10 Weeks Pregnant — Your Baby Is The Size Of A Dino Chicken Nugget

Welcome to Scary Mommy’s pregnancy week by week guide! We’re here to give you all the info about what to expect when you’re expecting: be it pregnancy week by week symptoms, your baby’s development, your changing body, or ultrasounds and appointments. Here’s everything you need to know about week 10.

Your Body at 10 Weeks Pregnant

Managing Your Sensitive Boobs

Your bras may slowly be becoming torture devices. Your breasts are getting ready to produce milk and all those hormones are making them super tender and swollen and you may have even gone up a cup size or two. This might be time to get some maternity bras for those pregnancy boobs! It’ll be a while before nursing is even on the agenda, but a good nursing bra will also offer you better support without the more painful constraints of a regular bra. Trust us, it’s never too early to invest in a comfy maternity bra. Your breasts will thank you.

So Long, Moodiness

Your mood swings might be starting to abate now, just as you were getting used to tearing up at every adorable puppy on the street. Your hormones are slowly balancing themselves and you’re feeling a lot more like, well, yourself, or at least a tired, bloated version of yourself. This is a great time to go out on a nice date night, or rather an early date night, if you’ve still got that early pregnancy fatigue. Take advantage of one on one romantic time while you can!

Belly is Looking Swollen

Your growing uterus is starting to make your belly curve, but it’s not quite a bump yet. If you haven’t gotten a button extender, this is a good time to do so. Also, yoga pants are going to be your new friends these next 30 weeks, or you know, the next 18+ years. There’s a reason they call them the mommy uniform! Sweet, sweet stretchy freedom.

Sex Drive is Up and Running Again

At 10 weeks pregnant, your libido might start to fire up! It’s a good thing. After all, any exercise is good for you! And unless your doctor says otherwise, having sex isn’t harmful for the baby. Your mucus plug and amniotic fluid are keeping your little one safe and oblivious. So enjoy!

Your Baby at 10 Weeks Pregnant

At 10 weeks pregnant, your baby weighs a quarter of an ounce and measures around 2 inches. It’s about the size of a dinosaur-shaped chicken nugget. The baby is already starting to kick those mighty kicks you’re probably not going to start feeling until a couple of months from now. Your little one can also bend their elbow, which means, theoretically, they’re ready for dance lessons! When you see them in an ultrasound, they may be doing some serious pirouettes in your belly.

The baby’s fingers are no longer webbed and the organs are almost all there and functioning, the lungs, kidneys and the heart now just need to grow and mature and the baby is even swallowing.

With all its major vital organs and limbs in place, your baby just graduated from the embryonic stage to the fetal stage, which means it’s now getting ready for life in the outside world. How about a little graduation gift? Treat yourself (and your future little one) to a nice meal. Or you know, some more crackers, if that’s all you can stomach.

Your Symptoms and Health at 10 Weeks Pregnant

The Cell-Free DNA Screen (NIPT)

Starting in week 10, your doctor can perform a relatively new test called a cell-free DNA free, or a noninvasive prenatal test (NIPT for short) through a simple blood draw. The NIPT can diagnose Down syndrome and chromosomal abnormalities in your baby with greater accuracy than other tests, like the nuchal translucency test, which measure the liquid in the baby’s neck.

And if you’re taking the test and are planning a gender reveal, we have some good news: the NIPT can detect your baby’s sex weeks before it will be discoverable through an ultrasound. Science! It’s amazing.

No to Sushi, Yes to Fish!

We know you may have wept a tear or two after having to give up those delicious tuna avocado rolls, but there is a silver lining. While it is recommended that pregnant women stay away from all raw fish to avoid possible parasites, the FDA actually recommends that you eat at least 2 and up to 3 servings of fully cooked fish a week!

While you want to avoid some fish that are high in mercury, like swordfish, and limit your intake of tuna, the omega-3 in fish is super good for you and your developing baby. Go for some salmon, catfish, herring, or even lobster, if you’re feeling fancy (treat yourself, mama!) So while spicy tuna is off the table, if you’re really missing sushi, why not try a shrimp tempura roll?

Alternative to Prenatal Pills

If you’re still suffering from the accursed morning, afternoon and evening sickness, swallowing anything, let alone prenatal vitamins, may be proving to be a little tricky. Unfortunately, this early in your baby’s development is precisely when you need to be taking them!

Luckily, there are great alternatives to those hard to swallow, big prenatal pills (gag!). Like prenatal gummies which may remind you of those Flintstones vitamins you couldn’t get enough of as a child, and which you will may soon be bribing your little one with. It’s the circle of life! And there’s also prenatal drinks, which you may be able to mix into a healthy fruit smoothie, or a slightly less healthy vanilla milkshake, because sometimes, mama just needs some sugar.

Just check with your doctor to make sure that whatever it is you’re taking has all the vitamins and supplements you and your growing little one need.

Double Trouble

While most twin pregnancies go under the radar until the first ultrasound, the NIPT will pick up on DNA differences between fraternal twins. This could be the first confirmation that you’re home to two little dino nuggets instead of one. The test will also reveal whether you’re carrying two girls, two boys, or one of each. At present, the NIPT is only available to women who are considered to have high-risk pregnancies. So unless your doctor has reason to believe you or your barely-there bump is at risk, the test might not be available to you.

The contents of this article have been medically reviewed by Ruth A. Tessler, M.D. in July, 2019.

Written by Lior Zaltzman.

Follow Preggo Nancy’s pregnancy journey week-by-week and share in her joy, her symptoms, and even her pregnancy cravings.

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