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As you are in the 19th week of pregnancy, that means you are in your 5th month of pregnancy and you have only 4 to meet your baby. Your little baby gets its skin but is covered in a waxy like substance known as vernix caseosa that protects the baby’s sensitive skin. The upper layer of uterus reaches the belly button and grows gradually.
Progress Of Your Baby
Your baby is now around the length of a banana & weighs about 200 grams and head circumference is on average about 16.4 cm by the end of Week 19 and you may be starting to feel them move.
Your baby starts developing the melanocyte cells that help in producing the pigmentation of the skin. This development will continue even after the birth. Thin hairs started to grow from the scalp and brains starts separating the areas specialized for smell, hearing, taste, touch and vision. Vernix caseosa helps to protect the skin of the baby from the amniotic fluid that can dry out the skin of the baby.
At this time your baby starts moving its hands and legs that may feel like a kick inside your belly. Baby’s eyelids have been closed since about week 10, but now begin to open and close.
Alterations In Your Body
The most common symptom of the second trimester is the round ligament pain. Along with that, there are also other symptoms such as:
- You might suddenly wake up at night in between your sleep, it might occur due to the leg cramps. This is caused because of carrying the extra weight of your baby, your leg muscles become fatigued and stressed.
- Pregnancy might also cause swelling in the nose that blocks the nasal passage creating difficulty to breathe.
- Constipation is normal during pregnancy as you are taking the iron supplements for providing nutrition to your baby.
- If you are wearing glasses or contact lenses, then it might get uncomfortable as your eyesight becomes blurry. Changes in vision are common during pregnancy as the hormones cause fluid build-up in your eyes.
- Spotted dark patches (on pale skin) or white patches (on dark skin)? This is called pigmentation. It’s normal in pregnancy and the marks usually disappear a few months after the birth.
- Nipples have appeared over the breast area by this stage.
Do I Need To Give Up Exercise As I Get Bigger?
If you’re used to running, it’s fine to carry on during your pregnancy as long as you feel comfortable. Use the ‘talk test’ to make sure you’re not overdoing it – you shouldn’t be so out of breath that you can’t hold a conversation.
Once your bump starts to show, running may become uncomfortable. This is partly due to the hormone relaxin, which loosens your ligaments and means that there’s less support for your knees, ankles and back.
Tips For This Week
This is the time when you must do some research about the prenatal classes. So that when you join those classes you must be well acquainted with the tips, they will ask you to follow that will help in healthy childbirth. In these prenatal classes, they mainly focus on prepping you for labour, childbirth and help you to remain aware of the tasks of new parenthood. They will also make you acquainted with newborn care, breastfeeding, etc. They will also provide you information about cord blood banking and its benefits. So, join the classes, meet other women, share your experiences with them and you will feel more confident about the baby’s birth.