At week 16 of pregnancy, you are now officially four months pregnant! Congratulations on nurturing your perfect little human being so far, mum-to-be. What developments in your little one can you expect this week? Let’s find out.
Pregnancy Week 16: How Big is Your Baby?
Your little one, at the start of the week, is 11.2cm long and weighs around 80g. To give you an idea of just how big that is, he/she is approximately the size of an avocado! How cute is that? Towards the end of the week, your baby will grow, even more, reaching 11.4cm in length, and 97g in weight.
Image Source: Thought Catalog
Pregnancy Week 16: Your Baby’s Development
In this week-by-week pregnancy guide, you’ll learn that:
- Your little one’s heart is pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and it will continue to increase as he grows
- Your baby already has skin covering his body, but it’s still translucent. Don’t worry as it will thicken as your pregnancy progresses. Hair follicles are also developing a pattern on your baby’s scalp.
- Your baby is busy strengthening his muscles, especially the ones in his back and face.
- Your baby is able to frown or squint.
- His eyelids are able to detect light now.
- His eyebrows and eyelashes are fully developed at this stage.
- With tiny bones growing in your baby’s ears, his hearing is beginning to develop.
Pregnancy Symptoms
Here are good and not-so-good symptoms that you may start to feel at week 16 of your pregnancy:
- You might begin to feel your baby move–but just barely when you’re sitting or lying down, as these movements will still be very gentle. If you’ve been pregnant before, you may already recognise those tiny flutters, also known as quickening.
- Your lungs are beginning to get crowded leaving you breathless at times.
- With your uterus pressing on your intestines you may feel constipated.
- The good news in this week-by-week pregnancy guide is that your hair and nails will start to grow faster. Your hair will probably look and feel more lustrous than before, and you may exhibit that much-awaited “pregnancy glow” everyone is talking about.
- You may feel a stabbing pain on one or both sides of your abdomen. This is because of the stretching of your round ligaments as your uterus grows. Learn more about round ligament pain here.
- If you aren’t feeling it yet, you may start to experience gas and bloating after a full meal. It’s because the hormone progesterone relaxes your digestive tract, leading to these unwanted pregnancy symptoms. You may also start to feel back pain which can get worse as your baby bump grows.
- Some mums report becoming more forgetful and absent-minded during pregnancy. It’s unknown how or why it happens exactly, but it’s likely that it’s a combination of stress and anxiety, fatigue, and hormones that is causing this. Read more about pregnancy brain here.
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Pregnancy Care: Your Checklist For Week 16 of Pregnancy
- With extra stress on your back and pelvic muscles, you may want to perform exercises to strengthen them.
- You should continue to eat well and not give in to all the unhealthy pregnancy cravings.
- You may experience dry and itchy skin, so use a good moisturizer to keep the scratching at bay.
- With the baby’s hearing in place, it is time to get your husband to start talking so the baby begins to recognise his father’s voice.
- Time to sign up for prenatal classes if you haven’t already. KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital runs an ongoing programme for mums-to-be.
- This is also the time the “pregnancy brain” sets in, making you more forgetful. To combat this, create lists of what needs to be done!
Your next week: 17 weeks pregnant
Your previous week: 15 weeks pregnant
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