15 weeks pregnant
Our guide to your 15th week of pregnancy
Your Baby
Yet more growing is going on this week. But your baby is also growing a fine layer of hair known as the lanugo over its entire body. This is to help your baby maintain an even temperature and will disappear before birth when the baby has enough fat on its bones to keep it warm.
Excitingly, your baby’s inner ear has now developed and it will be able to hear you for the first time. It will slowly become familiar to the voices of you and your partner, which it will remember once it has been born.
You
Your body is changing quite a bit this week. Not only are you looking and feeling bigger, but the pigmentation in your skin is growing stronger. This may cause moles and freckles to darken as can the skin on your face. You may also notice a line forming down your abdomen. This is the linea nigra and around 90% of women get this sometime during pregnancy, so do not be alarmed. It will disappear after childbirth.
Immunity
When you are pregnant you body is so concerned with looking after your baby and providing it with everything it needs it often leaves you open to infection. Immune systems of pregnant women are generally impaired and you may find yourself catching every cold, cough and little sniffle that’s knocking around.
Most of the time these things will have only minimal affects on your body. The only problems they’ll cause for you are lack of energy, tiredness and all the usually symptoms of a cold. However, you should keep an eye out for other diseases that can threaten the health of your unborn baby. These include chicken pox and rubella, otherwise known as German measles. If you see any pinkish-red rashes and spots immediately call your doctor or midwife. The actual infection itself can’t do much harm, but as it attacks your already weakened immune system it could leave you open to more harmful conditions such as pneumonia.
Obviously you should avoid anyone you know to be affected with these conditions. But of course, this is not always possible; we cannot control who sits next to us on public transport of who uses the cubicle next to us at the swimming pool. So, your best course of action is to boost your immune system as much as possible. Honey and lemon steeped in hot water is packed full of cold-fighting vitamins. Oranges are a winning source of vitamin C and so-called ‘super foods’ such as broccoli and blueberries have lots of bacteria- and infection-fighting anti-oxidants.
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