The Fourth Month of Pregnancy
Your pregnancy: weeks 14-17. Your baby's individual features and sensory organs are now being fine tuned. Iron requirements increase during this period as the blood volume increases due to the building of the reserves of the foetus and placenta.
14 Weeks Pregnant
The tiny little one can now do a number of amazing things.
The baby’s expressions are almost visible now. Facial muscles and brain impulses are developed enough to enable it to squint, frown, grimace and even grasp. You may notice this when you have your ultrasound, where your baby may appear to suck its thumb. Your baby produces urine from its kidneys, expelling it into the amniotic fluid. From head to bottom, your baby now measures around 9 centimetres. The arms are growing longer to be more proportionate to the body, which is covered in a soft downy hair called lanugo. The limbs now become more flexible and active. The liver starts making bile now and the spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells.
15 Weeks Pregnant
Your baby can now sense light.
Your baby now measures around 11.5cm and weighs about 85 grams. Lung sacs now start to develop, legs start growing, and the baby can now move its limbs. Taste buds, though formed, are not of much use to the baby at this stage.
16 Weeks Pregnant
Your baby is getting ready for a phase of rapid growth.
Right now around 12 centimetres long, your baby is about to experience a growth spurt over the next few weeks. The legs and head are more developed and the eyes and ears look more like how they will look eventually. It can also sense light and move away from it. The heart is now pumping greater volumes of blood than before and the amount is expected to increase in the coming weeks. Your baby is also developing reflexes. If you prod your abdomen at this stage, your baby may actually squirm in response!
17 Weeks Pregnant
Your baby can now move its bone joints.
Your baby’s little skeleton is now changing from soft cartilage to bone and the umbilical cord is growing stronger and thicker. It can move its joints. Weighing a little more than 140 grams, your baby is around 12-13cm long. At this stage the sweat glands also begin to develop.
Related articles
Food Cravings During Pregnancy
Pregnant women will tell you they experience almost irrepressible cravings for certain foods – salty, sweet, spicy or fatty foods. Some think it’s the body signaling what the growing baby needs.
2 mins to read
Common nutrition-related problems
The influence of hormonal changes, and the effect of the changes in the size of the growing uterus, can lead to eating complications during pregnancy.
5 mins to read
Nutrition checklist
NUTRITION CHECKLIST
Are you eating enough nutritious food with sufficient nutrients, kilojoules, vitamins?
1 min to read
The Sixth Month of Pregnancy
Your pregnancy: weeks 23-27. Your baby develops movements that will later help it take its first whiff of air in the world, inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid.
2 mins to read
The Seventh Month of Pregnancy
Your pregnancy: weeks 28-31. The changes in your body continue to take place as you enter your third trimester! As baby prepares for its future exit: its eyelids are uncovered and eyelash
2 mins to read
The Ninth Month of Pregnancy
Your pregnancy: weeks 36-40. It’s time for the final preparations before the big day.
2 mins to read
Food choices for a healthy pregnancy
-
5 mins to read
Nutrition
Your nutritional status at the time of conception and in the crucial early weeks of pregnancy is significant for the successful outcome of the pregnancy.
1 min to read
First visit
A detailed medical history, of you and your partner, will be recorded at your first prenatal visit.
2 mins to read
Why exercise during pregnancy?
Exercise leads to improved circulation, which in turn can reduce the severity of varicosities (varicose veins).
5 mins to read
Criteria for prenatal classes
Instructor’s credentials, for example, midwife, physiotherapist.
Instructor’s specialised training in childbirth education.
5 mins to read
Checklist - maternity ward suitcase
*Check whether the maternity ward has a list of the items you will need.
Items for hospital stay
5 mins to read
The last few weeks of pregnancy
The uterus
5 mins to read
Tips to budget for baby
There are many factors to consider before dedicating yourself to raising and budgeting a child for the next 18 years or more.
5 mins to read
Pregnancy concerns and diet solutions
-
4 mins to read
Exercise
Feeling healthy, stress-free and relaxed will only help the chance of you and your partner falling pregnant.
1 min to read
Multiple births
Regular prenatal care is most important if you are carrying more than one baby, as the risk to you and your babies is higher.
1 min to read
