Week Eleven to Fourteen.

By the time your third month check-up is due there will have been sufficient developments in the growth of your child to show you just how well your baby is doing. At this point in the pregnancy you will have started to have gained weight, approximately four to five pounds. It is a myth that women should let go of what they are eating as they are ‘eating for two.’ You do not, in fact, have to increase your diet by twice the amount you would normally eat, but just maintain a healthy and varied diet to ensure the natural development of your baby. Some women as a result of believing that they should eat more gain an excess amount of weight in the first trimester; sometimes as much as ten to thirteen pounds. This is not recommended, as the extra food intake only causes the mother to gain fat, not helping the baby to grow and as most mothers find to their cost afterwards, the fat is very hard to get rid of. The gaining of weight in the first three months can actually cause an adverse effect to what a mother will think that it will; instead of helping your baby to grow, the excess fat will put pressure on such vital organs as the heart and kidneys, heightening your chance of getting gestational diabetes.