The Second Trimester

What Yous Need to Know

  • During your second trimester prenatal visits, your health care provider will continue to check on your and your infant's health, including monitoring the fetal heartbeat.
  • The second trimester is the near physically enjoyable for most women. Morning sickness usually lessens past this time, and the farthermost tiredness and breast tenderness usually ease up.
  • Your fetus has now developed all its organs and systems and will now begin to grow in length and weight.
  • You may be able to feel the movement of the fetus for the starting time time at around twenty weeks. This phenomenon is called quickening.
  • A fetus built-in at the stop of 24 weeks may survive in a neonatal intensive care unit.

Prenatal Visits During the Second Trimester

During your second and third trimester prenatal visits, your health intendance provider may check the following, depending on your electric current medical status and the health of the fetus:

  • Any current symptoms or discomforts

  • Your weight

  • Your blood pressure

  • Urine test. This is done to discover albumin, a poly peptide that may signal pre-eclampsia or toxemia, and glucose (which may indicate hyperglycemia).

  • Growth, size and development of the fetus

  • Size of the uterus. Subsequently approximately 12 weeks of gestation, the uterus can be felt through the abdominal wall.

  • Height of the fundus (pinnacle of the uterus), starting at 20 weeks of gestation

  • Fetal heartbeat

The 2nd Trimester: What to Look

The second trimester marks a turning bespeak for the mother and fetus. You lot will usually begin to feel meliorate and commencement showing the pregnancy more. Your fetus has now developed all its organs and systems and will at present begin growing in length and weight.

During the 2nd trimester, the umbilical cord continues to thicken every bit it carries nourishment to the fetus. Notwithstanding, harmful substances also pass through the umbilical cord to the fetus, so care should be taken to avoid alcohol, tobacco and other known hazards.

During the 2d trimester, both your trunk and the fetus go on to grow.

Johns Hopkins Infirmary Designated as Baby-Friendly

The Babe-Friendly Hospital Initiative, a global program launched by the World Health Organization and the Un Children'south Fund, has designated The Johns Hopkins Hospital as Baby-Friendly. This designation is given to hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of care for babe feeding and female parent-infant bonding.

The 2d Trimester: Changes to Your Trunk

The second trimester is the most physically enjoyable for nearly women. Morning sickness ordinarily lessens by this time, and the farthermost tiredness and breast tenderness usually ease upward. These changes can be attributed to a subtract in levels of human chorionic gonadotropin hormone and an aligning to the levels of estrogen and progesterone hormones.

The following is a listing of changes and symptoms that may happen during the second trimester:

  • Appetite may increase.

  • You may be able to feel the movement of the fetus for the first time effectually 20 weeks. This phenomenon is called quickening.

  • The uterus grows to the superlative of the bellybutton around 20 weeks, making the pregnancy visible.

  • The skin on the belly may itch as it grows, and there may be pain downwardly the sides of the body equally the uterus stretches. The lower tummy may ache as ligaments stretch to support the uterus.

  • The need to urinate often may decrease every bit the uterus grows out of the pelvic cavity, relieving pressure on the bladder.

  • Your nose may become congested, and you may feel nosebleeds. This is due to the increase in hormones (estrogen and progesterone) and claret flow that affect the mucous membranes and blood vessels in the nose.

  • Your gums go spongier and may bleed easily. This is due to the increase in hormones (estrogen and progesterone) that bear upon the mucous membranes in the mouth.

  • Varicose veins and hemorrhoids may announced.

  • You may have a white-colored vaginal belch called leukorrhea. (A colored or bloody discharge may signal possible complications and should be examined immediately.)

  • The increasing weight proceeds may cause backaches.

  • Skin pigmentation may change on the face up or belly due to the pregnancy hormones.

  • Heart burn, indigestion and constipation may continue.

The Second Trimester: Fetal Development

Now that all the major organs and systems have formed in the fetus, the following half-dozen months will exist spent growing. The weight of your fetus will multiply more seven times over the next few months, every bit the fetus becomes a babe that can survive outside of the uterus.

An illustration showing fetal growth from 8 to 40 weeks.

By the end of the 2nd trimester, your fetus will be most thirteen to 16 inches long and counterbalance nigh 2 to three pounds. Fetal development during the second trimester includes the following:

  • The fetus kicks, moves and tin can turn from side to side.

  • The eyes take been gradually moving to the front of the face, and the ears have moved from the cervix to the sides of the caput. The fetus can hear your vocalization.

  • A creamy white substance (called vernix caseosa, or simply vernix) begins to appear on the fetus and helps to protect the sparse fetal peel. Vernix is gradually absorbed by the skin, simply some may be seen on babies even afterward birth.

  • The fetus is developing reflexes, like swallowing and sucking.

  • The fetus tin respond to certain stimuli.

  • The placenta is fully adult.

  • The brain will undergo its most important period of growth from the fifth month on.

  • Fingernails have grown on the tips of the fingers and toes, and the fingers and toes are fully separated.

  • The fetus goes through cycles of sleep and wakefulness.

  • Pare is wrinkly and cherry-red, covered with soft, downy hair (chosen lanugo).

  • Hair is growing on the head of the fetus.

  • Fat begins to accrue in the fetus.

  • Eyelids are outset to open, and the eyebrows and eyelashes are visible.

  • Fingerprints and toeprints have formed.

  • Rapid growth is standing in fetal size and weight.

  • The 20th week marks the halfway bespeak of the pregnancy.

A fetus built-in at the end of 24 weeks may survive in a neonatal intensive care unit.