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 developmentYou 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.
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 developmentThis 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.
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