8 weeks pregnant: symptoms and baby development
Fingers and toes, still webbed.
First trimesterMonth 25 min read
By Solesia, from public clinical guidanceUpdated
You are about to meet the person who will see you through this. The first prenatal visit tends to fall around now, and it is the long one: a lot of questions about your history, a lot of blood drawn, and often a first look at your baby on a screen, a small flicker with a heartbeat inside it. It helps to go in knowing it will take a while. This is also, for many people, the heaviest week for tiredness and nausea, because the hormone behind them is close to its peak. Your baby, for the first time, is just heavy enough to weigh.
How big is your baby at 8 weeks
About the size of a raspberry
0.63 in long·0.04 oz
Baby development at 8 weeks
At 8 weeks your baby measures about 0.63 inches and weighs around 0.04 ounces, the size of a raspberry. The hands, which last week were flat paddles, now have fingers separating from a webbed edge, and the elbows can bend. The feet are a few days behind, with the first notches where the toes will be. The heart beats at about 150 to 170 a minute.
The eyes have moved from the sides of the head toward the front and the eyelids are growing over them; they will stay sealed until well into the second trimester. The outer ear is folding into shape, and the tip of the nose is there. Nerve cells in the brain are multiplying and starting to link up, which is what makes the first small movements possible in the next week or two.
Inside, something odd and normal is happening: the gut is growing faster than the belly can hold, so a loop of intestine bulges out into the umbilical cord for a few weeks before it moves back in. The placenta is stepping up too, and by 10 to 12 weeks it will feed them entirely.
Your body at 8 weeks
Feeling worse this week than last is expected. hCG is close to its highest point, and that is the hormone tied to nausea, so if it is going to be hard, 8 to 10 weeks is often the hardest stretch. Progesterone is high too, and the tiredness it brings can feel bottomless. Both ease for many people from 12 to 14 weeks. Eat what you can, when you can, and sleep whenever there is a chance.
Trips to the bathroom are more frequent because your kidneys are filtering more blood and your uterus, now about the size of a large egg, is leaning on the bladder from behind. Cutting back on water does not help and makes the tiredness worse; leaning forward when you pee empties the bladder more fully.
Your breasts may have gone up a cup size already and the nipples may look darker and larger, with small bumps around them that are oil glands getting ready. A little swelling and tenderness in the belly is expected too.
Common pregnancy symptoms at 8 weeks
- Nausea at its peak. hCG near its high point. Something in your stomach every two hours, cold food, and B6 if you need it.
- Deep tiredness. Progesterone and the work of the placenta. Sleep is the treatment; nothing else really works.
- Peeing more often. More blood to filter and a uterus resting on the bladder. Keep drinking; lean forward to empty fully.
- Bigger, tender breasts. Glands developing and blood flow rising. A bra without underwire, in the size you are now.
- Bloating. Progesterone slowing digestion. Small meals, fiber, and a walk after eating.
- Mood swings. Hormones and a body that feels unlike yours. It settles as the hormones do.
- Darker patches on the face. Melasma: pigment cells responding to estrogen. Sunscreen every day slows it; it fades after birth.
When to call your provider at 8 weeks
Two things are worth a same-day call at any point in pregnancy: bleeding that is more than spotting, and pain that is severe or does not ease. From the second trimester, add fluid leaking and any change in your baby’s usual pattern of movement. You do not need to be sure something is wrong to call; that is what the number is for.
What to do at 8 weeks
- The first prenatal visit. Expect a full history, blood pressure, weight, and blood tests for blood type and Rh, anemia, immunity to rubella, hepatitis B, HIV and syphilis, plus a urine sample. Some offices do a pelvic exam and a Pap if one is due. Allow an hour or more.
- The dating ultrasound. If it happens at this visit, it measures your baby from head to bottom and sets the due date within a few days. That date usually stands for the rest of the pregnancy, even if later scans differ slightly.
- Screening choices. Your provider will explain the options: a blood test for chromosome conditions from 10 weeks, the nuchal translucency scan at 11 to 14, and carrier screening for you and your partner. None is compulsory. Ask what each answers before deciding.
- Your questions, written down. Which medicines are fine, how to reach the office after hours, who to call if you have bleeding, and what happens next. Bring the list.
Common questions at 8 weeks
What happens at the first prenatal visit?
Mostly talking and blood work. Your provider asks about your health, your family’s, and previous pregnancies, checks blood pressure and weight, and orders a panel of blood tests that cover blood type, anemia, immunity and infections. Many offices add an ultrasound to date the pregnancy. You leave with a due date and a schedule of visits every four weeks.
Can you see a heartbeat at 8 weeks?
Yes, almost always. On ultrasound the heart shows as a fast flicker, around 150 to 170 beats a minute, and by now it is big enough to be found easily on a vaginal scan and often on an abdominal one. Hearing it with a handheld Doppler usually comes later, from 10 to 12 weeks.
How accurate is a due date from an 8 week ultrasound?
Very. Between 8 and 13 weeks, babies grow at nearly the same rate, so a measurement from head to bottom gives a due date accurate to about five days. That is more reliable than counting from your last period if your cycles are irregular, and it is why the early date is the one your provider keeps.
Why is nausea worse at 8 weeks?
Because hCG, the pregnancy hormone tied to nausea, is heading toward its peak, which comes at about 9 to 10 weeks. After that it falls and the placenta takes over from the hormone-heavy early phase. For many people the sickness lifts between 12 and 14 weeks, sometimes gradually and sometimes almost overnight.
Written from public clinical guidance, including NHS: Week 8, ACOG: How your baby grows, ACOG: Changes in your body, ACOG: Nausea and vomiting, ACOG: Skin changes and NHS: Tiredness. This page is general information, not medical advice, and does not replace your provider.