Week 14

Your Baby:

• Is about the size of your fist, unless you have giant man-hands or something, so maybe I should just compare it to a peach instead.
• Has a strong, whoosh-whooshy heartbeat that can usually be found pretty easily now with a doppler. It’s much faster than yours (between 120 – 160 bpm), and sounds vaguely like a washing machine.
• Has probably started sucking its thumb.

You:

• Should be noticing a definite decrease in some of the more crap symptoms from the first trimester, although fatigue and nausea do tend to stick around a little longer for some women.
• Probably aren’t as bothered by breast tenderness anymore, although your boobs will continue to grow in size in the weeks and months ahead. Reassess your bra size periodically and make sure you aren’t mashing the girls into something you’ve outgrown.
• If this is your first pregnancy, you may FINALLY feel like you’re starting to “show” with a little belly pooch.
• If this is your second (or third or fourth or etc.) pregnancy, you’ve probably been in maternity clothes or been rubber-banding your pants for a few weeks already, so pffft.
• Your due date probably still feels Forever Away and the idea of actually giving birth to a baby might still feel like a strange, alien concept. So now’s a good time to start looking around at your options for childbirth classes. Your OB or midwife might have a list of local offerings, and most hospitals offer them (even if you’re not necessarily planning on a hospital birth). There are a lot of different methods for labor and delivery, so you might want to check out more than one!

I don’t feel like I personally have that much to report this week. I flew from Washington, DC to California for a few days, where I spent the first day telling anyone who would listen about HOW MUCH BETTER I WAS FEELING, OH I HAVEN’T THROWN UP IN DAYS AND I REALLY FEEL MY ENERGY RETURNING. Then I returned to my hotel room after dinner and proceeded to yak up everything I’d eaten that day. And then I went to bed and slept for 12 straight hours.

Air travel is perfectly safe for most pregnant women, really, but you should always tell your doctor about any trips in case he/she does think there’s a risk involved for you. Try to request an aisle seat, both for easier potty access and for regular short walks up and down the aisles. Pregnant women are more vulnerable to that deep-vein thrombosis thing, especially on longer flights at higher altitudes. So don’t cross your legs while seated and get up to move around at least once an hour. Trust me, the movie probably sucks and you’ve seen that episode of 30 Rock like a dozen times.

When I got home, Jason couldn’t get over the size my belly, which definitely seemed to pop a little further while I was gone. Some of my bump’s size can still be blamed on bloating (and I am SO SURE that my dinner of airport McDonald’s had NOTHING to do with it), but I am definitely showing already, much more than I did last time. With the exception of one lonely pair of stretchy low-rise jeans, I am in elastic waistband land and feeling rather lumpy. I’m also going to say that I’m noticing that general sort of pregnancy “spread” — my upper arms and face look fuller, as do my thighs.

So that’s where I’m at, at the end of week 14. Still occasionally gagging or puking, but not that much. Slight headaches but no migraines. Food cravings and aversions are settling down. Am expert at finding baby with the doppler. Looking a lot more pregnant and feeling a little more human. Nails? Great. Hair? Just okay. Skin? Ugh. Still tired as hell, but hey! What’s that? Why, it’s my libido! I was wondering where that went. Hi, husband, don’t you just looooove my physique? Yes? Great, now get yo’ pants off.

Oh Yeah, THIS: Ah, the second trimester. I love you so, second trimester. Even though I still have a few lone symptoms of misery that haven’t yet left me completely, I do remember the unadulterated joy that comes with suddenly realizing that you totally don’t feel like warmed-over ass 100% of the time! It’s only, like, 43% of the time now! Hooray! ‘Tis a pregnancy miracle.

New This Time Around: Muscle aches and pains, man. I don’t remember having this many painful knots in my neck and back last time. I don’t remember my tailbone hurting quite this badly until much, much later last time — like third trimester later. I’m sure I could blame some of the pain on just being flat-out older this time around, but I think the classy thing to do would be to go ahead and blame all of it on my ungrateful 30-pound toddler who still wants Mama to carry him places, can you believe the nerve of that kid.

Related post: Pregnancy and COVID-19: What We Know (& a Few Things We Don’t)

Note: We have affiliate revenue relationships with Amazon, and with other retailers. If you see a link to a retailer, please assume that it is an affiliate link, at no cost to you. However, rest assured that our affiliate relationships do not guide our product recommendations, at all. We only recommend products we genuinely like.