ask your employer (or your partner's) if they offer a COBRA plan, a government program that mandates coverage during your maternity leave.

Since dealing with insurance agents can break you like a horse, write your questions down ahead of time and study up on choosing a health plan. Be sure to check on coverage for both you and your baby.

You know that little black dress you love, love, love, but don't get to wear very often? Make a hot date with your partner and plan to wear it now, before your body morphs and it's another year before you're able to slip into it again.

8 WEEKS PREGNANT

Your Pregnancy: Week 8
Your growing baby is six weeks old, thanks to the fuzzy math of pregnancy. This fuzzy math is also responsible for the widely believed notion that pregnancy is only nine months long, when in actuality it's closer to 10. Who comes up with this stuff? Obviously a man.

Wondering what's up with your body, your baby and your life this week? Read on...

What You're Thinking:
"If I have to smell my coworker's tuna salad sandwich for one more second, I am going to lose my cookies. Wait, did someone say cookies?"

Your Body
You know you need to take your prenatal vitamins in order to assure proper growth and nutrition for your little one, yet every time you swallow the thing, it comes right back up thanks to your woozy stomach. Don't panic:

First, try popping prenatal vitamins at night or with food. Having something in your stomach to help absorb those horse pills can sometimes help.

Iron is important, but it's also a common cause of nausea. Ask your doc about a vitamin with less iron, or try a liquid or chewable form that might help with the queasiness.

If you're still barfing after that, check and see if your obstetrician can prescribe you a vitamin that is specifically formulated for women with severe nausea.

Your Baby
This week, your little tadpole is starting to look a little bit more human. Other exciting developments include:

Your baby's eyelids, ears, upper lip and the tip of his soon-to-be adorable button nose are forming.

Junior will also sprout webbed fingers and toes this week—which you'll be well aware of in a few months, as baby starts early gymnastics classes inside you.

Baby's tiny heart has separated into four distinct chambers and is really ticking now—at a rate of 150 beats per minute. That's more than twice your resting heart rate (even when Brad Pitt is on the screen).

Your baby is now a little more than ½ inch long, about the size of the rock in Eva Longoria's engagement ring, and is about as heavy as the check Tony Parker wrote to pay for it.

Your Life
Start to think about lining up the medical professionals that are going to help you through this experience: your gynecologist or OB, doula, midwife or lay midwife. This is one of the most important decisions you'll make, so do your research and take your time interviewing.

While you're seeking professional help, why not consider finding a prenatal yoga or fitness class, or a nutrition class that specializes in prenatal noshing.

Schedule a prenatal massage or a facial now. If you love it, consider buying a package deal. You can often get a discount when you book several at once—and then use them up throughout your pregnancy.

7 WEEKS PREGNANT

Your Pregnancy: Week 7
If you're one of the "lucky" pregnant women to experience morning sickness (a poorly named symptom of pregnancy as it can strike at any time of the day), remember that it won't last forever. Most of the wooziness tapers off by the second trimester. Of course, mental wooziness can affect you throughout your pregnancy, as you think of your growing to-do list, or wonder about how you're life will change, or worry if you'll know how to handle it all. Luckily, the cure for that wooziness is laying your eyes on your new baby.

Wondering what's up with your body, your baby and your life this week? Read on ...

What You're Thinking:
"How can I feel like I'm hung over all day long when I've had nothing to drink in three weeks?"

Your Body
You're supposed to be "eating for two" but instead, it's hard for you to swallow water. As a result, you're "praying to the porcelain god for two." Morning sickness can leave a pregnant chick exhausted, weak and wondering what on earth she got herself into. Don't throw in the towel just yet, here's how to cope:

There are a whole bunch of tricks that pregnant women swear help to reduce nausea caused by morning sickness ... such as sucking on lemon drops or any other hard candy.

Sometimes certain foods can help relieve the symptoms of morning sickness. Also, blaming your partner for everything has been known to comfort many women in the throes of nausea.

Even if you're experiencing frequent vomiting, try not to worry, as your baby needs very little nourishment this early in the pregnancy. Good thing, since all you've eaten today is two boxes of saltines.

If you're noticing weight loss or dehydration, you could have hyperemesis gravidarum, a severe form of morning sickness that occurs very infrequently. Check with your doctor.

Your Baby
This week your baby's brain is growing at a mind-boggling 100 cells per minute within a see-through skull. If you could peer inside, you'd see those tiny brain cells growing and growing and growing (about as quickly as you feel like yours are shrinking and shrinking and shrinking with your "pregnancy brain"!). More high points include:

Your baby's face is becoming more defined this week. A tiny mouth hole (which will be ready to wail before you know it!), tongue, nostrils and ear indentations are visible. His or her eyes are wide open, but he doesn't have irises (the colored part) yet.

Baby's arm buds are growing. At this point they look more like microscopic ping-pong paddles than arms. Baby's leg buds are also forming and will look like tiny paddles by the end of the week.

The umbilical cord—the connection between your baby and the placenta—is now visible.

Your baby is now between 1/3 and 1/4 inch long—about the length of a Tic Tac and about as heavy as an eyelash. While that sounds tiny, he or she is approximately 10,000 times bigger than at conception. Crazy, huh?

6 WEEKS PREGNANT

Your Pregnancy:
Week 6While you won't be able to find out the gender of your baby for several more weeks, the version you'll give birth to is being determined right now. Of course, your mother-in-law already knows it'll be a boy. And your sister is sure that it's a girl. And the medical expert that is your 5-year-old nephew says it's absolutely a boy (and if it's a girl, he doesn't want anything to do with it). Isn't it wonderful how clairvoyant people are?

Wondering what's up with your body, your baby and your life this week? Read on ...

What You're Thinking:
"If I put my head in my hands and stare down at my desk, it'll look like I'm working really hard and nobody will know I'm actually sleeping."

Your Body
You may be feeling super-tired or nauseous (or super-tired and nauseous—lucky you!) and your boobs are most likely killing you. This is due to the myriad of hormones raging through your body at levels rivaling a teenage boy's.

If you can't stay awake for the second half of Grey's Anatomy, blame it on the baby. Extreme exhaustion is often one of the first signs of pregnancy, and while your body will probably regain some of its strength by the time you enter your second trimester, you might find yourself nodding off during Dr. McDreamy's love scenes ... or worse, yours!

Constant exhaustion can really wear you down, so make sure to rest up. That means skipping Letterman.

If you're feeling like you're living in a pregnancy-induced fog, try natural remedies for fatigue.

Even though it's the last thing you want to hear right now, moderate exercise is a great way to help tackle exhaustion. Try short walks, gentle stretching or a prenatal yoga class to help boost your energy.

Your Baby
This week starts a period of rapid cellular development for your baby-to-be, who looks like a mini tadpole, with a tiny head and tail. His or her eyes, ears and mouth have begun to form (though they're a little more Discovery Channel "creatures of the sea" documentary than Gerber Baby at this point).

Other exciting milestones include:

Your baby's heart is now beating to a regular beat, although it's still too faint to hear.

His or her arm buds are just beginning to, well, bud. They look like teensy swollen bumps at this point. In a few days, they'll resemble itsy-bitsy flippers.

Your baby has grown to ⅛ inch long—about the size of one of the chocolate sprinkles on your last cupcake (and your last ice cream cone, and your last sundae and your last giant cookie ... maybe there is something to those rumors about pregnancy cravings!).

Your Life
We hate to bring up the drudgery of finances (it's so much more fun to talk about little baby socks and little baby fingers, and how to decorate the nursery, and the rocking shower your best friend will throw for you), but it's never too early to think about budgeting and saving money.

Grandparents want to help? Invite them to start a 529 plan while you focus on more immediate concerns like creating a household budget for the first year.

Want to get an idea of the big money picture? Check out some cold, hard facts on the cost of raising children. Just keep in mind that it happens one day at a time, so don't let all the number crunching overwhelm you.

Once you find out how much junior will cost you, you might be tempted to curb your latte habit in an effort to save the $4.25 you cough up daily. But don't. The simple pleasure of getting your overpriced coffee—alone—and sipping it while reading the paper—alone—will be worth a lot more than you'll ever know in 34 weeks.