Pregnancy – Fourth Month Changes
Four months down, what do you think the little one is up to? Believe it or not, sucking, kicking and blinking!
Fourth month begins from approximately 14th week and lasts till 17th week. By this point, your baby can move and kick. Its sucking and swallowing reflexes have been totally formed and it can even suck its thumb! Fingers and toes are also well developed and finger prints and toe prints have formed too. The baby now produces urine and is actually urinating into the amniotic fluid. The placenta is fully developed and provides nourishment and oxygen to your baby. The lungs also continue to grow, and as a part of that the baby will “breathe” amniotic fluid.
By the middle of this month, the external genitalia become distinguishable. All 20 teeth are formed too. The baby’s face, right down to the external ears will be well developed. As your baby’s ear bones begin to harden in the fourth month, it may begin to sense some sounds, though hearing will not be complete until the seventh month. It can frown, squint and scowl. Your baby has eyes facing forward now and it begins to blink. Although it cannot see yet, its retinas are becoming sensitive to light. Eyebrows and scalp hair are beginning to appear. Your baby is now covered with a soft layer of thick, downy hair called lanugo. At the end of the sixteenth week your baby will be around 5.5 inches from crown to rump and weighs 6 oz, and your baby is now big enough that its heartbeat can be heard with a regular stethoscope. If you are having a girl, her uterus has formed and her ovaries are equipped with primitive egg cells.
Fourth Month Symptoms Of Pregnancy
You will find that nausea and fatigue have diminished. Due to which, you’ll have more energy and your appetite will return. For most women, the second trimester is a pleasant time. The lifetime experience of nurturing another human within you begins to come true.
The hormonal changes in your body are becoming more evident. Moles and freckles grow darker due to an increase in estrogen. Dark blotches called chloasma, or “mask of pregnancy” can appear on the cheeks, forehead and bridge of the nose. Your heart is working overtime; increasing its output to supply the growing baby with oxygen. By this time, your belly will start to bulge more. A dark brown line named “linea nigera” may appear from the middle of your abdomen to your pubic bone. This shows that your bulging uterus is shifting upward. Hope you have shopped for maternity clothes as its time to adorn them.
In this trimester you will gain about eleven to fifteen pounds of weight and also develop varicose veins or hemorrhoids. By the end of the fourth month, you actually sense your child inside you. The sensation feels like a butterfly fluttering in your abdomen. These first movements are called “quickening.” Your baby growing at such a fast pace might make you feel fatigued and breathless once in a while but its so worth the breath taking experience of being a momma.
