Pregnancy - week by week: Week 14 – 15

Week 14
Your baby has grown to about 3 1/2 inches in length and is now 1 to 2 ounces in weight. The baby now begins to practice inhaling and exhaling movements. The eyes and ears continue to move to their final destinations. The neck is getting a little longer before it has reached its expected length. The chin will no longer rest on the chest, too. The tiny baby hands are becoming functional, and the baby is beginning to learn to move them. The placenta is the complete nutritional source for the baby.

Baby’s heartbeat can now easily be heard with a Doppler. Your OB will most likely show this to you on your next visit. Most heartbeat monitors for home usage will have difficulties picking up the heartbeat yet.

At this point the pregnancy hormones are leveling off a bit. This means less nausea, less frequent urination and less exhaustion for Mom. However, you will eventually be experiencing some constipation since the hormones have relaxed your bowel muscles. As a result they will work slower and less efficiently = constipation during pregnancy. In addition to that your uterus is also pressing on your bowel. Adding fiber to your diet will help to ease these problems a little bit.

Your body is preparing itself for breastfeeding already. Your veins on your chest and breasts are dilated and more visible. The areolas of your breasts may be darkening and growing in size/diameter.

Week 15
Baby’s bones are getting harder now each day. The skin is very thin and still transparent; if you would see the baby in person you could even see blood vessels through the skin. At this point the baby is covered with a fine soft hair (Lanugo) over most of the body – everywhere except the palms, soles, lips, penis, nails, and the sides of the fingers and toes. Lanugo will continue to grow until around the 26th week of pregnancy.

Moms uterus will begin rising past your hipbones any time now. You probably can feel it about three to four inches just below your navel. During your pregnancy doctor appointments, your OB will be measuring "fundal height" to make sure your baby is growing consistently. Fundal height is the distance from the top of the uterus to the pubic bone. Using a measuring tape to determine mom’s 'fundal height' during her pregnancy was first introduced in the late 1970's. By using this method the rate discovering very small babies increased from 30%-50% to 56%-86%.

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