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Info Centre - Your pregnancy: 13-16 weeks
Your pregnancy: 13-16 weeks
Your baby
At 16 weeks, your baby is about 16cm long and weighs about 135g. Her limbs and vital organs are now fully formed, and from now on she will just carry on growing in size.
You
Thirteen weeks marks the start of the second trimester – or second third – of your pregnancy.
The risk of miscarriage drops considerably at this stage. See “Miscarriage” for more information.
By 16 weeks, you will have put some weight on – about 2kg to 4kg – and you will probably have a noticeable bump.
If you’ve been feeling sick or tired, there’s a good chance you’ll start feeling better now, and you may find your need to urinate frequently goes away too. On the downside, some women start to get constipation at this point. Pregnancy hormones soften your muscles and ligaments, which can make your bowels move more slowly. You can help by drinking plenty of water or fruit juice and eating lots of fruit and vegetables. See “Pregnancy niggles and discomforts” for more information.
This is a good time to contact your local branch of the NCT about NCT antenatal classes. These will give you lots of help in preparing for the birth, and are a good way of making friends with other expectant mothers and their partners. Click here for more information.
During pregnancy, your pelvic floor muscles, which hold your bladder, bowel and uterus in place, can weaken. This can create incontinence problems in later life, so it is useful to start doing pelvic floor exercises in pregnancy and continue after giving birth. See “Looking after your pelvic floor” for information about how to do them and how they can help.
At about 16 weeks, you will usually have your second antenatal check with a midwife. She will check your blood pressure and carry out another urine check. This is also an opportunity to tell her whether you are having any problems, or to ask questions about anything that may be worrying you. See “Screening and testing” for more information.
Scans
You are not obliged however to have any scans if you do not want them. You will normally be offered an ultrasound scan at between eight and 14 weeks of pregnancy however. If you decide to have this scan, it may take place at the same time as your booking-in appointment or it may be booked separately.
During the scan you will lie down while a scanner is passed over your abdomen, and the baby’s image appears on a monitor.
The scan will:
- Check the baby’s measurements to confirm your estimate of when the baby is due (If the measurements give a different estimate of your due date, your date will be adjusted as it is felt that the scan information is more accurate.)
- Check that the baby is developing as expected at this stage
- Find out if you are carrying more than one baby
- Detect some major abnormalities
- Give an indication of the sex of the baby – though a normal ultrasound scan will not be able to tell you for certain at this stage. If you would prefer NOT to know the sex of your baby, then you will need to tell the person carrying out the scan.
Some, but not all, hospitals offer a nuchal translucency scan between 11 and 14 weeks of pregnancy as part of a screening programme for Down’s Syndrome. (If your NHS hospital does not offer it, you can choose to have the test done privately.)
You may also be offered a blood test, known as serum screening, either with or without the nuchal translucency scan.
If the screening tests indicate that you have an increased chance of Down’s syndrome, you may be offered an amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling. These are diagnostic tests that can give you a definite answer as to whether the baby has Down’s.
See “Screening and testing” for more information about the nuchal translucency scan, amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling.
