pregnancy | week by week

Your clenched fist

Your Baby's Size =

Week 14: The Reproductive System Starts to Develop

And the thyroid goes to work!

While many areas of your baby’s body become further refined during the 14th week of pregnancy, much of the development this week focuses on your baby’s small reproductive system:

• When you’re 14 weeks pregnant, your baby is probably about the length of your clenched fist.
• In boys, the prostate gland is forming. In girls, ovaries are moving into the pelvis from the abdominal area.
• Your baby’s thyroid gland is now working and making hormones.
  
• By your 14th week of pregnancy, your baby’s palate, or the roof of her mouth, has completely formed.
• Your baby already might be, or soon will begin, growing body hair (called “lanugo”), which will temporarily keep your baby warm until her baby fat accumulates.
• Your baby’s head will grow to four times her current size and will increase 60 times in volume by the time baby is born!

Healthy Snacking

Eat right for two by keeping nutritious snacks on hand.

Pack and keep your own healthful, nutritionally balanced snacks close at hand, or in a refrigerator at home or work. Here are some smart snack suggestions for pregnancy:

• 1/2 ounce toasted almonds with dried cranberries or apricots
• One oatmeal cookie and 1 cup of skim milk or low-fat yogurt
• One orange or banana, plus 1 ounce of string cheese or 2 tablespoons of peanut butter
• One low-fat granola bar and 1 cup of calcium- and vitamin D–fortified orange juice