Congratulations, you’ve now been pregnant for four months! In two more weeks, you’ll be halfway to your baby’s birth date.
Over this next month, your baby will gain about 2 inches (51 mm) in height and nearly 26 ounces (728 g) in weight. Last month your baby grew from 31⁄2 inches (89 mm) long to 51⁄2 inches (140 mm) long.
From now until your baby is born, the placenta will grow in diameter but not in thickness. It will grow to over 6 inches (152 mm) in diameter. The word placenta comes from the Greek for “flat cake.”
Occasionally, the baby will hiccup, causing a rhythmic jarring of your abdomen every two to four seconds or so. While there is no air to intake, hiccupping in the womb involves the same sort of muscular reactions as in an air-breathing child. The hiccupping generally stops in about a half hour.
If your baby is a girl, miniature egg cells now exist in her ovaries. Baby girls are born with all the eggs they will ever have in their ovaries - about 2 million!
You
You’ll gain most of your weight in the next three months. Generally, you might expect an average increase of a pound a week until Month 7. Weight gain will be mostly uneven, though; it’s much more common to gain nothing one week, 2 pounds (896 g) the next, 1⁄2 pound (224 g) the following week, and so on.
By this time you may have noticed the appearance of a mottled area of pigmentation that extends beyond the existing areola and sometimes covers half of the breast. Called the secondary areola, this pigmentation change in breast tissue is temporary, but it may last for as long as twelve months after the birth.
In addition to breast changes, blotchy areas of pigmentation may appear on your forehead and on the sides of your face. This pigmentation is called the “mask of pregnancy” (chloasma). Because exposure to the sun can darken the area and make it less likely to fade, use a facial sunscreen daily. Any pigmentation changes usually fade within a few months of childbirth.
Not sure where to begin with purchasing baby gear? Check out The Cradle’s series of Product Guides for comprehensive overviews of styles, features, & safety issues of those “need-to-have” items!
