Louise Broadbridge
Louise Broadbridge
Pregnancy Week 6

Angry Bear?

If you feel a bit grumpier and more irritable than usual, don’t worry, you’re not alone. All this extra work that your body is doing growing a person may be making you a little, teeny, tiny bit moody. Hormones can play havoc with our moods but hang in there, it will settle down soon.  In addition, if you already know you are pregnant, that in itself is a huge event so emotions are understandably a little wobbly! Breathe! It’s all good. Maybe reassure your other half that the lovely, mild mannered you, WILL return!

At six weeks, many of your pregnancy symptoms will start kicking in if they haven’t already. You are likely to feel very tired and may be experiencing morning sickness – don’t be fooled by the name as the nausea can last all day!

You will often find the sickness is at its worst when you first wake up in the morning. Although eating will probably be the last thing you want to do, it will often make you feel better so keep a plain snack by your bed – nibbling on ginger biscuits before you get up can really help.

Instead of trying to stick to three main meals a day, eat little and often. Eating six smaller meals in a day can help. You may also want to try some other remedies like eating ginger, sucking ice cubes or wearing acupressure bands designed for travel sickness. If your nausea is really severe and you are finding it hard to keep food and water down, let your midwife know.

Other early pregnancy symptoms which might be an issue at six weeks include:

  • A metallic taste in your mouth
  • Needing to urinate more often than usual
  • Tender and sore breasts
  • Noticing the smell of things much more than before
  • A change in food preferences, including going off things you usually love
  • Headaches
  • A white milky vaginal discharge
  • Cramping which feels similar to period pains
  • Feeling bloated

What does my baby look like at 6 weeks?

Your little one resembles a sea horse at the moment (don’t worry – by week 40 they will be ready to get 1st place in the baby show!). The embryo is 6mm long, about the same size as a pea or baked bean. Their head is large and if you had a view inside, you would be able to make out little dark spots where the eyes are beginning to form. Small buds are in place where the arms and legs are taking shape and there are little indents where your baby’s ears will be. Your baby now has a thin layer of transparent skin.

Beating at between 100 and 160 times per minute, their heart is already working fast and their internal organs such as intestines are being created. It would sometimes be possible for a medical professional to hear their heartbeat at this stage during a vaginal ultrasound scan. However, detecting a heartbeat can be challenging so early in the pregnancy and vaginal scans are usually only given to women who have conceived through IVF treatment.

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