What Does an 11-Week Ultrasound Look Like?

An 11-week ultrasound is commonly used to help a health care provider determine your due date, which can verify the results you might get from a due date calculator. If you have an ultrasound at this time, it can be pretty exciting. That's because your baby transitions from an embryo to a fetus around the ninth week!

Read on to learn about what an 11-week-old fetus looks like, why you might receive an 11-week ultrasound, and what information you might learn about your fetus at this time.

11-Week Ultrasound: Fetal Development

You may notice the following physical features at an 11-week ultrasound:

• A well-formed face
• Long, thin limbs
• Fingernails and toenails
• Tooth buds

Even though a fetus's eye lenses and eyelids are formed by this point, they'll keep them shut until about the 28th week. Still, their head is larger than the rest of their body. In fact, their head makes up nearly half of their crown to rump length (CRL). However, that's about to change. In the coming weeks, they'll experience a growth spurt.

Ultrasound technicians take head circumference measurements to ensure your fetus is within the expected parameters. Studies have found that fetal head measurement is essential in predicting and managing obstetric problems.

Genitalia is beginning to form this week too. By the end of the week, their genitalia will have formed into a clitoris and labia majora or a penis. Even so, they will not be developed enough yet for a sonographer to distinguish them.

By the end of the eighth week, your baby's skeletal pattern is formed, mainly composed of cartilage and connective tissue. At 11 weeks, the bones inside become stronger and harder as the skin on the outside develops more layers (though it's still translucent).

Their jaw is starting to harden, and they have their first tooth buds, which will grow into tiny baby teeth. Their vocal cords are beginning to form too.

Fetal Movement on an 11-Week Ultrasound

By 11 weeks, your baby is starting to have sleep and wake cycles, usually between 5 and 10 minutes long. You might even wake them if you cough!

With a live image of your growing baby-to-be, you may be able to see them wiggle. At this early gestational age it will typically be documented that the fetus was active or with gross (whole) body movements. An ultrasound tech will chart these movements because research has found that movement reflects how the nervous system is developing.

Despite all this movement, your baby-to-be is barely 1.5 to 2 inches long and only weighs 1/4 of an ounce—about the size of a fig. You won't be able to feel their jerky gestures just yet, but as they add more weight and strength, you will start feeling their tiny kicks.

Your Baby's Organs at an 11-Week Ultrasound

A first trimester ultrasound is usually a limited study to determine gestational age and fetal viability. And all along, your baby's organs are beginning to develop.

Lungs

The development of lung tissue is well underway. Studies show that by 11 weeks, the trachea and bronchi and some arteries and capillaries are developed. Still to come? Bronchioles, ducts, and even more arteries and capillaries.

Although your circulatory system is still bringing nutrients and oxygen to your fetus through the placenta, their own blood supply is starting to get into the act.

Pancreas

The pancreas helps the body digest food and secretes hormones into the bloodstream. The pancreas develops early in the embryonic stage, but by 11 weeks, it starts producing insulin.

Their intestines begin developing in the embryonic stage as well, and by 11 weeks, they have muscle layers. In a few weeks, intestinal mucosa will develop in preparation for the day they'll digest food independently.

Skin

As early as 4 weeks, fetal skin has two distinct layers, and at 9 weeks, keratinization (the process of cells converting to hair and nails) begins. At an 11-week ultrasound, your baby's skin looks more opaque, and tiny hair follicles appear below their skin's surface.