Your baby at week seventeen of pregnancy
Despite your baby’s eyelids still being fused shut, your baby’s eyes are moving around, and your little one now has eyebrows and eyelashes! Your baby is about the size of a pear, and weighs nearly 120g, and even though your little one has had hiccups before, you should now be able to feel it! Body fat is beginning to develop on your baby, and will continue to do so in a healthy fashion over the next few months. Your baby’s body is now in proportion with his or her head, and sweat glands have begun to develop. The placenta matches the baby in size and maintains levels of minerals, fats, proteins, and oxygen, along with removing waste and filtering carbon dioxide.
Your body at week seventeen of pregnancy
Although your tummy may have shown signs of protruding, prepare for a full on baby bump, as your womb now has a growth spurt, this time outwards as well as upwards! By the time you actually go into labor, your womb is a thousand times the size it was before pregnancy! For most women long gone are the days of nausea and morning sickness.
Your baby is growing rapidly and constantly sending you signals and messages to eat! Be careful to watch this though, even though healthy weight gain is important for you and you little one at this stage of pregnancy, it’s also important that you keep a healthy diet and don’t literally ‘eat for two’, (even though you are!), otherwise you can easily find yourself far more overweight than you anticipated!
What you may be feeling at week seventeen of pregnancy
At seventeen weeks pregnant you may still not look as if you are pregnant when you are dressed, but your usual clothes will feel tight and dressing more of a challenge. It is frustrating struggling to accommodate changes of waist size and breast size and this can be upsetting. Shopping for some new clothes will lift your mood and it will make you feel more in control to have clothes you can reach for that you know will look nice and be comfortable.
Common symptoms at week seventeen of pregnancy
- Decreasing nausea and vomiting
- Breast discomfort and tenderness
- Dizziness
- A decrease in fluctuating emotions
- Heartburn or constipation
- Food aversions or cravings may continue
- Increased energy
- Swollen gums and sensitivity
- Nosebleeds due to increased blood-flow and sensitive nasal passages
- Shortness of breath
- Clumsiness
- Anxiety about your pregnancy and the birth
- Anxiety about your role as a parent and the changes that will bring to your family
Tips for week seventeen of pregnancy
- Vitamin D is extremely important for growth, if you live in an extreme climate, where it is too hot or too cold to expose yourself to the sun, ask a doctor if you should be taking vitamin D supplements to compensate.
- It is really important that you stay hydrated to prevent dizziness and fatigue, try to drink eight glasses of water a day, and more than this if you have exercised!
- If you are suffering from periodic leg pains, it is most likely due to the baby resting on your sciatic nerve, which connects your uterus to your legs, try using a heated pad, or back stretches to relieve the pain
If you have any symptoms that concern you it is important to consult your doctor as soon as you can.