17 Weeks

 

C & W's Baby in Week 17 of Pregnancy

My how this baby has grown! She's about the size of your palm (or an Onion), weighs about five ounces, and is developing some body fat (join the club, baby!). Her heart is now regulated by her brain (no more random beats) to beat 140 to 150 times per minute — about twice as fast as yours! What else is up? She’s practicing the survival skills she’ll need at birth — like sucking and swallowing.

My Body in Week 17 of Pregnancy

Now that I'm starting to show (yeah, that's been happening for a few weeks now), chances are that friends, coworkers, and even strangers may feel the urge to reach out and touch your belly (So far, just one of my surro sisters, but I'm totally ok with her doing it.  : )  No strangers or others as of yet, so we'll see what happens). If you don't mind, that's fine. But if you do, speak up kindly but firmly. More new developments with your body: a slight vaginal discharge (leukorrhea) and a greater sensitivity to allergens these days — both are totally normal — and the appetite of a truck driver now that the queasy feeling is (probably) gone.

Week 17 Pregnancy Tip: Snoring

If your partner finds your new snoring habit about as sexy as a hippo in a thong (which, by the way, you're starting to feel like), take heart. The stuffiness that often triggers world-champion snoring is common and temporary, another unexpected (make that inexplicable) side effect of those pregnancy hormones at work (that’s right, even your nose is affected by pregnancy hormones!). Try putting a humidifier in your bedroom, using one of those nasal strips on your nose to open up your nasal passages (doesn't look pretty, but it works for some people), or sleeping on a couple of pillows to keep your head slightly elevated. And if he still complains, buy him a set of earplugs — or banish him to the couch for the night; after all, it's more important that you get a good night's sleep these days. (This wasn't a big problem until a few weeks before baby "E" was born and DH did end up sleeping on the couch.  Let's hope it waits just as long this time, or maybe doesn't show up at all.)