10 weeks

How your baby's growing: Though he's barely the size of a kumquat — a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby has now completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature.

He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy.

If you could take a peek inside your womb, you'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin.

In other developments: Your baby's limbs can bend now. His hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over his heart, and his feet may be long enough to meet in front of his body. The outline of his spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from his spinal cord. Your baby's forehead temporarily bulges with his developing brain and sits very high on his head, which measures half the length of his body. From crown to rump, he's about 1 1/4 inches long. In the coming weeks, your baby will again double in size — to nearly 3 inches.

How your life's changing: At your next prenatal visit, you may be able to hear your baby's rapid heartbeat with the help of a Doppler stethoscope, a handheld ultrasound device that your practitioner places on your belly. Many women say that the beating of their baby's tiny heart sounded like the thunder of galloping horses and hearing it for the first time was very moving.

Before you got pregnant, your uterus was the size of a small pear. By this week, it's as big as a grapefruit. Though you're probably not ready for maternity wear, you may find that your regular clothes are becoming uncomfortably tight and your blossoming breasts are straining the seams of your bra. The thickening in your midsection is most likely due to slight weight gain and bloating at this point. In these transitional weeks between regular and maternity clothes, pants and skirts with forgiving elastic waistbands (or low-rise waistlines that sit below your belly) will provide some much-needed comfort.

Depending on your level of fitness, you can most likely participate in a wide range of activities during pregnancy. Swimming and walking are excellent choices for the whole nine months. Exercise promotes muscle tone, strength, and endurance — three qualities that can help you carry the weight you gain during pregnancy, prepare you for the physical stress of labor, and make it easier to get back into shape after your baby is born. (Unfortunately, there's no evidence that regular exercise shortens labor.)

How I'm doing: Not that great unfortunately. The main reason my 10 week update is coming when week 10 is just about over is because I've been sick. I started feeling like I might be coming down with something last Thursday night and it proceeded to get worse all weekend. I guess there's a cold going around and my depressed immune system couldn't fight it off. My midwife gave me a list of some of the medications I'm allowed to take, I tried one and it didn't work at all so I gave up. I decided to stay home from work on Monday and get another day of recuperation in. I ended up not leaving the house at from when I got home from work on Friday until Monday evening--I really didn't feel up to anything. I thought pregnancy in general made me tired and not feel so great but now I know it can get much, much worse. I had been improving slightly. I went through less than a whole box of Kleenex in a day AND I wasn't coughing all day long.

Tuesday night the headaches set in. Not a low-grade pain but a searing stabbing pain. I've had migraines and this definitely wasn't a migraine. My forehead hurt, my eye sockets hurt and they hurt so badly at times it woke me up. I decided when I woke up I should go to the doctor. I read about sinus infections on WebMD and it sounded like something that should be looked at by a doctor. I called my regular primary care physician (who I knew would be easier to see since she saves day-of appointments). I went in and she agreed that I probably did have a sinus infection. She prescribed Amoxicillin (an antibiotic; sinus infections are bacterial infections whereas colds are viruses) and Nasonex (a nasal spray, you've probably seen the commercials). She also explained that the baby is basically acting like a parasite as far as my body is concerned. Which reminded me of this article from the satirical newspaper, The Onion. The baby is depressing my immune system which might be part of the reason I got sick (and why Scott seems to be resisting it so far).

As far as pregnancy is concerned, it's pretty much gone unnoticed except for the fact that I've been keenly aware of all the cold remedies in the world that I can't touch. That and my pants were tight this morning after spending the last 4 days in yoga pants and gym shorts.