Week 19 of Your Pregnancy

By the time you are 19 weeks pregnant, you might be feeling a little abdominal pain as your uterus stretches. Meanwhile, your baby is developing hair on their head and a protective skin coating.

Your Baby's Development at 19 Weeks

At 19 weeks, your baby measures about 6 1/4 inches (15.8 centimeters) from the top of their head to the bottom of the buttocks (crown-rump length). Their height is approximately 9 inches (22.8 centimeters) from the top of the head to the heel (crown-heel length). By this week of pregnancy, your baby will weigh around 9 1/2 ounces (272 grams).

Skin Protection

A protective covering is beginning to form on your baby's skin. This thick, white, wax-like coating is called vernix caseosa. Vernix has many important functions.

Here are some of the things vernix does for your baby while they are in the womb.

• Acts as a lubricant to help your baby pass through the birth canal with more ease
• Creates a waterproof layer that protects your baby's skin from the amniotic fluid
• Helps prevent infection
• Helps your baby to regulate body temperature
• Moisturizes your baby's skin
• Promotes wound healing

Hair

On top of your baby's head, the hair canal or tunnel in the skin that holds the hair is now fully formed. Scalp hair becomes visible between now and 21 weeks.

Adding More Fat

Your baby has already started developing white fat tissue, which stores energy. Now, they are making brown fat. Babies need brown fat to keep warm once they leave the womb.

Tiny Teeth

Although you won't see them for a few months after birth, your baby's primary or first set of teeth are developing.

Explore a few of your baby's week 19 milestones in this interactive experience.

Your Common Symptoms This Week

You might also be experiencing heartburn, dizziness, headaches, nasal congestion, bleeding gums, and food cravings. By this point in your pregnancy, you might begin to feel stretching along the sides of your belly and possibly symptoms such as brain fogginess and a lack of concentration.

Round Ligament Pain

A sharp or stabbing pain in your lower belly or groin area might catch you off guard during the second trimester. Round ligament pain is a common discomfort of pregnancy.

This pain usually comes on suddenly when you change positions, cough, sneeze, or laugh. It's the result of the stretching and pulling of the ligaments along the sides of your uterus. It goes away quickly, and other than causing pain, it is not harmful.

Pregnancy Brain

If you've been feeling a little forgetful or foggy lately, you're not alone. Whether you call it "pregnancy brain"or "baby brain", up to 81% of people who are pregnant report forgetfulness, memory problems, difficulty concentrating, confusion, and absentmindedness.

Self-Care Tips

Pregnancy symptoms often come and go. They can affect a pregnant person in different ways. Symptoms can be mild and tolerable or uncomfortable, annoying, and bothersome. Talk to your doctor for help with relief if your symptoms are difficult for you to cope with.

Dealing With Round Ligament Pain

While there’s no way to prevent round ligament pain, you can try to avoid it by:

• Maintaining good posture
• Not standing for long periods
• Slowly changing positions
• Using prenatal stretches and exercises
• Wearing a pregnancy support belt

If you can't avoid it, there are several strategies you can try to ease your discomfort.

If you have round ligament pain, you might want to try:

• Asking your doctor if it is safe to take Tylenol (acetaminophen)
• Bending toward the pain
• Slowing down and resting
• Taking a warm bath or using a warm compress

Dealing With Forgetfulness

If you aren't used to forgetting things, it can be frustrating to feel disorganized and scattered. Stress, lack of sleep, and a poor diet might be contributing factors to pregnancy brain. You might not be able to completely avoid it, but there are a few research-backed strategies that might help, including:

• Feeding your brain with nutritious food
• Getting a little extra sleep
• Reducing and relieving stress

Healthy Teeth

When you're pregnant, you have two sets of teeth to care for: yours and your baby's. Healthy eating is good for both. A healthy diet helps prevent tooth decay for you while providing the nutrients your baby needs to develop strong and healthy teeth.

• Choose healthy snacks over sugary treats and junk food.
• Drink plenty of water or milk and avoid sugary juice drinks and soda.
• Eat a wide variety of foods, including fruits and veggies, whole grains, lean protein, and dairy products.
• Get enough calcium, phosphorus, and vitamins D, A, and C in your diet.

Advice for Partners

While your pregnant partner may already be feeling the baby move, there’s a good chance you won’t notice any kicks or wiggles just yet. Your baby-to-be needs to grow a little bigger before you can feel their movements from the outside. It's hard to tell just when you'll get the opportunity, so keep trying.

Some partners can feel the baby by 24 weeks, while others don't feel anything until later in the third trimester. Feeling fetal movement also depends on:

• Abdominal skin thickness
• Location of the placenta
• Timing
• Your baby's position

At Your Doctor’s Office

Prenatal testing that may be scheduled this week includes:

• Amniocentesis, which is also done between week 15 and week 20, if recommended.
• Level 2 ultrasound, which is typically done between week 18 and week 22.
• Maternal serum screening or quad screen blood test is typically done between 15 weeks and 22 weeks.

Special Considerations

Depending on your pregnancy history and current symptoms, your doctor might recommend progesterone treatment. It's also important to pay attention to your body and call your health care provider when you have any concerns or changes in your symptoms.

Progesterone Supplementation

Progesterone is a medication that your provider can prescribe to help prevent preterm birth. Researchers are not sure exactly how progesterone works, but it is believed to prevent uterine contractions and changes in the cervix that could lead to premature labor.

• Injections. If you’ve previously had a spontaneous premature birth, your provider might suggest that you begin progesterone shots (also called 17P). Treatment usually begins between week 16 and week 20 and continues until week 36.
• Vaginal suppositories. Progesterone is also used to prevent preterm birth if you have a short cervix. Progesterone suppositories can be inserted into the vagina once a day until you reach 36 weeks.

When to Call the Doctor for Pain and Other Symptoms

Mild aches and pains are a normal part of pregnancy. However, pain can also be a sign of a problem. Make sure that you feel comfortable calling your provider's office to talk about any pain you're experiencing or changes in your symptoms.

While mild pain is common, pain that doesn't go away or gets worse can be a sign of more serious condition when you are pregnant. The pain could be related to your pregnancy, but it could also be related to something else entirely, such as gallbladder or appendix.

A Word From Verywell

This week might bring some growing pains as your uterus stretches and expands to accommodate your growing baby. Remember, mild aches and pains are expected during pregnancy, but it's important that you can recognize when pain or another symptom might not be normal. Tell your health care provider about all your symptoms when you attend your regular appointments, and call the office if you have any questions or concerns.

Next week, you'll reach the half-way point of your pregnancy. It might be a busy week for you! If you haven't already, you might see your provider for prenatal testing or an ultrasound.