Week 9 is, for a lot of women, the low point. Pregnancy hormone levels peak around now, and everything they cause peaks with them. It does get better, and knowing that is most of what week 9 has to offer.
Your body this week
Human chorionic gonadotrophin has been roughly doubling every two to three days, and the NHS puts its peak at around week 9. Oestrogen and progesterone are high too, and together they are increasing the blood supply to the womb.
Breasts are bigger and the waist may be thickening a little, though nothing looks obviously pregnant yet. Some women describe this stretch as an emotional rollercoaster, which is a description rather than a diagnosis, and it is one the NHS repeats because it is so widely reported.
Rest is the only intervention on offer for most of it, and accepting help is worth more this week than at any other point in the first trimester.
What you may notice
Extreme tiredness, sickness, mood swings, a metallic taste, sore breasts, headaches, food likes and dislikes, a sharper sense of smell, a white milky discharge, light spotting, cramping, darker skin patches, and bloating.
Eating little and often keeps blood sugar steadier, which for some women reduces nausea. The NHS suggests simple things — a boiled egg with toast, hummus with carrot sticks, pitta with grated cheese — because complicated food is exactly what nobody manages in week 9.
If you cannot keep fluids down, contact a midwife or doctor. That is the line, and it is not a high one.
Your baby this week
Around week 9, the length quoted is about 22mm from head to bottom, which the NHS compares to a strawberry. It is a population figure and nothing about your own scan has to match it.
The face is more recognisable, with eyes now covered by eyelids, a mouth and a tongue with early taste buds. Hands and feet are forming, though fingers and toes are still only grooves. The heart, brain, lungs, kidneys and gut are all developing, and bones are beginning to form.
What care usually happens around now
Nothing routine, unless your booking appointment falls this week. Screening choices for later in pregnancy are usually discussed at that visit, and the dating scan follows somewhere between weeks 8 and 14 in the UK. Timetables vary between countries.
This week's tip
Put three snacks you can eat without cooking somewhere you will see them — the desk, the bag, the bedside. Week 9 is not the week to plan meals. It is the week to remove every step between being hungry and eating, because an empty stomach makes the nausea worse and the tiredness longer.
When to see a doctor
Contact a midwife or GP if you cannot keep fluids down, if you are losing weight, if you are passing very little urine, or if you feel faint on standing. Any bleeding should be reported. Pregnancy warning signs covers the full set.
Seek care now: Contact your local emergency services or go to your nearest emergency department if you have heavy bleeding, severe or one-sided tummy pain, pain in the tip of your shoulder, a severe headache with vision changes, sudden swelling of the face or hands, a fever, chest pain, trouble breathing, fainting, or a seizure. Femio cannot assess a pregnancy.
Frequently asked questions
When will I stop feeling like this?
Many women improve after the first trimester ends at week 12, though some feel better earlier and some later. Week 10 and week 8 sit either side of the peak.
Is being this tired normal?
Extreme tiredness is one of the most reported first-trimester symptoms. It is still worth mentioning at your next appointment, because tiredness has causes other than pregnancy and a blood test is easy.