Pregnancy Week 18

Week 18, WOO HOO!!!  The little munchkin is now the size of a sweet potato (but MUCH cuter), and measures in at  about 5 1/2 inches and about 5 ounces.  If this is your first pregnancy this may be around the time you feel those first flutters!!!! This is because baby is now big enough to feel him twisting around in there.  If this s your second or more pregnancy, you may have felt your little one moving much earlier due to you knowing that "feeling".  If you haven't felt him move yet don't worry about it, many first time mommies don't feel the baby move until around 20 weeks!  If you are just bursting out of your skin waiting to feel those first flutters, you can try to sit or recline in a quiet room and just relax.  It is usually at this time that 1) baby will start to move because he's not being rocked to sleep by your movement and 2) you are more likely to feel those little flutters or bubbles when you are still and not distracted.  Now not only is your little sweet potato probably big enough to feel, he is learning to yawn, and hiccup; both of which you will begin to feel soon as well.  Along with these new skills he is developing his own personal set of toe and fingerprints!

At this point you've probably developed a true baby bump (I know I have).  Now this can be a double edge sword in that you actually LOOK pregnant and are no longer in that weird "she maybe pregnant, or she maybe fat" stage. For me, this really helps boost my self esteem, because while I always know my shape is due to my growing little boy, everyone else doesn't and it makes me a little self conscious (I know I'm not the only one), but now I can wear that obvious bump with pride! Now for the con of this new bump...MY FLIPPIN' BACK FEELS LIKE IT'S GOING TO FALL APART!!!!  I swear, every time I walk more than 20 feet, I feel like my spine is about to collapse and I'm going to fall into a heap of skin (dramatic I know, but it's true).  This is due to the fact that your uterus is now about the size of a cantaloupe, which results in your body's center of gravity shifting.  This pulls your lower back forward and pushes the abdomen out.  In addition to this, the join relaxing hormones, such as relaxin, are making your muscles and ligaments more elastic and more sensitive.  This all adds up to a painful lower back.  This may be worse for you if this is a subsequent pregnancy because your uteran muscles and ligaments never go back to their pre-baby settings, which results in them being weaker which each subsequent pregnancy, and this then can cause lower back pain earlier, and/or sciatic nerve and round ligament pain.  OUCH!

Week 17
Week 19