20 Weeks Pregnant – Pregnancy Symptoms and Baby Development

What’s new this week?

Your body

Important milestone alert! You are halfway through your pregnancy. Congrats! At this point, your uterus has grown to about belly button height and is pushing your belly out enough that you’re probably noticeably pregnant with the world. If it hasn’t started (last month), your healthcare provider will start monitoring your progress at fundal height. “What the hell is that?” you ask. It’s the distance from your fundus (also known as the top of your uterus) to your pelvic bone, which he will most likely check by stretching a tape measure across your abdomen. Your doctor may also be able to listen to your baby’s heartbeat with a stethoscope instead of using the Doppler. Your baby will even get to the point where your partner may be able to hear her heart beating — a very faint thump — by placing his ear against your bump. More on the abdomen: If it isn’t already, you may notice in the coming weeks that your abdomen starts to itch from the stretching of your skin and muscles. Treat yourself to a good, thick body lotion to relieve it. (Plus, giving a mini-tummy massage can help your baby perk up and put on a little gymnastics show for you.)

DID YOU KNOW?

6-6½ inches

Height of your baby

9 ounces

Weight of your baby Gewicht

small coconut

Size of your baby

your baby

Now that your baby’s skin is protected by a covering of vernix (a white, greasy layer), it begins to thicken and develop several layers: the epidermis or the outer layer of the skin; the middle dermis layer; and the subcutis, the deepest layer of the skin and composed mainly of fat. If you are having a girl, over the next few weeks her uterus and ovaries will be in place and her vagina will develop. Another amazing fact: She currently has between six and seven million eggs (primitive eggs) in her ovaries – three to six times the number (1 to 2 million) she will have at birth!

your life now

You’ve probably been warned a million times (by your doctor, mom, maybe even the guy who made your tuna subs) about the dangers of eating certain types of fish, namely raw, undercooked, or types that tend to be high in mercury. But do you know the benefits of seafood? Because if you’re like many women who get so scared of the mercury talk that they avoid it altogether, you could be missing something. It is true that eating too much mercury-rich fish can have harmful effects on both you and your baby. But a growing body of research shows that regularly eating other types of fish that are good to eat during pregnancy, especially omega-3-rich fish such as salmon, can boost your baby’s brain development. Some research even suggests that mothers-to-be who ate less than 340 grams of seafood per week were more likely to give birth to babies who grew up with lower verbal IQs and lower social development scores. (That’s not to say that if you really don’t like fish to begin with, you’re doing your baby a disservice. Other foods, like walnuts, contain brain-boosting omega-3s.) So get some this week! According to the EPA, limit consumption to 12 ounces (about two servings) of fish per week. Get local advice on fish caught by family or friends, and if no advice is available, limit to no more than 6 ounces per week. On the green light list: shrimp, salmon, catfish and pollock. You can find more information about: “What to eat?” during the pregnancy

Moms Like Me/ I wish I had known

“Every time I start laughing really hard at something, it inevitably turns into uncontrollable crying! I do not understand. It’s not the kind of thing that makes me laugh so hard that tears roll down my cheeks. No – my laughter turns from laughing to actually crying! Those hormones are really crazy.” —mother-to-angel-baby