19 Weeks Pregnant: How Your Health Affects Your Baby’s
Baby’s Size at 19 Weeks Pregnant
This week your baby is the size of a plump, ripe heirloom tomato!
19 Weeks Pregnant: Baby Update
Your little one is kicking, wriggling and turning more often now. She’s even realizing that she can reach out and touch things, like her face or her umbilical cord. If you’ve had a baby before, you’re probably feeling movement pretty regularly but if you aren’t, don’t worry. Sometimes it takes a few more weeks.
Her brain is entering a period of zooming growth. She’s building out key areas that will enrich her life, like smell, taste, touch, and hearing.
19 Weeks Pregnant: What to Expect
Right now, you are in complete control of your baby’s environment. Not only is she starting to hear your voice, she can even taste what you are eating! Amazingly, some of the decisions you make now will help put your baby on the path of wellness that may continue through adulthood. Experts call this the “fetal programming hypothesis,” it’s an increasingly hot area of medical study. You are literally tweaking her genes to promote some and switch off others.
Nutrition is one super important way to tweak your health and the health of your baby. You may be craving carbs of any kind (bagels, bread, pizza, pasta, potatoes). But, did you know that sugars and starches promote inflammation (basically the irritation and unhealth of many body systems). That’s why, one of the best investments you can make is to switch to lower carb, anti-inflammation diet. It can help with arthritis and joint pain, as well as pregnancy linked inflammation, like preeclampsia. It can keep gestational diabetes at bay, slow weight gain, and may help you sidestep some uncomfortable side effects of pregnancy, like swelling.
This way of eating is not only healthy for you, it may put your baby on the path to good health for their entire life! Talk about a win-win.
19 Weeks Pregnant To-Do List
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Go out and…shop: You may want to start some basic maternity shopping, just to get it out of the way. Maybe a dress or two that will accommodate your growing silhouette and a good bra that will give your growing breasts support and expanding rib cage some breathing room. Many moms find sports bras offer enough support without uncomfortable underwires. Other staples include: long tees and tanks, maternity leggings and jeans with spandex around the waist. These will be your wardrobe workhorses for the next 20 weeks.
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Start side-sleeping: Experts recommend switching from sleeping on your back to sleeping on your side for optimal blood flow. A pregnancy pillow can help keep you comfy and in position as your body grows.
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Interview pediatricians: If you’re a first-time mom, you may not realize that it’s valuable to find a pediatrician long before the baby is born. It’s one more goal you can check off the list and it will give you enormous peace of mind, if you deliver early. Start by asking for recommendations from your doctor/midwife, friends and family, even moms you meet in the park! And, when you do the interview, be sure to bring a list of questions to help you learn if the doctor and the office are a good fit for your family. Bring along a pad with a list of all your questions and to jot down what you learn.
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Start deciding your birthday invite list: Some people want their whole family for support and others only want one or two (their partner and perhaps a doula). Now is a good time to start making some plans for the big day. Just don’t worry about being “polite.” What will make you most comfortable and what will help you labor best? This is your day and your needs come first.
Pregnancy Lingo Lesson: Prostaglandin and Cervical Ripening
Prostaglandins are natural hormones that help control inflammation and “contraction and relaxation” of the fine muscles in different organs of the body. In the womb, they help the cervix ripen (soften and start to open) and the uterus contract. Synthetic forms of these hormones are also commonly used to encourage labor.
Pregnancy Quote of the Week
The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. — Rajneesh
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