Pregnancy Week – 13

Congratulations! You have one week left in completing your first trimester. Now that you're 13 weeks pregnant and just a week away from the second trimester, you should be feeling pretty good soon. But if you're not feeling better yet, don't worry.

Sangeeta Jain Jun 2, 2018 3905 0

Pregnancy Week – 13

Congratulations! You have one week left in completing your first trimester. Now that you're 13 weeks pregnant and just a week away from the second trimester, you should be feeling pretty good soon. But if you're not feeling better yet, don't worry. While most early pregnancy symptoms will probably soon be behind you, some women find that nausea and fatigue linger into the fourth and even fifth months.

How big is your 13 weeks baby?

Your beautiful baby is the size of a Meyer lemon this week—and his vocal cords are beginning to develop. The fetus can swim about quite vigorously. It is now about 7.4cm (2.9in) from head to bottom (crown to rump). He weighs nearly 23g (0.8oz) (Hill 2016a, Moore 2016).

Pregnancy Belly Week 13

Your uterus is now big enough that it’s growing up and out of your pelvis. That means you’re starting to actually look pregnant. You may notice your belly beginning to show and that you need to loosen the clothing around your waistline. However, at this stage many women say they just feel 'fat', rather than pregnant.
Expect to look more and more pregnant from here on out because pregnancy at 13 weeks calls for a weight gain increase. OBs recommend you gain weight in the healthiest way possible—that means slowly and steadily throughout your pregnancy.

Pregnancy Symptoms Week 13

At this stage, some of the pregnancy symptoms you may experience are:

You can see all those blue streaks under your skin because you have increased blood flow.
Now that your body has had a trimester to adjust to pregnancy, you may be starting to feel a little less tired these days.
Do your best to find healthy foods that appeal to you and give yourself permission to indulge in small portions of the junk foods you crave.
During pregnancy, the muscle at the top of the stomach relaxes, allowing digestive acids to rise up into the esophagus — causing a burning in the chest
Your bowel muscles also relax during pregnancy (due to hormones), which means your bowels will be less efficient at moving waste out of your system.

Pregnancy Ultrasound Week 13

A 13-week ultrasound could detect baby’s gender, but since it can be pretty tough to make out little boy or girl parts, your doctor will probably wait until the mid-pregnancy ultrasound (around 18 to 22 weeks), when it will be much more obvious, to look and see whether you’re having a girl or a boy.

If you’ve chosen to have prenatal cell-free DNA testing, also known as non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT), to screen for chromosomal abnormalities, you’ll be able to find out the gender when you get your results. Hey, at 13 weeks, you may already know! Oh boy! (Or girl!)

Pregnancy Lifestyle Week 13

At your first prenatal appointment, your health care provider probably gave you a prescription for prenatal vitamins. Taking these supplements, in addition to eating a healthy diet, ensures your baby gets needed vitamins and minerals, such as folic acid, zinc, iron, and calcium, which aid growth and development. Talk to your pharmacist about the best way to take your vitamins (such as whether they should be taken with food).
You may be able to get away with wearing looser or more elasticised pants and skirts for a while longer, but in the coming weeks you will need to start considering maternity clothing.

Pregnancy Checklist Week 13

Reminders for the week: