14 Weeks Pregnant

The 14th week is the start of the fourth month of pregnancy and the start of the second trimester. Some people call this the honeymoon phase of pregnancy since it's the time that a lot of those challenging symptoms of early pregnancy have eased up a bit.

But as it turns out, at 14 weeks pregnant , many women enter the second trimester not filled with energy and excitement. It's common to have more concerns than ever because those symptoms, while they take a toll on us for weeks and weeks they're pretty reassuring. Without much of a visible bump yet and without really feeling any movements that you know are kicks, sometimes your mind can start worrying.

If this is happening to you, it's totally common, very understandable, and I want to help you ease your mind. I want to help you build trust in this process of pregnancy, and building this trust is not like flipping a light switch.

I think of it more like building a giant snowball, and this mindset can help you bridge the gap between your appointments and help you reduce that stress.

In week 14 as we see, our nausea is starting to go away and our energy levels are rising. Most of us start feeling better, but one discomfort that actually can start popping up this time is something that I actually struggled with personally.

During my four pregnancies, I endured muscle aches and muscle cramping particularly at nighttime. Cramping can lead to poor sleep which just makes life harder especially when you're growing a baby.

So it's pretty common that you've probably heard about using magnesium to help contribute to better sleep. One option for muscle aches that I love is magnesium cream. 

At week 14 the baby is about the same size as a pea pod or about 3.4 inches (8.7 cm long). A baby at 14 weeks have in common with 2 tablespoons of butter or two AA batteries, they all weigh about the same which is 40 grams.

The baby is moving this week but not really intentional. They are more like reflexes and you won't be feeling the baby move for probably a few weeks or more.

The baby skeleton is hardening this week but many bones are still made of cartilage. The beginning of the baby's cute little fingers and toes have also started, and the arms and legs are getting longer.

Now, if you had an ultrasound at 14 weeks you probably wouldn't be able to tell the baby's sex yet, but the genitals have already formed by now.

In our week eight video I added “build your mindset” to the “Think” side of our board, but today I'm putting it on the “Do” side of our board.

Again, building your mindset is not like a light switch that you can just turn on or off whenever you want. Instead, you can work on building this slowly , and one of the ways that I love to do this is through affirmations.

Affirmations or positive affirmations are phrases that when repeated on a regular basis can help to change negative thoughts and behavior patterns. This can be done as a response when a worry pops up in your head, for example, when you worry that you're not feeling something and that something might be wrong.

You could just repeat a positive affirmation by reminding yourself, “Your body knows what to do”, “the baby knows what to do”, and that “you're trusting the process”.

Another way to use positive affirmations is to repeat them on a daily basis . I really like this one a lot because it kind of helps shift your mindset. It’s like building that giant snowball of positive thoughts.

Power up your mindset in this second trimester short video of affirmations I put together. Again this isn't magic that’s gonna happen overnight, but doing this on a regular basis is going to start building that trust, and it's really worth those 5 minutes of your day.

This week's sponsor is Better Shea butter . My favorite is lavender, which I love the smell of, and is great for sleep. There's also an unscented version of vanilla rose and a peppermint. This cream contains a high concentration of magnesium, and unlike other magnesium creams that I have tested out, this one is not sticky. It actually has a really luxurious feel on your skin. 

Better Shea Butter is a small company that is based in Austin, Texas. They have a formulation lab inside their warehouse making these products by hand. The company shared with me that these creams were actually created after an employee who was pregnant.

She was actually struggling with leg cramps and they wanted a natural solution. Now, their formula contains no artificial fragrances and is fast absorbing.

Thank you so much Better Shea Butter for helping us out during pregnancy, and thank you for supporting childbirth education.

Thanks for being here for week 14. Make sure you subscribe so you'll be ready for next week's update, and I'll see you back here for week 15.