23rd week of pregnancy is a good time to check and revise your shoe “arsenal”. Your baby grows up to 20 cm and weighs about 0.45 kg. Perhaps this week his closed eyes will begin to open, although until now, things will not reach soon.
What month?
The twenty-third obstetric week is the sixth lunar month. If it is more convenient for you to count from conception, then it turns out that the period is two weeks less. In rare cases, it is impossible to establish the exact gestational age. As it happens, as well as all the information about the dates - read here.
Your body
Hippo, elephant and kruglyash on legs - what words some mothers do not reward themselves with! Some with humor, others with a slight longing for the lost chiseled figure. Never regret anything. Every pregnant woman is beautiful in her condition.
Photo of the tummies (click to enlarge):
The bottom of the uterus is now located just above the navel, which gradually begins to protrude outward. If you wear a navel piercing, it’s time to remove the earring. Do not worry: the puncture site can theoretically grow, but in practice this happens very rarely.
Feel
Doctors consider the second trimester the calmest and most prosperous period of pregnancy. Many women agree with this. Early toxicosis has passed a very long time. The tremors of the child are not too strong, they delight and give positive emotions. General well-being is just great. However, unpleasant manifestations are also possible:
- headaches;
- constipation
- heartburn;
- swelling of the arms, legs, face;
- dizziness and weakness;
- fatigue;
- bleeding gums;
- periodic cramps (usually reduces calves or feet from the inside);
- the initial stage of varicose veins;
- inability to quickly concentrate, switch from one thought to another.
It is quite possible to overcome such troubles. It is enough to be attentive to your diet, devote enough time to sleep and rest, keep a working and everyday diaries. In addition, it is important to visit the dentist and the antenatal clinic on time.
Now you now and then want to urinate. This feeling will increase until the very birth, as the growing uterus presses on the bladder and does not allow the accumulation of large amounts of urine.
Brown spots may appear on your face. This is unpleasant, but such a situation cannot be changed. A thick layer of cosmetics can just tire you and worsen the condition of the skin. So just think about how after birth all excess pigmentation will surely disappear.
At week 23, you may be surprised to feel nauseous shortly after eating. But did early toxicosis end long ago? Everything is explainable.Sometimes the uterus can slightly compress the bile ducts, and this interferes with proper digestion. Talk with your doctor about a solution to this problem.
Pain and complications
Some conditions during pregnancy should be alarming. For example, any severe pain in the abdomen and / or lower back. Please note that these should not be pulling sensations that rarely occur and pass quickly. When the stomach really hurts, only the doctor will help. Especially if labor pains begin along with pain. If the fetus is rejected by the uterus and premature birth occurs, even modern medical technology is unlikely to save the life of the child.
A serious and dangerous complication of pregnancy in the second and third trimester is gestosis (late toxicosis). Its main symptoms are persistent edema, excess weight, protein in the urine, and blood pressure disorders. If gestosis is recognized and treated on time, in the third trimester you will prevent many complications. More on late toxicosis read here.
Fetal development
Your child sleeps a lot under his heart and is awake for several hours every day. Throughout the day, he moves his limbs many times, drinks amniotic fluid (up to half a liter per day), turns from time to time in different directions.
Fetal movements it’s difficult to calculate so far, no rules have been applied at this time. Many tremors are still very weak. The baby still has enough space in the uterus, and you simply don’t feel many of his movements. But if the fruit is large, or you are expecting twins, the movements can be felt more clearly. Some mothers say that even at this time their baby really kicks.
When moving, the fetus can touch any part of the uterus with a pen or foot. Some women feel tremors in the lower abdomen, others say that the baby often hits somewhere to the side. All these sensations are very individual.
What happens to the baby in the twenty-third week:
- bones and cartilage are still mineralized;
- brain activity is almost comparable to the brain activity of a newborn child;
- under the skin, the formation of a fat layer is in full swing, and the skin itself ceases to be transparent (but remains red due to the large number of blood vessels);
- the baby’s heart is already audible not only during an ultrasound scan, but also with an ordinary medical stethoscope;
- the eyes begin to open a little, but full vision will develop only after some time after childbirth;
- in the intestine, meconium, the original feces, continues to form (it is formed from all kinds of particles that the fetus is swallowed with amniotic fluid).
If you have been diagnosed with diabetes, you need additional medical supervision. The fetus may malfunction in the pancreas, which is now actively engaged in the production of its own insulin.
What does the baby need?
Your emotional state is very important. In any situation, whole cocktails of hormones are formed in your blood. And your blood circulation with the fetus is common. So, experiences too. Please note: the fetus suffers not only from your fright or stress. Too vivid experiences, some kind of super-big joy will also tire you and the child.
Be sure to talk with the baby, stroke the tummy. If relatives are willing to do the same, do not forbid. Make contact with your baby before he is born.
Recommendations
- Nutrition remains unchanged: your diet should be balanced and extremely healthy.
- If you have heartburn, cook porridge and jelly more often. You can quickly get rid of a heartburn attack in several ways. For example, take a sip of warm milk or eat soda on the tip of a teaspoon and drink it with water. Note: if you have not fought with heartburn in such ways before, it is better not to try. Just watch your diet stricter.
- If you have swelling after walking or just in the evenings, check your drinking regimen. Any liquid needs to be drunk a little. But do not force yourself to endure thirst, especially in hot weather.Completely exclude salty, spicy foods from the diet, limit sweets.
- Check all your shoes. You may need larger shoes or boots. Avoid complicated fasteners, lacing, high heels, wedges and platforms. Shoes should not crush, rub, get wet in wet weather or slip in the snow.
- If you decide to buy new shoes, boots or boots, it is better to do this in the afternoon. It is at this time that the legs tend to swell slightly, and you can correctly assess the quality and convenience of the new thing. If your chosen model presses - ask for a different size. Never listen to the seller’s promises that everything will be stretched, carried and then will be on the foot.
- Watch your skin for your chest, abdomen, hips, and buttocks. Keep dry in these areas of your body. Use special remedies for stretch marks (including for prevention) or high-quality olive oil.
- Record the time of training fights. They should be rare and irregular, without pain and pathological discharge from the vagina.
- You will have to refuse sex if you have a multiple pregnancy, there is a risk of miscarriage, the placenta is low, or the amount of amniotic fluid is below normal.
- Watch for vaginal discharge. They should be moderately thick, white or transparent, without any particular smell. In case of any deviation from the norm, go to the doctor.
- If for any reason you are late with a screening test of the second trimester (blood, urine, ultrasound tests), the antenatal doctor should write out all the necessary directions.
- Check your weight: tentatively, the increase from the beginning of pregnancy should not exceed eight kilograms.
- Wear a prenatal bandage to support your abdomen and better weight distribution.
- Go in for sports, but without tiring physical activity. The best types are yoga or swimming.
- Try to sleep only on your left side. Place small pillows under the stomach, back, and between the knees.
- If cord blood collection and storage is available in your city, consider using it. Cord blood stem cells - this is a real, natural medicine with a wide spectrum of action.
Another danger
Not all pregnant women are happily married. Some are lonely at first, and an unborn baby is the result of a short relationship without good prospects. It also happens that relationships with the partner and father of the child end during pregnancy. What to do with sexual desires? Especially if a man appears nearby, ready to be near, to care for, love and give intimate experiences?
Look at this situation from the moral side. The expectant mother is responsible for two. And now you need to think first of all about your baby. And if your personal life did not work out, do not try to solve everything now. A truly worthy man will understand and wait. And lovers of short-term adventures and thrills just drop out.
The opinions of doctors about such cases are unambiguous. A new sexual relationship can cause infection in your body, causing many problems. So all personal life - for later. Think about your baby and all the imminent joys of motherhood.
Video guide: 23 weeks of pregnancy what is happening, fetal development, weight gain, edema, cord blood
[sc: ads]
I remember I often had heartburn. It seems that there was proper nutrition, I ate a lot of cereals, but still. Milk also helped me quickly. But most often I drank carrot juice. It works great, but also very useful.
Do not use soda as a remedy for heartburn. Yes, it can help, but it will be a short-term effect, after which heartburn will reappear, but with greater force. It is better to endure heartburn and exclude foods that cause it from your diet.
at 23 weeks, the stomach is already very decent. It seems to me that in the period from 19 to 23 weeks, the stomach grew 2 times.
It's hard for me to bend down and get out of bed. Heartburn only after certain foods, but excluding them is not there. Milk helps, I do not recommend soda.