Uterus Size During Pregnancy: First Trimester Around 12 weeks pregnant , the uterus is the size of a grapefruit and starts to grow up and out of your pelvis, but still fits within it. Uterus Size During Pregnancy: Second Trimester During the second trimester, your uterus will grow to the size of a papaya. Uterus Size During Pregnancy: Third Trimester During your third trimester, the uterus will finish growing and be the size of a watermelon.
After Pregnancy After birth, your uterus will gradually return to its pre-pregnancy size and position. Want to Know More? Can I get pregnant if…? Share this post:. Share on facebook Facebook. Share on twitter Twitter. Share on linkedin LinkedIn. Share on email Email. Similar Post. Pregnancy Health and Wellness. Constipation in Pregnancy Constipation during pregnancy is a common problem and nearly half of all pregnant women get constipated at some point.
Constipation occurs…. Is it Safe While Pregnant. The top of the uterus moves about two finger-widths or 4 cm higher each month Box Babies may drop lower in the weeks just before birth. You can look back at Figure 7. To feel the uterus, have the mother lie on her back with some support under her head and knees.
Explain to her what you are going to do and why before you begin touching her abdomen. Your touch should be firm but gentle. Walk your fingers up the side of her abdomen Figure It will feel like a hard ball. You can feel the top by curving your fingers gently into the abdomen.
If the top of the uterus is below the bellybutton, measure how many fingers below the bellybutton it is. If the top of the uterus is above the bellybutton, measure how many fingers above the bellybutton it is.
Look carefully at Figure If the baby is growing normally, by how many finger-widths should the uterus rise in the second trimester months of pregnancy, or completed weeks of gestation?
Fundal height should increase by 6 finger-widths two finger-widths every month in the second trimester. How do you explain the position of the dotted line at 9 months in Figure Look at the diagrams in Figure How many weeks pregnant is the woman in each case, based on the finger method of measuring fundal height shown in Figure In Figure The measurement in Figure Look at your own hands.
Because of the big variation in the thickness of our fingers, there could be up to three weeks difference between the fundal height measurement of the same woman made by two different people. Even if the same health worker measures the fundal height of the same woman several times on the same day, the answer may be different each time, because the finger method is not very precise.
Finally, you might have realised that the distance between the symphysis pubis pubic bone and the umbilicus bellybutton varies between women when they are not pregnant, and this variation affects the accuracy of the fundal height measurement using the finger method. To overcome these limitations, it is recommended that you measure fundal height using a soft tape measure if you have one, as described next.
During the second half of pregnancy, the size of the uterus in centimetres is close to the number of weeks that the woman has been pregnant. For example, if it has been 24 weeks since her last normal menstrual period, the uterus will usually measure cm.
The uterus should grow about 1 cm every week, or 4 cm every month. Doctors, nurses and many midwives are taught to count pregnancy by weeks instead of months. They start counting at the first day of the last normal menstrual period LNMP , even though the woman probably got pregnant two weeks later.
Counting this way makes most pregnancies 40 weeks long or you can say a normal gestation is 40 weeks. If you are measuring correctly and you do not find the top of the uterus where you expect it to be, based on the date the woman gave you for her LNMP, it could mean three different things:.
There are several reasons why a due date figured from the LNMP could be wrong. Sometimes women do not remember the date of their LNMP correctly. Sometimes a woman misses her menstruation for another reason, and then gets pregnant later. This woman could really be less pregnant than you thought, so the uterus is smaller than you expect.
Or sometimes a woman has a little bleeding after she gets pregnant. If she assumed that was her LNMP, this woman will be one or two months more pregnant than you thought. The uterus will be bigger than you expect. Remember due dates are not exact. Women often give birth up to 2 or 3 weeks before or after their due date.
This is usually safe. If the due date does not match the size of the uterus at the first visit, make a note. Wait and measure the uterus again in two to four weeks. If the uterus grows about two finger-widths or 1 cm a month, the due date that you got from feeling the top of the uterus is probably correct. The due date you got by counting from the LNMP was probably wrong.
If the uterus grows more than 2 finger-widths a month, or more than 1 cm a week, several different causes are possible:. If you think there might be twins, even if you can find only one heartbeat, refer the woman to the nearest health centre. It can be very difficult to know for sure that a mother is pregnant with twins. Signs of twins are that:. For now, we are focusing on twins as a possible reason for the uterus being larger than expected.
Here are two ways to try to hear the heartbeats of twins:. Because twin births are often more difficult or dangerous than single births, it is safer for the woman to go to a hospital to give birth. Since twins are more likely to be born early, the mother should try to have transportation ready at all times after the 6th month.
If the hospital is far away, the mother may wish to move closer in the last months of pregnancy. Be sure to have a plan for how to get help in an emergency. Refer the woman to a health centre if you suspect she may have diabetes.
She had diabetes in a past pregnancy. One of her past babies was born very big more than 4 kilograms , or was ill or died at birth and no one knows why. She is fat. She is thirsty all the time. Some women complain of feeling nauseous throughout their whole pregnancy and others manage to escape it. This well-known symptom known as morning sickness will normally show up between weeks into your pregnancy. One theory is that it is caused by an increase of the hormone progesterone.
Progesterone apparently softens the muscles in the uterus ready for labour but it also softens the stomach muscles causing nausea and sickness. Food poisoning, stress, or other stomach upsets can also cause you to feel queasy. Many pregnant women complain that they find themselves falling asleep on buses, at work and even during sex. Feeling more tired is a pregnancy symptom that can also start as early as the first week and is because your body is working overtime to get ready for the baby.
Therefore, it is very common to feel tired and exhausted during pregnancy, particularly during the first trimester when your hormones fluctuate the most. The rapid increase in oestrogen levels in the first trimester, along with a constantly increased level of progesterone hormones throughout pregnancy, play a significant role in the onset of most pregnancy symptoms, including fatigue.
If you are due on your period you may get a backache or if your suffering from physical or mental stress and tension. It could also be another back problem. Straining a muscle or being cold, especially at night, can cause the muscles in your legs to tense and spasm. It can also be a result of dehydration or simply sitting still for a long period of time and not moving your muscles enough.
The sudden rise of hormones in your body can cause you to have headaches early in pregnancy. There are loads of reasons why people get headaches, from tension and dehydration to eye strain. Headaches are normal and can be triggered by too much screen time, stress, alcohol, changes to routine, and more. Having random pregnancy cravings is another one of the most common early signs and symptoms of pregnancy. Others want combinations like fish and ice cream.
This could be because of a lack of protein and sugar. This can start early on and last throughout your pregnancy. You should give into these cravings if you can, but within reason. Poor diet, lack of a certain nutrient, stress, depression. Craving sugar could also be a sign of diabetes, and any concerns about strange cravings should be discussed with your GP. This is the temperature of your body at rest. It will also rise slightly at different stages of your cycle. Many women will notice that they feel uterine cramping as an early sign and symptom pregnancy.
You could even feel period like cramps or even pain on one side. The most common reason for this kind of cramp is that your uterus is growing. This is normal pain and should be expected in a healthy pregnancy. If you are due on your period you may get pre-menstrual cramps.
You might already know that one of the early signs and symptoms of pregnancy many women experience is changes to their breast tissue. Towards the end of the first trimester or the beginning of the second trimester you may notice that your breasts begin to grow. This is because the tissues inside the breast are preparing for nursing. Your nipples may become larger and darker as your pregnancy progresses. Changes in nipples should be examined as part of your regular check against breast cancer, follow these easy steps to checking your breasts for peace of mind.
Your breasts may be sensitive, causing you a bit of pain, plus feeling nauseous and tired could reduce your sexual appetite.
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