Your week 8 guide

The brain and nervous system are growing at extraordinary speed. Nerve cells are being produced and are beginning to connect with one another and with developing muscles, which is what makes the very first movements possible. The brain grows so fast at this stage that the head is disproportionately large compared with the body, and it stays that way for months.

Arms and legs are lengthening, and fingers and toes are emerging from the webbed paddles. Elbows and knees are becoming distinguishable, so the limbs can start to bend rather than only extend. Bone has not formed yet; the whole skeleton is still soft cartilage that will gradually harden over the rest of pregnancy.

The small heart is beating rapidly, and movement has begun although you cannot feel it. A rate of around 150 to 170 beats per minute is normal at this stage and much faster than yours. The movements are twitches and jerks rather than deliberate actions, and the embryo is far too small and too cushioned for any of it to register.

Bloating, nausea, vivid dreams, breast tenderness and sensitivity to smell are all common. The unusually intense dreams are widely reported and are thought to relate to broken sleep and hormonal change rather than to anything meaningful. Waking more often is what makes you remember them, not the dreams themselves being stranger.

Your uterus is growing steadily even though there is nothing to see. By eight weeks it is roughly twice its pre-pregnancy size, but it is still sitting low behind the pelvic bones. Feeling stretched or crampy at this stage is usually the uterus expanding rather than a warning.

Light spotting can happen, but any bleeding should still be discussed with a clinician rather than dismissed. Spotting is common in early pregnancy and often turns out to be nothing, yet the only way to know is to have it assessed. Note the colour, how heavy it is and whether it comes with pain, because those are the details you will be asked for.

Talk to your clinician about adjusting exercise and daily routines rather than stopping or pushing through. Most activity you already do can usually continue, with contact sports, scuba diving and anything with a real fall risk as the common exceptions. If you are exhausted, scaling back is sensible and not something to justify.

Move to comfortable, non-restrictive clothing before you technically need to. Waistbands become intolerable long before maternity sizes fit, and stretchy clothes you already own will usually carry you through several more weeks. Comfort here is practical rather than indulgent, particularly when you are already nauseated.

Decide when and how you want to share the news, on your own terms. There is no rule that says you must wait for twelve weeks, and some women tell people early precisely so they have support if something goes wrong. Others prefer privacy for longer; both are entirely reasonable and it is genuinely your decision. InshaAllah, you can share the news in a way that feels right for you.

When variety feels difficult: A perfectly varied diet may simply not be realistic during a bad stretch of nausea. For now, staying hydrated and eating safe foods you can actually tolerate is the more useful goal.

Try different temperatures, textures and eating times to find what works. If your diet stays very limited, you are losing weight, or sickness is interfering with daily life, speak to your maternity team, because effective anti-sickness treatment exists and you do not have to reach a certain level of suffering to be offered it.