Pregnancy Week 16: Amniocentesis, Quickening, and Baby's Eye Development

Pregnant women may start to feel their baby move around the sixteenth week of pregnancy. This initial movement is called quickening and can happen as early as fourteen weeks or as late as twenty-one weeks. Your doctor may suggest a procedure called an amniocentesis to check for genetic defects if you have a family history or are over age thirty-five.

Pregnancy Week 16: Baby's Development

By your sixteenth week of pregnancy your baby weighs over three ounces and is about four and one half inches long. You can hold your baby in the palm of your hand.

Your baby's eyelashes are growing. His eyesight is also developing and he can now control his eye movements and look from side to side. Your baby now has the ability to grasp objects and may play with his umbilical cord. If your baby finds his thumb, he will most definitely suck it.

Pregnancy Week 16: Quickening

You may actually feel something called quickening around your sixteenth week, especially if this is not your first pregnancy. Quickening is described as the first time you feel a butterfly flutter in your uterus. Yes, this is your baby moving around and doing summersaults.

If this is your first pregnancy, then you may not feel quickening until around the twentieth week of pregnancy. However, women claim to feel it earlier with subsequent pregnancies.

Pregnancy Week 16: Amniocentesis

If you are over thirty-five years old or if your obstetrician suspects possible genetic problems in your baby he may suggest you get an amniocentesis around your sixteenth week of pregnancy. Remember that an amniocentesis checks your baby's genes, not yours.

An amniocentesis checks your baby's amniotic fluid for genetic markers, defects, and can also determine your baby's sex. Your baby sheds his skin cells that are in the amniotic fluid. The lab can extract genetic markers from these cells.

Specifically, an amniocentesis will check for conditions such as trisomy 18 (Edward Syndrome), trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome), monosomy X (Turner Syndrome). An amniocentesis can also check for blood antigens, cystic fibrosis, and other genetic abnormalities.

Pregnancy Week 16: Amniocentesis Procedure. Warning: This next part is very descriptive.

There is little preparation for the amniocentesis. The most important preparation is genetic counseling and what exactly your doctor is testing for.

Your abdomen is swabbed with an antiseptic. In some cases your doctor will use a local anesthetic, like novacaine, just under the skin to numb the area. When I had my amniocentesis, my doctor did not numb the area at all. I will tell you that it was uncomfortable and felt like a needle going through my skin. However, it didn't hurt as much as I expected it to.

Your doctor will use an ultrasound in order to view the exact location of your baby and placenta. He does not want to risk putting the needle through the placenta because that may cause some intra-uterine bleeding. I will warn you that the needle looks intimidating. It is pretty big, but the size is necessary because of where it is going.

The ultrasound will guide where the needle goes. I was able to watch my baby move on the screen as the needle went through my abdomen into my uterus. I actually saw his hand reach out and it looked like he tried to grab at the needle. Your doctor will take about 20 milliliters, or less than an ounce, of amniotic fluid out. Your body will regenerate this amniotic fluid in about a day.

An amniocentesis does pose some risks to your baby. Statistics show that there is a 1 in 200 chance of miscarriage after this procedure.

You may experience some mild, abdominal cramping for the next few hours. This is normal. However you should notify your doctor immediately if you experience painful cramping, bleeding, fever, or a vaginal discharge.

You should receive your test results in 2-3 weeks.

For more pregnancy weeks and fetal development you can read:
Pregnancy Week 12

Pregnancy Week 13

Pregnancy Week 14

Pregnancy Week 15

Click here to find more information on your pregnancy and baby's development.

Sources:

Personal Experience

Fit Pregnancy (2009). Pregnancy Calendar. Retrieved: April 8, 9, 2009. Web Site: fitpregnancy.com/calendar/40251887.html

Myers-Gorrie, Trula, Slone-McKinney, Emily, & Smith-Murray, Sharon (1998). Foundations of Maternal-Newborn Nursing (2^nd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: W. B. Saunders Company.

What to Expect (2009). Weekly Pregnancy Calendar. Retrieved:April 8, 9, 2009. Web Site: whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/week-by-week/landing.aspx