Week by week, something extraordinary is happening inside you. And we thought, why just read about it when you can feel it?
At every stage of your pregnancy, your baby is the size of something you can actually hold in your hand. Something real, something close, something from your own kitchen. A tiny seed, a piece of fruit, a vegetable you cooked with last night. This is that journey, week by week…
First Trimester
Week 4 — A Poppy Seed Tiny beyond imagination. But already the entire blueprint of who your baby will be is decided. It’s all in there. In that one little seed.
Week 5 — A Sesame Seed The brain, spinal cord and heart are already growing rapidly. The stomach, liver and kidneys are beginning to form. How something so tiny can do so much, honestly it’s beyond words.
Week 6 — A Lentil Your baby doubles in size this week and takes on a little C shape. Little arm and leg buds are sprouting. Blood is beginning to circulate. This lentil is busy.
Week 7 — A Blueberry 🫐 Pick one up. Hold it between your fingers. That’s your baby right now. A mouth, a tongue, arm and leg joints and tiny fingers and toes are beginning to form. Still finding their way but growing beautifully.
Week 8 — A Kidney Bean Over the past six weeks your baby has grown from a single cell to nearly a billion cells. Ears, eyelids, a tiny heart and liver are all in place. A kidney bean doing extraordinary things.
Week 9 — A Grape 🍇 Official title upgrade. Your baby is now called a fetus. Facial features are becoming more distinct. And that little heartbeat is now strong enough to be heard. A grape doing big things.
Week 10 — A Strawberry 🍓 Bones and cartilage are forming. Tiny fingernails and hair are beginning to grow. Your baby can already kick their little legs and practise swallowing. All organs are formed and starting to work. And that heartbeat can now be heard at your prenatal visit. 🤍
Week 11 — A Fig Ten fingers. Ten toes. No more webbing. Facial features, nasal passages, hair follicles and a tongue are all formed. Your baby’s head makes up almost half their total size right now. And they’re already stretching, kicking and doing somersaults in there. 😄
Week 12 — A Lime 🍋 All organs, muscles, limbs and bones are present. The rubbery cartilage is beginning to harden into bone. Eyes are moving to the front of the face. Your baby is making sucking movements and opening and closing their hands. So much happening in a lime.
Second Trimester
Week 13 — A Small Cookie Arms are now proportionate to the body. Fingerprints are forming, unique ones that belong only to your baby. And they’re already making and passing urine into the amniotic fluid. 😄
Week 14 — A Plum Fine soft hair called lanugo is growing all over your baby’s skin to keep them warm and protected. Your little one is getting cosy in there.
Week 15 — A Tomato Your baby is making facial expressions like frowning, squinting, grimacing. They’re making fists and grasping. And they can hear internal sounds like your heartbeat and your voice. They know you already. 🤍
Week 16 — A Small Orange First voluntary movements this week like sucking their thumb. If you’re having a girl her ovaries are already developing hundreds of thousands of eggs. You might feel the first little flutters of movement this week. And your baby sleeps most of the time, just like a newborn will. 😄
Week 17 — An Onion Your baby is growing eyelashes and eyebrows and putting on fat. They’re already responding to sounds and the flavours of what you eat. And your placenta is growing an extraordinary network of blood vessels to support them. About 50 kilometres worth.
Week 18 — A Bell Pepper Taste buds are developing this week. Your baby can now taste the flavours in the amniotic fluid based on what you eat. Feed yourself well mumma, they’re tasting it all. 😄
Week 19 — A Mango 🥭 A white waxy coating is forming over your baby’s skin to protect it from the amniotic fluid and regulate their temperature. Movements are increasing so you might feel little flutters and wriggles. Your little mango is getting comfortable in there.
Week 20 — A Banana 🍌 Halfway there mumma. You’re halfway there. 🤍 Your baby is settling into regular sleep and wake patterns and actively building muscle by flexing, kicking and flipping.
Week 21 — A Carrot 🥕 Brain to muscle connections are now complete. Your baby has greater control over their movements. They’re also practising swallowing and digesting amniotic fluid.
Week 22 — A Papaya Eyebrows and eyelids are fully formed now. Those little lips are becoming more distinct. Your baby is starting to look very much like a baby. Growth is also putting some noticeable strain on your body now mumma, rest when you can. 🌸
Week 23 — A Grapefruit Your baby can now sense light and dark even through your belly. And those little feet? You might start feeling some proper kicks now. Don’t be surprised if they pick a favourite spot. 😄
Week 24 — An Ear of Corn 🌽 Around 600 grams and 30 centimetres long. Features are almost fully formed. Eyelashes, eyebrows and hair. The skin is becoming less see-through and pinker as tiny blood vessels form underneath. And your baby can now hear sounds from outside like loud noises, music, your voice. 🌸 So make sure that whatever the baby listens to makes them feel peaceful. No big loud sounds in these days mumma.
Week 25 — A Cauliflower Fat is filling out under the skin now, your baby is getting those soft squishy cheeks. And that tiny little nose is already taking practice breaths of amniotic fluid.
Week 26 — A Lettuce Eyes are forming and will open very soon. Your baby’s immune system is absorbing antibodies directly from you. A clear sleep and wake pattern is now established. They have a little routine already. 😄
Week 27 — A Bunch of Broccoli 🥦 Hello third trimester! Your baby’s brain is developing rapidly. Whatever they’re dreaming about in there, we hope it’s warm and safe. And those little hiccups you might feel it’s their diaphragm practising. 🤍
Third Trimester
Week 28 — An Eggplant — Around 1 kg Rapid weight gain begins now. About half a kilo every two weeks to fill out those cheeks, pad the organs and help regulate temperature. And your baby is now capable of REM sleep. Yes, actually dreaming.
Week 29 — A Butternut Squash Your baby can smile, blink, frown and even cry inside the womb this week. A whole range of emotions and they haven’t even arrived yet. 😄
Week 30 — A Large Cabbage 🥬 Your baby sleeps about 90 percent of the time right now. Growing is hard work. Let them rest and you rest too mumma. 🌸
Week 31 — A Coconut 🥥 All five senses are working now. Your baby can see, hear, smell, taste and feel. They are experiencing the world, just from the inside. And those kicks are getting stronger. You know it.
Week 32 — A Jicama Fingernails have reached the tips of those tiny fingers. And your baby is turning face down, getting into position for their big arrival. Things are moving along. 🌸
Week 33 — A Pineapple 🍍 Major organs are almost fully developed and the lungs still maturing. And your baby has built their own immune system now. They’re getting ready for the world.
Week 34 — A Cantaloupe — Around 2.1 kg and 45 centimetres Hearing is fully developed. Your baby can hear everything clearly now. Movements feel more like wriggling than sharp kicks simply because space is getting tight. The finish line is getting closer.
Week 35 — A Honeydew Melon Your baby is gaining up to half a kilo of fat per week right now. Those cheeks are getting rounder every single day. If your baby is still in a bottom down position your doctor may discuss options to gently help them turn. 🌸
Week 36 — A Head of Romaine Lettuce Your baby is moving further down into your pelvis this week. A sign that things are getting ready. Less kicks, more rolls and stretches.
Week 37 — A Small Pumpkin Your baby’s brain almost doubles in size between weeks 35 and 39. Their lungs are now producing what they need to breathe on their own. Your doctor may ask you to count kicks. Around 10 movements in two hours is a good sign. 🌸
Week 38 — A Small Watermelon Brain, lungs and liver are all in their final stages of development. Your baby is almost ready mumma. And so are you.
Week 39 — A Bag of Flour — Around 3.2 kg and 50 centimetres The skull bones are still soft and gently separated. Designed perfectly to ease the birth. And that tiny stomach? About the size of a marble right now. Everything is exactly as it should be.
Week 40 — A Watermelon 🍉 Eyes open when awake. Eyes closed when sleeping. Your baby is here and ready. And so are you. 🤍
Week 41 — A Pumpkin 🎃 — Around 3.6 kg Still waiting. And that’s okay. Your baby is just taking their time. Skin might be peeling slightly from the long soak in amniotic fluid. They’ll come when they’re ready. 😄
Week 42 — A Small Jackfruit The soft downy hair that covered your baby’s skin is mostly gone now. Fingernails extend past the fingertips. Your baby is fully ready and the most beautiful meeting is just around the corner.
You grew a person mumma. Let that sink in. 🤍
And now the most beautiful chapter begins.