13th week of pregnancy: The 13th week of pregnancy at a glance
In the 13th week of pregnancy, your baby tests his newly awakened sense of touch and begins to swallow the amniotic fluid. Now you have arrived in the second trimester of your pregnancy.
The development of your baby in the 13th week of pregnancy
In the 13th week of pregnancy, your uterus is as big as a fist. Your baby is already mimicking breathing and stretching his diaphragm. The vocal cords in the larynx of your six-centimetre-tall and 14-gram baby are already developing. The training of its organs has already been completed, but they still have to grow and grow in size to their full functioning. Bones have emerged from your child’s cartilage tissue in the 13th week of pregnancy. The body now grows faster than the head.
In theultrasound image, the ribs as well as the leg and pelvic bones are clearly visible. Your child tests his newly awakened sense of touch and even plays with the umbilical cord. If you gently bump against your belly and your baby feels the touch, then he will start to move. However, you will not yet feel the child movements in the 13th week of pregnancy. Also, the sex of the baby can still not be clearly seen on the ultrasound.
Your body in the 13th week of pregnancy
With this week you have already completed thefirst trimesterand are at the beginning of the second. At the same time, the so-called adaptation phase begins in the 13th week of pregnancy, in which most women accept and affirm their physical and mental changes.
From now on, your energy needs are increased, which is noticeable with increased appetite. You now need around 300 calories more every day and this will soon be noticeable in your weight. As a precaution, you can getcomfortable maternity wearfor the next time, as the belly should not be pressed in. Your breasts have already grown significantly by the 13th week of pregnancy and in some women some milk is already coming out of the nipples, although theforemilkis only formed in the breasts around the 21st week of pregnancy. It may be that the premature milk flow subsides again, begins in a later week of pregnancy or only immediately before birth.