During the second week of your second trimester, your baby's features are beginning to take shape.
Meanwhile, by week 15 of pregnancy, your morning sickness could very well be gone — but you might be experiencing some other unpleasant symptoms, like bleeding gums. If you're 15 weeks pregnant, you're in month 4 of your pregnancy. Only 5 months left to go! Still have questions? Here's some more information on how weeks, months and trimesters are broken down in pregnancy. Curious why your body is (probably) finally starting to look pregnant? It's because at 15 weeks pregnant, your baby is quickly growing bigger each week — he's as long as 4 inches right now and weighs around 2½ ounces. Need a better visual? Hold a pear in your hand — that's how big your little darlin' is. Now that you're done looking, eat that pear for a delicious, nutritious snack! Get ready for some major growth on your baby's (and belly's!) part in the weeks to come. With each passing week, your fetus is also looking more and more like the baby you're picturing in your dreams. By now, the ears are positioned properly on the sides of the head — they used to be in the neck — and the eyes are moving from the side of the head to the front of the face — where they'll soon meet your loving gaze. So what keeps your baby busy all day? Mostly, your fetus is in rehearsals — practice, practice, practicing and getting ready for that big debut. Babies work on breathing, sucking and swallowing motions so that when they leave your comfy womb and move into your comfy house, they'll have the skills necessary to survive. Your fetus is also holding daily aerobics classes — kicking, curling toes and moving those little arms and legs — but because he only weighs a couple of ounces, you won't feel the fetal movements going on inside your abdominal gym. This is the week when your practitioner can take out the Doppler at your prenatal appointment and let you hear your baby's heartbeat. And there's really no sweeter sound than that! Remember that the only accurate, safe Doppler devices are the ones your doctor uses. Don't be tempted to try one of the at-home Dopplers. Not only do they provide mixed results in terms of how reliable they are, but they can unnecessarily add to your stress and worry. Does it get any better than this? By this week, many of those bothersome early pregnancy symptoms have disappeared — and at 15 weeks, you're not too big to get around — or get out of your chair. Now that you're finally able to open wide without throwing up or gagging on extra saliva, it's a good time to focus on your mouth, which, believe it or not, is also going through a number of pregnancy-induced changes. Say cheese — and take a good look in the mirror. You might notice that you have red, swollen gums and they may even be sore, sensitive or prone to bleeding when you brush or floss. It's those pregnancy hormones at work again, this time triggering gingivitis, an infection and inflammation of the gums, by making them react differently to the bacteria in plaque. Those hormones are also the cause behind a chronic stuffy nose or even nosebleeds. Look even more closely and you may notice a small lump on your gums, called a pregnancy tumor. Before you start worrying, keep in mind that these benign growths are scarily named but completely harmless and painless. If you do develop one, it should go away on its own after delivery. What is a little more alarming is what can happen if you don't take care of your teeth while you're expecting. Gingivitis can progress to an infection of the bones and tissues supporting your teeth called periodontitis — and research has shown a link between periodontitis, premature labor and preeclampsia. Prevention is key: Good oral hygiene, which includes regular dental care, brushing at least twice a day and gentle flossing once a day, will greatly reduce gum swelling, bleeding and soreness. Whether you were barely able to gain an ounce during the first trimester, thanks to all that toilet hugging, or you gained more ounces — and pounds — than you were hoping to, it's weight gain time now. Starting in the second trimester, your baby's getting bigger and bigger, and consequently, you should be too. Make slow and steady your motto and aim for a weekly weight gain of about 1 pound. But keep in mind that's an average, which means that it's perfectly fine to gain half a pound one week and a-pound-and-a-half the next, as long as you're netting about 4 pounds a month. Just be sure to do whatever your practitioner recommends on the weight gain front. If you're weighing in at home, once a week or once every other week is plenty; just make sure you do it consistently, at about the same time and under the same conditions — undressed and right after getting up, for instance. Or leave the weigh-ins to your practitioner at your monthly visits. Learn more about pregnancy weight gain. True or false: A fetal heart rate of fewer than 140 beats per minute means you're having a boy, while a heart rate of more than 140 beats per minute means you're having a girl. It's a theory that's been making the rounds forever. The truth? It's false. While it may sound more plausible (and more grounded in medical fact) than some of the other ways to predict baby’s sex, it's about as reliable as the Chinese gender predictor or the ring gender test — an old wives’ tale in which you hold a ring on a string over your belly to guess whether you’re having a boy or a girl. There are as many of these myths around as there are people to repeat them (and try them out at family gatherings!). And while they may be fun to talk about, they all have one thing in common: They have a 50-50 chance of being correct. If you'd like better odds than that — the kind you can base your nursery paint colors on — ask your practitioner about your options for finding out baby's sex. Do you struggle to fit healthy meals into your day? Adjust your schedule to squeeze in a lunch break — even if it's just a sandwich and a fruit cup. Keep plenty of nutritious, appealing snacks on hand that will make feeding you and your baby easy: Stash bags of dried fruit and nuts, dry cereal, and crackers in the pantry, and store a supply of individually wrapped cheese sticks, hard-boiled eggs, and yogurt and cottage cheese containers in the fridge. You’ve probably heard of postpartum depression — but depression during pregnancy, called prenatal depression, is surprisingly common too. If you have five or more symptoms of depression — sadness or hopelessness, crying, withdrawal from friends and family, loss of interest in activities you once liked, weight loss, trouble sleeping, etc — for most of the day, every day, during a two-week period, talk to your practitioner about getting some extra help. Untreated pregnancy depression can cause other problems, so it’s best to get it taken care of as soon as possible. The amniotic fluid that surrounds your baby can provide you with a wide range of information about your little one's genetics and health. Amniocentesis — also called "amnio" — is a procedure that extracts this fluid to detect conditions such as Down syndrome, Tay-Sachs, sickle cell anemia and more. If you or your baby's other biological parent has a history of genetic conditions, or if other screenings have detected an abnormality, you may want to ask whether you should have an amnio done. The heat's on when you're expecting, thanks to a metabolism boost. So when dressing for exercise success, play it cool. Wear loose, breathable, stretchable workout clothes during pregnancy, right down to your undies (which should be cotton). Choose a bra — perhaps a sports bra — that provides plenty of support for your larger breasts but doesn't pinch once you get moving. If your sneakers are showing their age, replace them now to minimize your chances of injury or falls. While you're at it, make sure you're wearing the right sneakers for your fitness routine. The quad screen is a blood test that measures the levels of four substances produced by the fetus and the placenta, which are then passed into the mother's bloodstream. The results tell you what the probability is that you're carrying a child with a chromosomal abnormality or neural tube defect. Quad screen results can be combined with those from the nuchal translucency (NT) screening or the noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT) to give you a more accurate assessment. Preeclampsia generally develops later in pregnancy, after week 20, and is characterized by a sudden onset of high blood pressure, severe swelling of the hands and face, and signs that some organs may not be working normally, including protein in the urine. If you're considered high-risk for preeclampsia, ask your practitioner about low-dose or baby aspirin. Taking baby aspirin (usually two a day, but check with your doctor) after the first trimester can reduce preeclampsia by 24 percent, according to some studies.Your Baby at Week 15
At a Glance
15 weeks pregnant is how many months?
How big is my baby at 15 weeks?
Baby is looking more like a baby
Baby is practicing for the outside world
Baby's heartbeat can be heard!
Your Body at Week 15
The golden months
Bleeding gums and dental care
Gaining weight
Pregnancy Symptoms Week 15
Tips for You This Week
Reviewed September 3, 2024 From the What to Expect editorial team and Heidi Murkoff, author of What to Expect When You're Expecting. What to Expect follows strict reporting guidelines and uses only credible sources, such as peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions and highly respected health organizations. Learn how we keep our content accurate and up-to-date by reading our medical review and editorial policy.
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