Welcome to the second trimester!

At 14 weeks meaning, many moms-to-be begin to experience hungrier, more energetic and less nauseous every bit early pregnancy symptoms start to subside.

Meanwhile, your baby'southward getting chubbier by the day, and may be starting to sprout some pilus.

Your Baby at Week 14

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This week your tiny dancer trades in the sudden jerky reflexive movements of last trimester for smoother, more fluid moves. Think more ballet and less hip hop. In but a month or two, you'll get to feel those tiny dance steps for yourself, in the form of those very beginning flutters! Infant'due south posture is improving, besides — his neck is getting longer and his head more upright. He may withal be the size of a fist, but he's not shaped like i anymore.

At that place's another important development itinerant equally your piffling Sasquatch sprouts pilus non just on his head but all over his itty-bitty body. Called lanugo, this downy blanket covers the fetus, primarily to keep him cozy and warm until he packs on a few pounds. Once he accumulates some insulating fat and fills out over the next few months, near of the lanugo volition shed. But don't be surprised if your honey'due south however kind of hairy at nascency, specially if he arrives early on. The real locks that are growing on top of his cute head will stay put, though pilus colour may alter right up to nascency.

Underneath that emerging head of hair is your baby'due south rapidly growing brain. As those amazing cells multiply, the brain develops into two distinct halves — the left and correct hemisphere. Each one controls the contrary side of the body...so if y'all see your niggling 1 sucking his right thumb — something he can exercise now — it's the left side of his remarkable encephalon telling him how to do it.

And thanks to all that new brain ability, your baby has started developing reflexes. If y'all were to poke your belly, for instance, your little wiggle worm will wriggle away from the intruding finger. If a loud dissonance shakes the comfy confines of his restful roost your little chicken will actually startle. Talk about reflexes at work!

At a Glance

Say cheese!

Are you making faces at me? To welcome your second trimester, your infant-to-be can now use facial muscles to grimace and smile.

It's a boy (or girl)!

Boy or girl? This week, fully developed genitals brand their grand entrance. Note, however, that they still may be difficult to discover on an ultrasound.

Peach fuzz

It's all about hair now every bit your baby's caput, eyebrows and torso start sprouting some fuzz.

14 weeks pregnant is how many months?

If you're 14 weeks pregnant, you're in calendar month 4 of your pregnancy. Only 5 months left to go! Even so accept questions? Here'southward some more data on how weeks, months and trimesters are broken downwardly in pregnancy.

How big is my baby at 14 weeks?

At 14 weeks, your babe is growing and developing apace, measuring between 3½and 4 inches long and weighing around two ounces, about the size of a omphalos orange.

Baby is standing upward directly

Growing by leaps and premises, your baby is leaping and bounding. Now the size of your clenched fist, she's on the move almost constantly — and those movements are a far cry from those jerky twitches of last trimester (though yous won't feel whatever of them for weeks to come). They are now ballet-like, smoothen and fluid.

Speaking of ballet, it'll exist years earlier you lot'll beginning nagging your offspring to stand up straight — but unbelievably, she is doing it right now, without any prodding! No slouch anymore, your baby'due south neck is getting longer, helping her head stand more erect. This gives your fetus a more straightened-out advent.

Baby's sprouting pilus and lanugo

By week fourteen of pregnancy, your baby could be sprouting some hair and those eyebrows are filling in besides.

Hair growth isn't express to infant's head, though. She is also covered with a featherlike blanket of hair chosen lanugo, largely there for warmth.

Merely information technology won't be there forever. As fat accumulates later on in your pregnancy — the baby's fatty, not yours — it will have over the function of keeping your little bean toasty, so well-nigh of the lanugo sheds. Some babies, especially those born early, still have a fuzzy coating at delivery, only it disappears soon afterward.

Other developments this week include a roof of her ain — inside your babe's mouth, that is — equally well as some digestive system activeness: Her intestines are producing meconium, which is the waste that volition make up her first bowel motion after birth.

Your Body at Week 14

14 weeks pregnant woman

1 down, two to get!

Welcome to the 2nd trimester — (almost) every meaning woman's favorite, and for good reason! As many showtime trimester pregnancy woes wane, y'all're most likely feeling a bit peppier and a lot more human. With any luck, your breasts aren't quite as tender every bit they were last trimester and your free energy level is making a improvement.

More than proficient news on the horizon: less morning sickness and fewer trips to the potty to pee. Fifty-fifty cooler is the fact that it may be time to starting time hit those motherhood boutiques, because you lot may be starting to show — instead of looking similar yous've eaten also much for luncheon.

That's because your uterus is finally rising out of the pelvic region and into your lower abdomen. You might even be able to feel the pinnacle of your uterus, called the fundus, if yous press down right to a higher place your pelvic bone in your lower abdomen. How amazing is that?

How Big Are fourteen-Week Bumps?

Your 14 weeks pregnant belly

At present that you're officially in your 2nd trimester, it may be time to get motherhood clothes shopping for real, as right around at present many women go from looking a picayune swollen to really "popping."

But remember: Your xiv weeks significant abdomen is normal no thing how big or small it is. All expectant women carry baby differently depending on their height and figure, and whether this is their first pregnancy or not. So breathe a sigh of relief and know that your baby crash-land at 14 weeks is perfect, no matter what it looks like! And of course, if you have whatever questions, check in with your provider.

Round ligament hurting

For some women, a possible side effect of uterine growth is what your OB/GYN would call round ligament pain. Basically, these are pregnancy growing pains that feel similar achy or sharp pains on one or both sides of the abdomen that begin to appear around 14 weeks merely tin can strike at whatsoever time during the second trimester.

Here's why: The uterus is supported by thick bands of ligaments that run from the groin up the side of the abdomen. As your uterus grows, the supporting ligaments stretch and thin out to accommodate the increasing weight. This weight pulls on the ligaments and causes a abrupt pain or a dull anguish in your lower belly. It's oft more noticeable when you change positions all of a sudden or chop-chop get up from sitting or lying downward or when you lot coughing or sneeze.

The best way to bring relief? Put your anxiety up and rest in a comfortable position, which should ease the strain and the pain.

Staying healthy

As if you didn't have enough pregnancy symptoms to contend with, you're also more susceptible to colds, flu and other bugs when you're expecting. That's because nature wisely suppresses your immune system during pregnancy to go along your fetus — a foreigner to your body — from being rejected.

The key to staying salubrious is to engage in some germ warfare. More than always, the best defense is a strong offense, especially when germs are being passed around your part or home like canapés.

Launder your hands often — and carry liquid sanitizer for times when a sink's not handy — don't share drinks or food or toothbrushes and avert sick people like the plague. It's okay to banish a sick spouse to the couch.

If y'all think you've caught something, check with your practitioner ASAP, who volition treat what you've got with your special needs in mind. If antibiotics are prescribed for a bacterial infection — they're useless against viruses similar colds — don't hesitate to take them because y'all've heard medications aren't safe during pregnancy. Many are — and getting better fast is the best medicine for your baby.

Pregnancy Symptoms Week xiv

Decreasing fatigue

You're probably feeling a renewed sense of energy at present that your body has finished its first-trimester job of manufacturing the placenta. Then consider taking this opportunity to get a jump beginning on baby prep. Set to start picking out a baby registry wish listing? Read More than

Connected breast growth, less tenderness

While your breasts are nevertheless growing and irresolute — for instance, your areolas are probably darker and your nipples may be on "loftier alert" — they may non experience as achy equally they did in your kickoff trimester. Read More

Increasing ambition

Now that the nausea is subsiding, you've rediscovered your ambition. Do your best to eat regular, healthy meals and snacks throughout the day, which keeps blood sugar and energy stable, instead of bingeing, which causes saccharide highs and subsequent sugar crashes. Read More than

Varicose veins

These large, swollen blood vessels, which ofttimes show up on your legs, are caused by the extra blood book you produce to nourish your babehoped-for. Though you may non be able to forbid varicose veins entirely — they tin be hereditary — you can help minimize them by wearing support stockings, walking throughout the day to go on claret circulating and raising your legs above the level of your centre. Read More

Stuffy nose

Those pesky hormones are to blame over again: High levels of estrogen and progesterone increase blood menses to mucous membranes in the body, including the nose, which causes them to bully and soften. Try running a warm-mist humidifier while you lot slumber to brand animate easier. Read More than

An end to nausea and airsickness

If yous're like most women, your morning sickness may be coming to an end now that you're in the second trimester. Yay! Pat yourself on the back (or tummy) for making it through the worst of the nausea. Read More than

Tips for You This Week

Go along track of skin changes

It's non unusual for moles to develop or modify right near at present, cheers to pregnancy hormones.

Only it's nevertheless a smart motility to have them evaluated past your doctor. Ever check in with your practitioner about any pare changes y'all notice merely to be safety.

Get moving!

With your 2nd trimester comes a burst of energy. Take advantage! Become your light-to-moderate exercise game on to cut your chance of gestational diabetes and continue yourself and your babe-to-be good for you.

The American Higher of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends getting at to the lowest degree 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise per day, at to the lowest degree five days a calendar week. Just remember to avert exercising on your back now that you're by the outset trimester.

Remember to eat

Are yous and so busy that you sometimes forget to eat? Put a few "have you fed your babe?" reminders wherever yous spend a lot of time — similar on your dashboard, your estimator screen and the bath mirror.

If you're agape to eat considering you're still feeling queasy, know that nausea tin can really be made worse by an empty stomach. Fill your tum slowly, starting with fluids like water, fruit juices, smoothies and soups, then motility on to solids one time yous call back your tender tummy can handle information technology.

Try eating small meals or snacks every two to three hours to help regulate your claret sugar levels and digestion, specially if you're notwithstanding dealing with forenoon sickness.

Skip the tattoos

Thinking of commemorating your pregnancy past getting a tattoo? Recall once again. While not much of the ink or its particles will enter your bloodstream, there is a risk of infection any time you get stuck with a needle. Not a expert risk to have when you're trying to stay salubrious for 2.

Plus, a new tattoo that looks symmetrical on your pare might become lopsided or distorted later you regain your pre-pregnancy shape!

If you lot already have a tattoo, no trouble — just sit down back and lookout it stretch! Your bikini-line butterfly might just starting time soaring similar an eagle!

Get ready to proceeds weight

In your second trimester, your infant starts to grow in earnest. Your weight gain should selection up so that if you started your pregnancy with a normal BMI of 18.v to 24.9, you'd gain a full of about 14 pounds.

For the best weight gain results, keep an centre on the scale within reason — no need to get too obsessive. Just what you don't know can throw your weight off-target. Endeavor to weigh yourself at the same fourth dimension every twenty-four hours (or every few days) earlier getting dressed or while wearing the aforementioned clothes.

Shop smart at the grocery store

When shopping for groceries, think fresh, not processed. Fresh foods naturally provide more vitamins and minerals, and they comprise less carbohydrate, salt, calories, fat and additives than their processed counterparts.

A notable exception to fresh-is-ever-best: Frozen fruits and vegetables that aren't packed with sugar or salt are often at least equally nutritious, or even more so, than fresh produce. Ditto for the canned variety.

Choose pregnancy-proof workout gear

The heat's on when you're expecting, thanks to a metabolism heave. And then when dressing for exercise success, play information technology absurd. Vesture loose, breathable, stretchable workout wearing apparel during pregnancy, right down to your undies (which should exist cotton wool).

Choose a bra — maybe a sports bra — that provides enough of support for your larger breasts but that doesn't compression in one case you get moving.

If your sneakers are showing their historic period, replace them now to minimize your chances of injury or falls. While you're at it, make sure you're wearing the right sneakers for your fitness routine.

From the What to Expect editorial team and Heidi Murkoff, author ofWhat to Wait When You're Expecting. What to Await follows strict reporting guidelines and uses but credible sources, such every bit peer-reviewed studies, academic enquiry institutions and highly respected wellness organizations. Learn how we keep our content accurate and up-to-date past reading our medical review and editorial policy.

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  • KidsHealth From Nemours, Calendar week fourteen, 2021.
  • Mayo Dispensary, Fetal Development: The 2nd Trimester, June 2020.
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  • Mayo Clinic, Is It Safe to Take Antibiotics During Pregnancy?, Oct 2017.
  • National Heart, Lung, and Claret Institute, Varicose Veins.
  • U.S. Department of Wellness and Human Services, Part on Women's Wellness, Varicose Veins and Spider Veins, March 2019.
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  • Neuroscience News, Tattoos Are More than Than Skin Deep: Ink Can Attain Lymph Nodes, September 2017.
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