Pregnancy Week by Week: Weeks 14 to 17
Congratulations you’ve reached the beginning of the second trimester!
This is generally the most enjoyable part of the pregnancy when you can feel more confident about the progress of your pregnancy, you can start to tell people the good news, and that pregnancy bloom you hear so much about starts to kick in.
Find out what’s happening in your pregnancy, week by week, weeks 14 to 17.
What Happens to Mom?
By the end of this month you will actually start to look pregnant rather than just a bit heavier. This is a relief for many women although it can be frustrating that your usual clothes don’t fit very well but you don’t feel your bump is big enough for maternity clothes.Looking around for well fitting but inexpensive maternity clothes to tide you over can be a great option.
Your uterus has now grown to the size of a small melon and it can be felt around 4cm below your tummy button. If you are very slim it’s possible you may start to feel baby moving or kicking towards the end of the month, but don’t worry if not, many women don’t experience this for another few weeks. You can be sure you will have a more active pregnancy week by week.
Hopefully you will start to feel better this month as first trimester symptoms such as nausea, fatigue and the constant need to urinate finally start to disappear. You may experience an increase in appetite as baby starts to grow faster, and some women also find their hands and ankles start to swell slightly around this time.
Most women have more energy during the second trimester and it’s a great time to start getting practical arrangement made for the arrival of baby. Check out our posts on kitting out the nursery.
What Happens to Baby?
Baby is almost 13cm long by the end of the month and the body is growing faster than the head. It will have soft temporary hair known as lanugo all over its body, and will have developed finger and toe prints.
Baby’s bones are getting harder and stronger and the arms and legs are moving freely. It can even suck its thumb!
The placenta is fully formed and is providing oxygen and nourishment to baby, and baby is swallowing amniotic fluid and passing it as urine as well as making practice breathing movements. Baby girls will now have a well formed uterus and ovaries with primitive egg cells.
Check out our post on pregnancy week by week, weeks 9 to 13 if you’re not yet this far along in your pregnancy. Next week we’ll post pregnancy week by week, weeks 18 to 22 so look out for an update if you’re a bit further along.
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