The Size of a Baby at 13 Weeks
At thirteen weeks pregnant, you're in the final week of your first trimester. (Can you believe you're already a third of the manner through your pregnancy?!)
If you're similar many parents-to-be, you may brainstorm to tell people you lot're meaning around week 13, merely it's up to you when to give friends and family the news that baby is on the way.
Your Baby at Week 13
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Your sweet fetus has grown to iii inches long — well-nigh the size of a sweetness Georgia peach — and now her little body is poised to begin growing at lightning speed. What's the blitz? Well, information technology's got to catch up to that noggin, which makes upwards one-half of your baby'southward body size at this point. And catch upwards it will. By the time your little star makes her grand entrance, that head will be only one-fourth the size of her body.
More big progress this week: The intestines complete their movement out of their storage space in the umbilical cord and into their permanent dwelling house in babe's abdomen. To nourish that tiny tum and the other systems and organs that are growing similar crazy, baby'southward lifeline — the placenta — is expanding. It weighs just an ounce now, merely at nativity information technology'll tip the scale at a full ii pounds! That'll sure help to explain your blossoming belly in the weeks to come.
At that place are enough of subtle changes happening this week as well: fingernails and downy hair on the torso continue to brand their appearance. Babe's bones keep to harden. And those genitals brainstorm to take on their gender characteristics, but it'south nevertheless too early to tell by looking whether you've got a bouncing babe boy or girl inside.
The muscles of the breast wall are starting to develop, and though she's nowhere near prepare to exhale, she's already practicing upwardly with little animate movements. And long before baby says her start "mama" or "dada," her vocal cords are forming, gearing upward for that very predictable first cry…the first of many, that is!
At a Glance
Eyes wide shut
While babe's optics have arrived, they're not open. His eyelids are fused shut to protect those tiny peepers every bit they keep to develop.
The phonation
The promise of laughter, cries and very first words start now with the formation of vocal cords.
Balancing out
That big baby head is getting more in residuum with the rest of the body. Correct now, his caput is about half the size of his total frame.
xiii weeks significant is how many months?
If you're 13 weeks pregnant, you're in month iii of your pregnancy. Just 6 months left to go! Still accept questions? Here's some more data on how weeks, months and trimesters are broken down in pregnancy.
How big is my baby at 13 weeks?
Likewise being as large as a lemon now, that head of his is now about half the size of his crown-to-rump length. That's ane reason why your little one looks more similar an conflicting from outer space at this point. By the time you give birth, his trunk will grab up, measuring three-quarters of his total size.
But don't compare your fetus with the fetus side by side door. Starting in the next week or so, babies begin growing at different paces, some faster than others, some more slowly, though they all follow the same developmental path.
Baby'due south intestines and vocal cords are developing
What else is going on in there? At 13 weeks meaning, tiny bones are commencement to form in his artillery and legs. Because he tin move them in a jerky manner, he may exist able to get his thumb into his mouth presently — a habit that may come in handy for self-soothing when he's a newborn.
Your baby's intestines are also in for some large changes. Until recently, they've been growing in a cavity inside the umbilical cord, but they've only moved into their permanent — and more conveniently located — address, in your baby's abdomen. And to serve your growing fetus' needs, the placenta is as well growing, somewhen weighing ane to 2 pounds at nascency.
Also developing this week: your baby's vocal cords (the first footstep toward saying, "I dear you, Mommy!"). You patently tin can't hear him crying or cooing simply yet, but yous tin can bet that little voice will get a adept workout in one case he's born.
Your Trunk at Week 13
Feeling more than similar yourself?
Now that y'all're xiii weeks meaning and just a calendar week away from the second trimester, yous should be feeling pretty skilful soon. After all, the second trimester doesn't become its reputation for being the easiest and most comfortable of the iii for nothing.
Simply if you're not feeling improve even so, don't worry. While near early on pregnancy symptoms volition probably be behind you soon, some women find that nausea and fatigue linger into the fourth and fifty-fifty fifth months.
And unfortunately for some women, those and other usual starting time trimester suspects — such as bloating, constipation, headaches and breast tenderness — can continue to some extent throughout pregnancy.
Vaginal discharge
Of grade, fifty-fifty though the 2d trimester is known as the trimester of smoothen sailing, it doesn't hateful you'll be symptom-gratis in the nearly futurity — far from it.
Something else you might have noticed recently is an increase in your vaginal discharge. Known equally leukorrhea (try getting that right in a spelling bee), this perfectly normal discharge is thin and milky in color, or mild-smelling or sometimes even odorless. Plus, it'll probably increase as your pregnancy progresses.
Leukorrhea is caused by the stepped-up production of estrogen equally well every bit the increased blood menstruum to the pelvic expanse. Its purpose is noble: to protect the birth canal from infection and maintain a healthy rest of bacteria in the vagina. Unfortunately, in achieving its lofty goal, leukorrhea can make a mess of your underwear.
If it makes you more comfortable, use a panty liner, never a tampon, to stay dry out. Merely never douche while you're significant, which can upset the normal balance of microorganisms, lead to vaginal infections and even force air into the vagina during pregnancy, which tin can be dangerous.
Sexual practice during pregnancy
With all the extra belch downwardly at that place plus your burgeoning belly, you may be wondering whether your feelings about jumping into bed are normal. Try to go with the flow: When it comes to pregnancy sex, anything goes.
You may non be in the mood at all or you may be upwards for sex a lot more than usual. All of information technology is normal and likely to continue fluctuating equally your pregnancy progresses.
Having twins?
Your belly's already bursting out of the seams of your largest jeans and you're but finishing up the showtime trimester. Could you be having twins? Maybe — especially if you lot have a history of congenial twins in your family or you lot're over 35 (or both).
But there are other more probable explanations for your seemingly larger-than-life belly. For instance, it could be that your due date's off and your bigger-than-expected tummy is the result of a bigger-than-expected babe.
Or information technology could be that you lot're simply full of it — gas, that is. Bloating can make a pregnant abdomen distend well beyond its weeks. It's also possible that you're taking the eating-for-two mandate a trivial besides literally — say, you took everything you ate before yous became pregnant and doubled it, leading to your early on midsection expansion.
To find out what's really going on in there, cheque with your practitioner at your next visit. Who knows — you lot just might have ii buns in your oven after all. You can't tell from the outside, no matter what your grandmother says!
Pregnancy Symptoms Week 13
Decreasing fatigue
Food cravings and aversions
Heartburn and indigestion
Constipation
Visible veins
Faintness or dizziness
Tips for You lot This Week
Embrace your sex drive
Your second trimester is around the corner, and with information technology often comes a boost in sex drive. Enjoy!
What'southward more, that spike in libido might accept some wellness benefits for you and baby, since pregnancy sex can speed up postpartum recovery by tightening your pelvic flooring muscles and better your slumber and mood.
But if you take a history of early labor or miscarriage, yous may demand to abstain. Talk to your doctor about what yous're safely able to do.
Go on taking your prenatal
Your baby's nervous arrangement and spinal cord are among the first things to develop, and folic acrid (aka folate) — which is found naturally in whole grains, green leafy vegetables, beans, bananas, broccoli and milk, and added via fortification to breads and cereals — is essential to neural tube development.
The recommended amount of folic acrid is 400 micrograms (mcg) before pregnancy and 400 to 600 mcg once you're pregnant. Make sure your prenatal vitamin contains that amount or that y'all're getting that much from all sources, including food.
Watch portion sizes
If you lot've been struggling with constipation, endeavor not to max out at mealtimes. Eating big meals can overtax your digestive tract and crusade things to get backed up.
Instead, endeavor eating six mini-meals a day rather than three large ones. You might experience less gas and bloating that way too.
Become enough calcium
It does a growing infant trunk skilful, building potent bones and teeth. But calcium likewise does your body skilful, as well — helping to maintain solid bone density and prevent osteoporosis later in life, and lowering your adventure of preeclampsia at present.
And so make sure you "got milk" and other calcium-loaded foods, like fortified juice, almonds, sesame seeds, soy products, dark-green leafies, canned salmon and broccoli.
Eat iron-rich foods
When you lot're making a baby, you're in the claret-making concern — large-time. Since atomic number 26 helps generate blood supply, it'due south a nutrient you'll need enough of to keep your body's and your baby's supply of red in the black.
Up your intake of this vital mineral past eating such fe-rich foods as beef, duck, soy products, spinach, dried fruits and potatoes with the skins on. Your practitioner may also suggest a supplement after calendar week 20 to proceed your iron levels high enough as blood demand steps up.
Don't peel some of your fruit
Baby got you backed upward? Finish peeling fruit like apples and peaches.
One apple with peel has 4.4 grams of constipation-quelling fiber, while ½ cup of applesauce has just 1 gram. Equally for apple juice, some drinks may not have any.
Fight off a cold
Every bit if you didn't have enough pregnancy symptoms to contend with, you're also more susceptible to colds when you're expecting. What'south more than, many of the medications that relieve cold symptoms are off-limits during pregnancy.
To feel ameliorate faster, exist sure to drink upwards — warm beverages, like ginger tea and chicken broth, are particularly soothing, only h2o and common cold juices will help you lot stay hydrated too.
Gargling with table salt water (¼ teaspoon of salt to viii ounces of warm water) can help ease a sore pharynx, and eating a few teaspoons of love may help get rid of a coughing.
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Source: https://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/week-by-week/week-13.aspx
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