14 Weeks Pregnant  - Your pregnancy symptoms at 14 weeks

You are finally, officially, in your second trimester. This is when you glow, allegedly; those sore breasts, as well as the morning sickness and exhaustion should hopefully be lifting. Your uterus is about the size of a fist, and it’s moving upwards – you should be able to feel the top of it an inch or so above your pubic bone. This means that urge to pee constantly should be decreasing too.

14 weeks pregnant bump

You might finally be starting to look like you’re pregnant, rather than just had too much pasta for lunch. Don’t be alarmed if there is little to no bump, or you popped ages ago; everyone is different and your bump size depends on your genetics, if you’ve had kids before, your build prior to pregnancy, bloating, and also even how the baby and uterus are sitting. So when someone comments on the size of your bump, just remember it’s beautiful regardless of size.

Investing in a couple of pairs of ultra comfortable maternity pants makes everything so much more pleasant; once you’ve transitioned from ‘this is too tight and am I hurting my baby’ pants to ‘stretchy with no waist limits’, you’ll never look back.

Stomach pains at 14 weeks pregnant

The other side effect of a growing baby bump is round ligament pain. Basically, these are growing pains, as your abdomen expands and changes to support the weight of your bump. They can be a long term aching, or short sharp pains (or both), along the side and bottom of your uterus, across the lower hip region. These can be worse if you change positions suddenly, sneeze or cough. Remember that they are simply your ligaments stretching and thinning out- it’s not hurting the baby at all. The only way to alleviate the pain is resting with your feet up, and being mindful and making slow, steady, supported movements.

Lowered immune system in the second trimester

When you’re pregnant, your body can perceive your baby as a foreign threat, a parasite. In order to keep your baby safe, your immune system automatically lowers it functioning to ensure your baby stays safe and isn’t rejected.

This means that you need to take extra precautions when pregnant, both in terms of eating well to support healthy body function, but also to protect yourself from bugs, viruses and germs. Wash your hands regularly, don’t share food and drinks, use hand sanitiser, and avoid sick people if you can. If your partner has a cold, don’t feel bad about banishing them to the couch; it’s for the best.

How to start planning for your baby’s arrival

Now that you’re through most of the uncertainty and struggles of the first trimester, it’s a good time to start thinking about what you need to get ready for your baby's arrival. It helps to get organized early as if you leave it until later in your pregnancy you will find you have less brain space, and less energy for shopping. While there are some benefits to waiting, like friends and whanau volunteering their second hand gears for your newcomer, a good place to start organising is by creating your list of baby must-haves.

Check out our baby essentials list. To see what other mums recommend, visit the Product Reviews section of our OHbaby! Message Boards. Remember that everyone considers different things ‘must-haves’, and don’t feel like you have to buy everything. There are a lot of non-essential things that you won’t need, and some things other parents have found essential, you may not.

14 weeks pregnant symptoms

There’s a whole range of things that can be going on with your body.

Varicose veins: These swollen blood vessels in your legs are caused or exacerbated by the extra blood flow in your body. Keep active, but when you do rest, raise your legs above your heart level.

Stuffy nose and snoring: Also due to excess blood flow, you might find yourself with a permanently stuffy blocked nose and you may even start snoring. A humidifier may help you sleep easier.

Increased appetite: Wave goodbye to morning sickness and nausea, and say hello to The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Try to have yummy but healthy snacks on hand so you can nibble away throughout the day. Fruit, hummus, smoothies, vegetable sticks, peanut butter, cheese… 

Moles changing: Pregnancy can do weird things, and one of them is changing skin and moles. It’s likely that pregnancy is to blame but get them checked out by your GP anyway.

Your baby at 14 weeks pregnant

Your baby's heartbeat is around twice as fast as an adults and should be very strong. At this stage it is able to be detected by ultrasound, if you have an appointment with your midwife or obstetrician this week he or she may be able to hear your baby's heartbeat with a handheld Doppler device.

The placenta will be fully operational now, nourishing your foetus and producing hormones. Hair will be growing on your baby's head, eyebrows and body now, although it won’t have any colour just yet. The baby also has lanugo, which is a fine downy hair that covers the entire body. This helps to keep your baby toasty warm. As he or she gains fat and plumps up, they lose the lanugo, so it’s unlikely to be present when they are born.

How big is baby at 14 weeks pregnant?

Over the past seven days your baby will have more than doubled in weight (which sounds like a lot, but he or she has gained about the same as three 50c coins). Your baby is now about 9cm long from crown to rump and weighs about 30g. Their neck is getting longer so the chin no longer rests on the chest. In fact, the baby will be ‘standing’ up straight at present—while there’s still room before they grow and take up all the room in your insides.

Can you tell the sex of the baby at 14 weeks?

Around the 14 week mark is when the prostate gland develops in boys, and in girls, the ovaries move from the abdomen to the pelvis. This is about when fully developed genitals make their grand entrance, although it’s still hard to see on an ultrasound—it’s likely you’ll have to wait til about the 20 week mark to find out what sex your baby is.