Well, we are into week 17 of pregnancy and all is going really well.
We leave on Friday for our trip to Austria for the bike tour along Danube for 7 days and am soooooo excited! Will do quick check-up with gynae this week to ensure all 100% and can then board with clean conscious ;) Virgin Active also need a clearance certificate that it's OK for me to continue to train there, which is fair. Once that little piece of paperwork is out the way, I will start cycling indoors and swimming when we get back. Riding on the mountain is getting too hair-raising and on the road is just too dangerous here in the Wild Wild West!
My gynae is on leave this week, but the Dr on call said I should keep active on the flights by walking around etc etc otherwise all will be fine. Everyone is pretty concerned/shocked about the trip and the planned ride...but I reckon being active won't do the babes any harm. We must just be sensible and take it easy...and if it's too cold and rainy or I'm exhausted, we just catch a train...simple.
Here is what my weekly email says about this week:
Your growing baby: Your baby is about as wide as your palm, about six inches tall, and weighs about four ounces—about as much as a bar of soap. She now weighs more than your placenta. Your baby is now covered with a downy layer of lanugo, which swirls in fingerprint-like formation over her whole body. Her skin is still thin. Brown fat, a special type of fat that plays a role in body heat generation, is being deposited. In the next few weeks, your baby's eyes will begin to move beneath their fused lids in a side-to-side sweeping motion.
Your changing body: As your breasts grow, they'll be sensitive and tender and sometimes just plain painful. The placenta is now a fully functional network of blood and tissue that distributes nutrients and removes waste. You're looking pregnant, but not so much that it's difficult to put your socks on. You may even get that pregnancy glow, a radiance that comes from extra blood flow to your skin. And you'll start to feel a lot of the baby's movements soon.
Lovely!
Week 18 whilst we are away:
Your growing baby: Your baby is about 5 to 5 1/2 inches long from top to tail and weighs a little more than five ounces, about the size of a lobster tail. While in earlier weeks, your baby may have been able to sense sound with her primitive ear structures, this week, the bones of the ear become fully formed along with the part of her brain that processes signals from his ears. There's still plenty of room in your uterus, so your fetus can be quite active with her new muscles. She may change positions frequently, cross her legs, recline, suck her thumb, and turn somersaults. Her retinas have become light sensitive, and your baby may be able to detect a glow if you shine bright lights at your belly (even though her eyelids are sealed).
Your changing body: During this week, and the next few weeks, you may feel your baby's first movements—a fluttery sensation in your pelvis. Called quickening, many cultures believe that this is when life begins. You may have aches and pains in your legs, tailbone, and other muscles. Now is a good time to talk to your partner about how your house will be managed once the baby comes. For the first few weeks, until you establish a new routine with your new baby, you'll be too occupied to cook meals, take care of pets, open the mail, pick up the phone, or do anything but breastfeed, soothe the baby, and sleep. We hope your partner is up to the challenge. If not, prepare to move your mother or another relative in for a time. Also consider hiring a postpartum doula or baby nurse to help out.
Alrighty then...ta ta till week after next, when I'll post with some awesome shots of the growing belly/babes in some beaut locations.
Lots of love and hugs
Linda & Brad
xxxx
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