4 months

Week 15
(counting from first day of last menstrual period)
Around 13 Weeks After Conception

Please keep in mind that this information is approximate. Each pregnancy is different and growth rates vary. If you have any questions, please check with your care provider.

Fetal Development:

If you have an ultrasound now, you may notice your baby sucking his/her thumb. The bones are getting harder each day. The baby's skin is very thin and transparent; you can see blood vessels through the skin. Lanugo, a very fine hair, covers the body and will continue growing on the baby until around the 26th gestational week ofpregnancy. Maternal Changes: Your uterus will begin rising past your hipbones any time now. You can feel it about three to four inches below your navel. During your appointments, your care provider will be measuring "fundal height" to make sure your baby is growing consistently and adequately. Fundal height is the distance from the top of the uterus (fundus) to the pubic bone.

Boy or Girl? Should We Find Out?

If you have an ultrasound in the next few weeks, the technician may be able to make an "educated guess" at the gender of your baby. (Keep in mind, gender determination via ultrasound is not 100% reliable and is only as good as the person doing the scan.) If you have an amniocentesis, gender can be reliably determined via the chromosomes. Neither of these tests are performed (or should be performed) just to find out the baby's sex. If your care provider recommends these tests for various reasons, ask yourself if you really want to know your baby's gender. The majority of parents nowadays do want to know, but if you love a special surprise, it's perfectly okay to tell the tech/care provider that you do NOT want to know the gender. Read what other StorkNet readers said about this

Ideas for Dad:

Make sure you hug mom often. Research tells us that the more hugs mom gets, the more she'll hug the baby (and you too)! Week 16 (counting from first day of last menstrual period) Around 14 Weeks After Conception Please keep in mind that this information is approximate. Each pregnancy is different and growth rates vary. If you have any questions, please check with your care provider. Fetal Development: If you haven't already, you may begin to feel movement as the baby's bones harden. If you are somewhat overweight, have a thick uterus, and/or if this is your first pregnancy, you may not be feeling baby yet or feeling baby regularly. Don't panic! You will soon. The legs are now longer than the arms, and s/he is moving those arms and legs frequently, especially since there's still lots of room to move within the uterus. Fingernails and toenails are growing too. In fact, some babies need their nails clipped right after birth! Multiples: Each twin is about 4 inches and 120 grams! Maternal Changes: Do you have a stuffy nose or nosebleeds? As mentioned before, your blood volume increases 40% - 50%. This affects yourestrogen levels which in turn swells your nasal membranes. This increased blood volume also causes your heart to work harder to support your pregnancy. This isn't a problem for a healthy heart. Your ligaments continue to stretch, and you may be feeling achiness and pain in your abdomen. If you're planning to have anamniocentesis, it may be scheduled between 16 and 18 weeks. Multiples: Breast tenderness has probably subsided along with the nausea. Your waistline is definitely a thing of the past, and your feet may be swelling by the end of the day. Ideas for Dad: Dad, do you have a life insurance policy and a will? It may sound morbid to think about now but this is a perfect time to get both. If something should happen to either of your baby's parents, the other shouldn't have to worry about mortgage payments, college tuition, etc. Inspirational Thoughts: I imagine the moment of quickening as a sudden awakening of my own being, which never before had life. ~Evelyn Scott Your heart continues to increase the blood volume output to supply the baby with oxygen. Your enlarged heart is pumping about 20 percent more blood than it did before you were pregnant. This volume will actually continue to increase throughout your pregnancy and will result in an increased heart output of 30-50 percent by the time of delivery. However, this increase in blood volume may lead to a stuffy nose or even nose bleeds on occasion. As your blood volume increases it affects your estrogen level, and that leads to swelling of the nasal membranes, resulting in the stuffy nose or nosebleeds. I became 15 weeks on September 29th, 2030 and 16 weeks (4 months) pregnant on October 6, 2010. So I thought the morning sickness would of gone away by now, and for the most part, it has. But I throw up frequently, especially late at night and after I've eaten certain foods that my body just does not want in there anymore. I am feeling movement, and it's so exciting!! I describe it to my friends as a mild cramp, where it doesn't hurt, but just slight pressure in certain areas around my abdomen. BUT there are some moments where it feels like a sharp jab and makes me stop what I'm doing and put my hand there to comfort myself. When I become 18 weeks, we will go for another sonagram to find out the gender of the baby. So far, things are going great. I haven't been keeping up with knitting the baby blanket. I'm so tired most of the time. I can easily sleep all day. In other news, I just wanted to say, when women become pregnant, most people think "oh your life is over, you're going to have so much responsibility, what are you going to do about money?" Well. Things are working out in our favor. Sandy passed his GED so this means when he gets his diploma he can look for a better job, I can keep my lifeguard job (working at a table by the stairs to prevent people from sneaking into the aquatics venue) for as long as I want, a tenant living in the add-on apartment in the house Sandy and I rent a room from is being evicted so we get to move in there as soon as she leaves (and for the same cost as the rent we pay now! $700/m), AAAAAND Sandy bought a car a couple days ago! It's an '88 Dodge Aries, an old hoopdy, but it runs and it's 4-door so it'll be easy to get a car seat in and out of. This helps so much because if I'm working and he has the kid, he can just run him/her to my parents so they can watch the baby until I get off work and can pick him/her up. I'm covered by state insurance, so I get free medical visits and free dental (which I need to do ASAP because a couple teeth are bothering me). The insurance I have (Amerigroup) also covers the hospital bill for delivery, which can run over $6,000! Everything is falling into place and I'm no longer nervous about anything! I am fully supported by my friends and family, and cannot wait to have everyone meet this baby. I love him or her so much already.