Week Eleven

Your Baby's Development

From this week until week 20, your baby will be growing rapidly — increasing in size from about 2 inches (5 cm) to about 8 inches (20 cm) from crown to rump. To accommodate all this growth, the blood vessels in the placenta are increasing in both size and number to provide the baby with more nutrients.

Facial development continues as the ears move toward their final position on the sides of the head. If you saw a picture of your baby now, you'd think you had a genius on your hands — the baby's head accounts for about half of the body length!

Although your baby's reproductive organs are developing rapidly, the external genitals of boys and girls appear somewhat similar until the end of week 11. They will be clearly differentiated by week 14.

Your Body

Nourishing your baby usually requires that you gain weight — and in most cases, the recommended weight gain is 25 to 35 pounds (11.33 to 15.87 kg) over the course of the pregnancy. If you were overweight or underweight before pregnancy, your health care provider may have different recommendations for weight gain.