Pregnancy Week 19

What’s happening to your baby?

Your baby at week 19 pregnancy is as huge as a mango. So, what’s going on within your mango-sized munchkin? The important development this week is the formation of vernix caseosa. Vernix is a cheese-like substance that begins to cover your baby’s skin. It is primarily made of cells that are shed by the fetal skin, called sebum.

Vernix protects your baby’s skin from the amniotic fluid. Well, why should something do that job in the first place? Let’s discuss how your skin would become if you were to soak in a pool of water for nine months? Wrinkled like an old prune, isn’t it? And we don’t want that to happen to our babies! In other words, vernix acts like an anti-wrinkle cream for your baby protecting her soft skin from shriveling.

His or her genitals are still developing though most likely, can be identified in an ultra sound by now. The hairs on her head are beginning to bud, making her face look closer to a human.

What’s happening to your body? A Girl or a boy? The mid-pregnancy ultrasound can put this poll to rest!

If this question seemed eternally unanswered, now is the time for its salvation. Your OB may schedule a mid-pregnancy ultrasound between 18 to 20 weeks. At the time of the scan, you can ask your doctor to reveal the secret to you. If your little one decides to behave, he or she will show on the screen what the doctor exactly wants to see; else, get prepared for an early peek-a-boo play with your dear mischief.

In case, you do not want to know your baby’s gender (you think it may well remain a secret until the baby is born), inform your OB in advance so that she wouldn’t habitually slip it out from her tongue.

Your doctor will also check your baby’s heart, spine, neck, arms – almost anything visible on the scan – to check the overall development of your baby’s organs. You may as well listen to her heart beat with a doppler machine, which is around 140 beats per minute, twice as much as your’s.

Did your feet swell?

Swollen feet are a common sight in pregnant women which can begin anytime from now. The swelling becomes more prominent in the third trimester. Take it light for now, you’ll come to know more about it in the coming weeks. 

Didn’t you yet hear about varicose veins?

If you are new to the term ‘varicose veins’, it may sound like a serious disorder. But it isn’t as scary as it sounds. To understand this condition better, let’s take a quick visualization of the blood flow in your legs:

Like how your heart pumps pure blood to your legs via the arteries, the return journey of the impure blood from your legs to the heart via veins, happen too. Yes, as you know, by now your blood volume has increased to several folds and your circulatory system is handling extra loads. So, there is increased load of blood to be pulled back to your heart.

Now, if you tend to put your feet down for most part of the day, say you stand for long hours or sit with your feet hanging, the upward flow, which is already against gravity, is going to get tougher. Adding to it are the hormones that are generously relaxing your blood vessels now, lowering the pressure of blood flow below the required level. As a result, blood gets accumulated in the veins which gradually become swollen. And that, we call varicose veins.

In general, varicose veins are not troublesome and they go away in sometime after delivery. But, in some women, it could be achy or itchy.

Tips and advice for Pregnancy Week 19 How to prevent varicose veins?

Varicose veins could be hereditary and in that case you cannot avoid seeing those purple cris-crosses on your leg. Yet, you can lighten the severity of it by practicing the following:

ü  Avoid standing or sitting in the same position for longer hours. Take frequent breaks.

ü  When you sit down, keep your feet raised, may be on a stool as much as possible.

ü  When you sleep, have a pillow under your feet to make them slightly raised.

ü  Be regular on a brisk walk or a mild exercise routine, approved by your doctor.