(oops, I'm a day late on this one)
Your baby now weighs a little over a pound is about 11 inches long. They fully fill the uterus now, but there is still plenty of room for growth. Over the next three months your baby will have the biggest weight gain.
Brain waves are beginning to activate the auditory and visual systems, causing the baby’s mouth and lips to become sensitive. Eyes will respond to light and the ears are reactive to sounds from outside of the uterus. Your baby may be able to tell when they are upside down now because their inner ear is completely developed. The brain is very active now and is regulating all other body functions.
Toenails and fingernails are growing now and may need trimmed when they are born. Blood vessels in the lungs are developing and will exchange oxygen after birth. The alveoli (the very tiny final branches of the respiratory tree) and air sacs have developed completely.
You may start to get stretch marks now. This is a normal part of pregnancy. Your health practitioner may order a blood test now to check for anemia and infection. You may also have a glucose screen between now and week twenty-eight to help rule out gestational diabetes.
No stretch marks to date. I was lucky with Eva and Micah, here's hoping my luck continues.
As of this morning, I have gained 14.5 lbs. I don't want to obsess about it, but I do not want it to go beyond a healthy gain. I would be so disappointed if, despite my yoga and vastly cleaned up eating habits, I still gained a significant amount.
I will have one more prenatal appointment before I leave for vacation in Canada. I don't know if he'll want to do any tests. He did talk about giving me the Rhogam injection at that time but I am heavily leaning toward declining it. I would still get it after the birth if the baby is Rh+, or if a high risk event took place (something that could lead to the baby's blood entering my bloodstream). I will put together a blog entry on this topic.
Lately I have been feeling vaguely uncomfortable, mostly when trying to sleep. I blame it on the heat, and perhaps I need a little more exercise. I only got to yoga once last week because Andrew had to work last Saturday. He is working again this Saturday and I got smart and called in Bertha to babysit so I can go to my class. I'm glad I did, because the Friday class I usually go to is cancelled this week. I'm also glad that I decided to go to today's 8:30 class even though I am tired and it is late. It was quite good! Different instructor than I've had before, and I like her style. She only made us do the position I despise once. The other two instructors I have do that one repeatedly. Like a billion times per class. It challenges me but I just dread it.
I am hoping that the exercise/stretching will do the trick to help me sleep better. Between the heat (which I keep telling myself to stop complaining about but is beating me down huge) and this semi-restless-leg-general-uncomfortable feeling I have been getting a little down.
That said, I don't have any pain anywhere and in every other aspect I feel great.
I have been consciously relaxing when I have Braxton-Hicks contractions and it is really interesting! BH are not painful in the least; however relaxing really changes the way they feel! Through this exercise I am gaining a better understanding of how relaxation can reduce the intensity of labour. I notice that when I feel the tightening inside I automatically tense my abdominal muscles against it. When I release my abdominal muscles, then the tightness inside becomes more like something I am observing than something I am experiencing. I think that's the way to describe it.
The Willms Kids Christmas Production
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That's so cool (your description of the BH, observing them instead of experiencing them).
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry it's so hot there. I would say that is a very valid reason to be uncomfortable at night and to have difficulty sleeping. The heat can just wear on you until you feel exhausted all on it's own, so you're dealing with it all day and then getting no respite at night. Sorry for that. Any sign of it letting up anytime soon? I'm unfamiliar with the seasons in Mexico.
As for the weight gain... how does it compare to how much you gained at this point in your pregnancy the last two times? Had you gained much more than 10 lbs by 20 weeks before? I'm just asking because my understanding is that 10 pounds at 20 weeks is a minimum for pre-pregnancy normal-weight women (BMI=18.5-24.9), with a total gain of 25 to 35 lbs being the goal. To me, <15 lbs by this points is very reasonable, even a little small. According to The Midwive's Handbook, by Sinclaire, healthy weight gain is 2-4 lbs in 1st trimester and 1 lb/week in the 2nd and 3rd. So I'm just curious if you gained much more by this point in your preg last time or if most of your wt was gained later on.
May-June-July are the hottest months, but late April and early May have been exceptionally hot this year. Hopefully we'll get back down to normal levels. I don't remember feeling like this when I was pregnant with Micah, and I was here for at least part of each of those hot months.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the guidelines about weight gain, it helps me to have perspective on where I'm at.
With Eva, I had gained 25lbs by 27 weeks and a almost 45lbs by the end. I started somewhat heavier than I was with these last two so I really felt it in my knees and legs. With Micah I had gained 26lbs by 27 weeks and 36lbs by the end. I was a full 15lbs lighter at the end of my pregnancy with Micah! I felt a lot better at the end of that pregnancy. That is a big part of the impetus to keep the weight gain healthy- reducing the strain of the extra weight on my body.
Don't worry- and I know that of all people you would since you do see so many women at unhealthy weight gain levels- I'm not restricting my caloric intake whatsoever, and definitely not over-exercising. I am just doing my best to make healthy choices about my food. No chocolate bars (used to be a daily ritual), and most other junk food is out, or a rare treat. The majority of my diet is whole foods to hunger, water to thirst.