Pregnancy Week 16
How big is your baby?
This week your baby measures 11.6cm (4.57 inches) and weighs in at around 100g (3.53 ounces).
Your baby's development continues this week to be fast, and this will lead to you
noticing an increase in weight gain.
Your baby's development
You may be able to
feel your baby move now! Many women describe this as the feeling of a gas bubble moving about,
other describe it as pop corn popping. If you can't feel your baby move, there is no need to panic as you should start feeling it move soon, usually between 16-24 weeks.
By now your baby's head will be covered with lanugo. Fingernails are well formed and
your babys toenails will also begin to grow this week. Your baby's body will
also begin to grow faster than the head now and his/her body will become more in
proportion to a normal body ratio.
Your babys head and neck muscles continue to get stronger and stronger, and this
results in your baby's head being more erect in a straight line.
Alpha Protein Testing is usually carried out between weeks 16 and 18. The timing of this test is very important and must be correlated to your gestational age and your weight,
otherwise the results may not be accurate.
An elevated level of alpha protein may indicate problems with your baby, such as spina bifida, (spinal cord problem), or anecephaly, (central nervous system defect). Some researchers have found a direct association between alpha protein and Down Syndrome.
Should the alpha protein tests return an abnormal result, a careful ultrasound will be done to look for signs of
spina bifida, anecephaly or down syndrome.
Your development
This week your uterus will be weighing about 83/4 ounces
(3.73kg's) and will be 3 inches (7.62cm) below your belly button. One of the
advantages of your uterus moving higher up is that you may notice less pressure
on your bladder, and so you will not be feeling like you constantly need to
urinate.
You may notice that your breast begin to leak a clear fluid - this is not
colostrum - as this will only appear towards the end of week 18. This is usually
a build up of fluid which has accumulated in your mammary glands as a result of
the changing hormones over the course of your pregnancy so far.
It is not uncommon for pregnant women to suffer from
nasal congestion, which can
lead to headaches,
increased sensitivity to allergies and other discomforts. Some women report that
drinking ginger
herbal tea
often helps relieve nasal congestion.
You may also have an amniocentesis test
performed between weeks 16 and 18 if your health care provider has offered or
suggested this to you. This is done by passing a needle through the abdominal wall into the uterus and drawing amniotic fluid, generally about 30ml. An amniocentesis test will identify if your baby has one of the following complications:
 Chromosomal problems
Fetal sex complications
Skeletal diseases
Fetal Infections
Hematologic (blood) diseases
Inborn metabolism complications
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