At this point you're pretty much swollen all over. What started as just a "boob thing" seems to have spread from there, down your torso and out your limbs. This is definitely contagious. But even if sausage fingers and toes aren't your idea of womanly, remember that you are indeed a reproductive goddess. (You could try asking your friends to bow before you as you enter the room, but you'll probably have to settle for peeling your own grapes.)
Wondering what's up with your body, your baby and your life this week? Read on ...
What You're Thinking:
"Why don't my shoes fit anymore? Am I pregnant in my feet, too?"
Your Body
Pregnancy leg cramps are not your ordinary run-of-the-mill leg cramps. Nope, a pregnancy leg cramp will often have you leaping out of bed screaming at the top of your lungs.
Leg cramps can be caused by a calcium deficiency, so be sure to get enough calcium. Even if you're lactose intolerant or have dairy allergies, there are still ways to get enough calcium in your diet that don't involve eating a 2-gallon drum of ice cream (although that does sound fun). Believe it or not, there's calcium in almonds, fish, broccoli and tofu.
While they come with the territory of pregnancy, there are ways to avoid leg cramps, like warm soaks and massages.
Sometime between Weeks 24 and 28, you'll get your glucose screening test to check for gestational diabetes. You'll have to drink this really syrupy, sugary soda drink, wait an hour, and then have your blood sugar levels tested to see how your body handles the sugar rush. If you get to do it at home, put the drink in the fridge to get it nice and cold. It's much easier to stomach when it's chilled. Some OBs may even let you skip the sugary soda in lieu of something just as sweet, like pancakes smothered in syrup. Hey, it's worth asking!
Your Baby
Get ready for pat-a-cake! Baby's hands are now fully developed and he spends most of his awake time groping around in the darkness of your uterus. Brain and nerve endings are developed enough now so that your baby can feel the sensation of touch. That doesn't mean he can feel it when his father pokes your stomach, however, so tell him to knock it off. Other highlights include:
Your baby's arms and legs have grown to almost the proportions they will be at birth, which is still sort of short. So don't be alarmed when your newborn's arms barely clear his waist. Baby's nostrils, which have been plugged up until now, clear out (like he's taken a super-dose of Sudafed) and he can practice breathing through the nose. The structures of your baby's spine are now made up of 150 joints, 33 rings and some 1,000 ligaments. Can you believe you're growing something that complicated inside of you?
The capillaries, the teeniest blood vessels, are now forming in your baby's body, giving his formerly translucent skin a pink glow. The blood vessels in the lungs also develop this week. You'll see how well that worked out when your baby gives those lungs a workout while you're on line at the bank in a few months.
Your baby weighs about a pound and a half and is about 13½ inches long—roughly the length of one of those recorders you played in elementary school music class. Who's up for a round of "Hot Cross Buns?"
