Pregnancy Week By Week – Week 12

As a first time to-be-mother, pregnancy was a completely new experience for me. I had a lot of questions and was fondling to understand the changes taking place in my body. I was equally worried about the growth of my baby inside my womb.

With this blog series, “Pregnancy Week By Week”, I hope to extend a helping hand to all expecting parents by telling you about my journey.

There might be some things that you would be able to relate to and would even give you solace to know that someone went through the exact same thing as you. Hope I’m able to help!

Disclaimer – This is entirely my personal experience. The intent of the blog is not to advice but only to share. Any medication, medical examinations, dietary intake or exercise, mentioned in this blog, were prescribed as per my pregnancy and my body. Please do not perform these without consulting your medical adviser.

Changing Body Dimensions in Week 12 of Pregnancy

Pregnancy Week 12 marks the end of first trimester of pregnancy and it has been a week of contradictions. On one hand I see that my weight has reduced even more but on the other hand there are certain parts of my body which have expanded.

I lost another 500 gms and I now stand at 50.1 kgs. I do plan to discuss this continued weight loss in my upcoming doctor’s visit next week.

However, my belly has grown and I cannot differentiate whether I am showing or is it only bloated. Either way, I’m limited to what I can wear as bottoms.

Thanks to the Indian Salwar or Harem Pants that come with a drawstring, I’m still able to breathe. They are super comfortable and you can adjust them easily depending on how large you are feeling. It’s a use case I had never thought for this ethnic wear!

The other body part that has certainly grown are my boobs!

On the lighter side, they’ve become so huge that I feel like my breasts reach a room much before I do, almost as if they are there to announce my arrival. If PT Usha had my boobs, she would have had no problem in winning the race, she probably would have been on the finish line even before starting!

Pregnancy Symptoms Easing Down by Week 12 of Pregnancy

Week 12 of pregnancy came with a bit of relief in terms of my pregnancy symptoms. Along with a natural decline in symptoms, my guess is that because the dosage for HUCOG 5000 IU hormonal injections got over last week, it would have contributed to some relief.

Earlier both talking and walking would make me vomit, but this week I could see I was able to manage a little bit of both.

I would certainly feel very fatigued but I was nevertheless able to manage my office and was working 8 hours a day, with short breaks in between.

Some days were still tougher, I would have immense fatigue and would need to sleep in the middle of the day. But overall, some improvement.

Risk of Covid-19 in Pregnancy

As I write this, the world again is seeing a bit of surge in Covid cases, with this being termed as the 4th Covid wave.

While one of the hormonal injections (HUCOG) prescribed to me got over last week, I had to continue with Proluton Depot 500 mg injection this week as well. Hence, weekly visits to the hospital continued this week as well. This did come with a bit of risk of catching COVID.

I can only take precautions at my end like wearing a mask, washing my hands and hoping that I would sail through it without catching the infection. 

Down Syndrome Tests Scheduled in Week 13 of Pregnancy

Next week will also be the week of my level-1 ultrasound that basically tells us about the growth of the baby, mother’s placenta and if the baby has down syndrome.

There are 3 tests for down syndrome, one is through the sonography, where the doctor will measure the length of the nasal bone and fluid behind the baby’s neck.

Second is the double marker test, that gives a probability of your baby having down syndrome. It’s said to be 90% accurate.

Third is Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) test that has an accuracy of 99%. This is a simple blood test and is completely safe for you and your baby.

Fingers crossed that all will be fine. More on the down syndrome tests next week.

Adios!