Week 4

Mum

You’ve already noticed the changes. Your breasts seem fuller. Your skirt feels tighter, even though the baby is so tiny you can barely see the bunch of cells with your naked eye. You find yourself cleaning the top bookshelf – the one you’ve been meaning to dust since Christmas before last. Towards the end of week four, you do yet another pregnancy test and … YES!!! Medical science has finally confirmed what you’ve known for a while – you’re growing a baby inside you.

Dad

Congratulations, you’re going to be a dad! It’s all right to freak out a bit at this point, or to start making a bucket list of all the things you’d like to do before your life becomes a stream of nappies. That’s perfectly normal. Many parents fear that the baby’s arrival will put their projects and ambitions on hold. They are right, but don’t worry – the baby itself will become the biggest project you’ve ever undertaken, and it will satisfy your wildest ambitions.

Your partner is not the only one who’s expecting – you’re in it together. Although you may not know what to do, chances are, neither does she. Just be there for her.

She’ll be advised to play it safe when it comes to alcohol. Because nobody knows what the safe limit is, the official line is no alcohol during pregnancy. You might like to support her by not drinking for the next nine months, too.

Baby

Hey, baby, you are now officially an embryo! Your heart, digestive system, backbone and spinal cord are already beginning to form. In the next six weeks, more organs will begin to develop, and some will even start to work. Meanwhile, you are about the size of a poppy seed.