Pregnancy week 9

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This the 9th week of my pregnancy.
Sticky Bean has graduated from embryo to foetus this week.  According to Babycentre.co.uk:

By the end of this week, the foetus measures about 2.3cm in length and weighs less than 2g. The eyelids, now completely covering the eyes, are fused and won’t open until week 26. Tiny earlobes are now visible.
The essential body parts are accounted for, though they’ll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Already the foetus looks more like a tiny human being. The wrists are more developed, the ankles have formed, and the fingers and toes are clear to see. Arms are growing longer and bend at the elbows. Now that the basic physiology is in place, the foetus is poised for rapid weight gain.
Though it’s not yet possible to tell the sex of the feotus by ultrasound, the genitals have begun to form. By now the placenta has developed enough to support most of the important job of producing hormones. The placenta is also making nutrients for the foetus and getting rid of the waste products.

Through all this, I have been feeling more sick. In fact, I don’t remember feeling this bad with the previous two pregnancies. The first one was rough in the beginning, but I never throw up. This week I have had to run to the little girls’ room a number of times. It has been very tiring. I can’t even begin to imagine how exhausting it can be for those with more severe forms of morning sickness, throwing up several times a day or even with every bite or drop of food!  A condition called Hyperemesis gravidarum)

Most nights I am in bed by 8pm or just fall asleep infront of the TV on the sofa. We went out for fireworks night to friends and I just fell asleep there, sitting on the sofa. Highly embarrassing! (Though I have to add I was out the night before celebrating a friend’s birthday till midnight… only made possible by a bar of chocolate and a cup of coffee in the afternoon. So I think falling asleep on the sofa partly a result of a shorter sleep the night before.)

I have also had a horrible cold this week. Thankfully I discovered Sterimar, which is a natural sea salt nasal spray. This has been a lifesaver! I was just starting to get bad headaches from blocked sinuses, when I started using it. It’s totally safe in pregnancy and there is a version of it for newborns- Sterimar Baby ( It is 100% natural, non-medicated, it has no preservatives or additives, it can also be used on its own or with other medications as long and as often as required). Being absolutely paranoid in these first few months, I actually used Sterimar Baby, it’s so pure that there are definitely no nasties in it.

The coughs have been often accompanied by lower tummy cramps. After a call into my GP, she doesn’t seem to think this is anything to worry about. Although she has offered to do a urine test to check for infections.

My midwife appointment is next week and the ultrasound a week later. I can hardly wait for both of those, especially the ultrasound. It has been on my mind a lot: As I am close to 40, the risks of genetic defects are higher. With two healthy children already, I run through scenarios of what I will do if we find something not quite right….I know, I’m probably just torturing myself unnecessarily.

Despite feeling tired, cranky and ill, I have also had an extreme nesting instinct: I have been looking into building a house. See we have a small plot at the back of our garden, over which I’ve been vacillating whether it’s a worthwhile investment to build on for the past two years. I guess it’s the combination of winter setting in and the pregnancy; I have had my judgement totally skewed towards build, build, build!  I am trying to resist and, luckily, I have two great men around me- Oh-so-lovely-daddy and my cousin- who are talking sense into me.

I think I will try to channel the nesting urge into making some lined curtains and do some baking instead. (I have already rearranged the living room and the playroom.)

Do you think it will work? Maybe some timely Christmas preparations too?

.Missed week 8?