15 weeks pregnant: Hello, energy!
You start to feel less tired and more energised, while your baby is busy flexing her muscles. What else is happening this week?
“Woo hoo” for trimester two! At last, you should be getting over the morning sickness and general exhaustion of the past few months. Here’s what else is going on around this time.
What’s happening at 15 weeks…
Your body
Your bump probably isn’t yet big enough to get in the way of most things and you may feel much more energetic after those weeks of working hard to grow your bub (and their placenta!). If you’re lucky, you’ll start to feel even livelier than usual! To help ensure you’re getting the nutrients and vitamins you need, consider a pregnancy supplement such as Perdays Pregnancy Iron & Vitamin C supplement.
The mask
You’ve probably noticed that a dark line – the linea nigra – has appeared down the centre of your abdomen. You may also find that your skin colour becomes more pigmented: in particular, moles, birthmarks and freckles may darken. The skin on your face may darken, known as chloasma, or the ‘mask of pregnancy’. All these changes are normal and your skin will return to normal after birth. Wear sunblock to prevent the pigmentation becoming more pronounced.
Don’t eat your heart out…
There’s nothing romantic about heartburn, an unpleasant, burning sensation in your chest. It’s caused by over-enthusiastic pregnancy hormones making the valve at the top of your stomach relax, allowing stomach acid to pass back into the oesophagus – which hurts.
Help yourself by avoiding over-eating and not eating just before bedtime. Spicy and fatty foods can also trigger heartburn. You may find drinking a glass of milk just before going to bed helps to ease the discomfort; eating five or six small meals a day instead of three large ones can also help. Burnt out? Ask your pharmacist to recommend an antacid that’s safe during pregnancy.
Suffering heartburn? Avoiding spicy and fatty foods can also help.
Your baby
Your baby is about 9cm long from crown to rump and weighs about 50g. She’s about the size of a tennis ball, but is still very scrawny, with no fat. Her skin is red and so transparent that bones and blood vessels can be seen through it. Her body and head are now covered with lanugo, a fine layer of downy hair.
Body-building
The bones that initially formed from soft cartilage are getting harder (ossifying) and retaining calcium, which makes them strong (make sure you are getting enough calcium so bubba doesn’t use your stores – try Perdays Pregnancy Calcium and Vit D). If you were to have an x-ray (not advisable during pregnancy!), your baby’s perfectly formed skeleton would be visible. She’s flexing some of her muscles: she can grasp with her hands, squint and frown. She also starts to ‘look’ around beneath her closed eyelids, scanning to the right and left.
Great taste!
Your baby could start sucking her thumb: one of the earliest known reflexes, this may give her comfort for months (even years) after birth. She’s also making ‘rooting’ movements with her mouth, in preparation for latching on to your nipple when feeding after birth.
