How your baby is growing this week
Navel orange size — 3.4 inches. Kidneys producing urine (yes, baby pees in the womb). Lanugo — fine downy hair — covers the entire body for warmth. Facial muscles working: squinting, frowning.
What your partner is going through
Welcome to the "honeymoon trimester." Nausea fading, energy returning, but round ligament pain intensifying. The bump is starting to show — clothes stop fitting. Major psychological shift happening.
What to focus on this week, dad
- 01Maternity Clothes Ops: offer a specific budget and time to shop. She needs basics — pants with stretch panels, longer tops, supportive bras. $200-400 covers essentials
- 02Birth preferences: you'll draft the actual document at week 22 (there's a task for it). For now, just start noticing what matters to her — epidural yes/no, who's in the room, cord cutting, skin-to-skin — so the draft doesn't start from zero
Connect with your partner
Her body image is in flux. Clothes do not fit, the bump is showing, and she may feel neither "pregnant enough" for maternity clothes nor comfortable in regular clothes. Validate without minimizing.
Source: Mayo Clinic
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