10 Weeks Pregnant - Signs of Pregnancy
Mother
At 10 weeks pregnant you may find any pregnancy sickness or other pregnancy symptoms are much worse. This is because the pregnancy hormone HCG reaches a peak at this time. And ironically, although the nausea is called morning sickness it can happen any time of the day or night!
You can reduce the severity of any sickness you suffer from by eating little and often and avoiding very fatty meals. Many women find dry crackers or ginger biscuits helpful and carry them around at all times.
Some women suffer particularly bad sickness (hyperemesis) and if you find you cannot keep anything down, not even water, then it is vital you see your doctor as you may need to be monitored more carefully and a hospital stay may be required to ensure you don't get dehydrated.
However, fortunately, for most women things start to improve gradually after this week.
Your midwife will likely take a blood sample this week which will be checked for particular proteins that may indicate whether or not your baby is at risk of Down's Syndrome. You may also be advised to have a further test carried out, Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS) which checks for inherited conditions such as Cystic Fibrosis.
Baby
Your baby's liver is now producing red blood cells and all his vital organs are growing and developing.