Congratulations! You are two months pregnant now. We do not talk anymore about the embryo phase, but about the “fetal” phase. The embryo has become a fetus, resembling more and more a tiny human being.

Responses to Light Touching

Your little precious one actually starts sucking his or her thumb for comforting at around 8 weeks of pregnancy. Some other amazing observations of a fetus in his or her 8^th week includes swallowing, opening & closing the jaw, stretching to make some room in there, and even sighing! Your baby is even sensitive to touch.

Yes, when lightly touched on the feet, an 8 to 9-week old fetus will respond to the touch by curling his or her little toes. The fetus senses the light from the environment, and the vocal cords start developing at this stage. You have 7 more months to go and you can already touch and caress your little miracle. Until then, inside there is going on even more development, and even more connections are being made.

Even though the fetus is so developed and can respond to touch or light and can move his or her jaw, you still can’t feel the movements in your tummy. Even though you do not feel movement from inside, you can definitely feel plenty of other changes. You start becoming more sensitive, hormonal imbalances may cause even greater havoc.

Size and Other Changes

In week 8 of your pregnancy, your baby is now measuring approximately 2cm in length. With every single day passing, your baby goes through major changes and continues to develop beautifully. Starting from week 8 of pregnancy, your baby grows 1mm every single day. With the baby growing, the amniotic fluid also gets heavier by a few ml every week, as well. The baby grows, so it needs more space.

This week is also the time for the eye pigment (color) formation of your baby. However, the baby will only open its eyes later on in the pregnancy, at about 26 weeks. The eyes are almost fully covered by eyelids at this stage. The baby’s skin remains thin and transparent at 8 weeks. Also, this is the week for major developments in the baby’s lungs. The breathing tube of the baby travels from the throat into the lungs by now, while the nerve cells of the brain start making more ‘connections’ this week.

Mom at 8 Weeks of Pregnancy

You don’t feel the ‘weight’ of the pregnancy yet, but you definitely feel your breasts getting more sensitive and starting to grow in size. Also no bump is visible yet, even though your womb has expanded to double its original size. As the womb is pressing on your bladder, you will also feel the urge to run to the bathroom a little more often than usual. And this will go on until the baby is born…but it’s worth the inconvenience!

You feel extremely tired, so make sure you have plenty of time to take in some long naps. The prenatal vitamins will keep you somewhat energized, but you still need to get plenty of rest. After all, you are going through some major changes. Try to manage your morning sickness by introducing ginger in your everyday diet – a natural remedy for nausea and morning sickness in pregnant women. Morning sickness will disappear at around 14 weeks of pregnancy (usually), so still a few more weeks to go. Hang in there, you are not alone!