9 Weeks Pregnant: Your Complete Development Guide

Dive into the specifics of your baby’s development and the changes you’re experiencing at nine weeks in.

Nine weeks pregnant, it’s a week in which you’ll wonder where your waist went and your baby’s doing somersaults.

This far into your pregnancy, your little one is as big as a cherry! Dive into the specifics of your baby’s development and the maternal changes you may experience in the detailed information below …

Your body at nine weeks pregnant

You probably won’t look any different to other people, but your waist is thickening so clothes may begin to feel tight.

Turn down the heat

Feeling hot these days? That’s because all your organs are working harder during your pregnancy to support both you and your growing baby. In particular, your heart is pumping increased blood volume around your circulation. This increased circulation makes you feel much warmer and you’ll feel uncomfortable in a warm room or in hot weather. Drink plenty of water and wear layers of clothes that you can peel off when you get too hot.

Relax – don’t do it!

You’re bound to be feeling very tired during these weeks. Don’t feel you have to rush about as normal. Accept that you’re pregnant and that until you get into your second trimester you’re going to have less energy. Try to relax and leave the normal chores till later or pass them on to somebody else!

Your baby at nine weeks pregnant

Your baby continues to grow rapidly and now measures about 3cm. All its major organs are now in place and the rest of the pregnancy is spent developing them and putting on weight.

Move on up

Your baby is enjoying more and more movement. She can bend her arms and legs, stretch out her whole body, turn her head from side to side, roll around and somersault. She may occasionally make a startled, jerky movement, spreading out her arms and legs, as a newborn does.

Each new movement is as much a natural process of her development as the growing of organs and are vital for the healthy development of her joints and muscles. She’ll probably spend a couple of minutes of intense activity before taking a little rest and then starting off again!

Learning to breathe

Obviously your baby is going to have to know how to breathe as soon as she is born, so she’s getting into practise now. Her lungs are developing with each week and her diaphragm is starting to work, expanding and contracting a few times each hour, eventually enabling her to breathe air in and out when she’s born. For now, she’s taking in and washing out small amounts of amniotic fluid. 

And, although you won’t be feeling them, she quite often hiccups for a few minutes at a time, although experts still aren’t sure why!