Hi everybody, I'm Melissa.
Welcome back to Cloudmom, and welcome to my week-to-week pregnancy series.
I'm 23 weeks pregnant, and I imagine you are also, which is why you're watching this video.
Let's talk about week 23.
At week 23, your baby weighs about 1.2 pounds, is 11 inches long, and is the size of a grapefruit.
That sort of surprised me when I read it because I'm feeling so much bigger, but there's a lot
going on in terms of fluid and your sac and like everything else your body is getting ready for.
So a lot of the weight that you feel in the belly area is not just the actual baby;
it's everything that's supporting the baby that your body is getting
together in order to make sure that the baby is developing on target.
Your baby's lungs are now starting to produce a substance called surfactant, which will help
the lungs to mature in the next four weeks. Your baby's weight is going to skyrocket;
you can expect it to double over the next four weeks. Your baby's skin is continuing to thicken,
and the digestive system is producing peristalsis. Peristalsis is a series of contractions of
the intestines that move food through the digestive tract.
In terms of your diet, you want to stay away from alcohol, soft cheeses, and raw fish, no sushi.
You want to eat a diet rich, and I'm going to read the litany: Omega-3s,
folic acid, calcium, iodine, protein, vitamins D and B12.
I've been talking about this every week. Let me talk about fish a little bit this week.
The Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency recommend
that women eat between 8 and 12 ounces of low-mercury fish that's high in Omega-3s per week.
Here are some healthy options for pregnant women: wild salmon (you don't want to have
the fresh fry the farmed salmon), shrimp, herring, catfish, cod, and freshwater trout.
What kind of symptoms might you be having at 23 weeks of pregnancy?
If you're feeling numbness in your arms, this is likely carpal tunnel syndrome.
Increased fluids are putting pressure on your nerves, which is what is causing
this tingling sensation. In most cases, it's not a cause for concern.
You might also be noticing that your feet are bigger than they used to be,
just as the ligaments in your body are relaxing due to the pregnancy hormone
relaxin. This can include the ligaments in your feet. Unfortunately, unlike a lot
of your other pregnancy syndromes, this one does not go away after pregnancy. So a lot
of people have to go up a half a shoe size, and they have to buy new shoes.
I had this one friend who was so upset about this. She was like a big shoe person;
she had tons and tons of shoes. Her name is Yvonne, and she went into her shoe closet after
the baby was born and tried on her shoes, and I think she almost cried or she literally did
cry because she had so many gorgeous shoes, and they were basically rendered unwearable
by the growth of her feet during her pregnancy of at least half an inch or half a size rather.
Leaky boobs: In the same way that your body is getting the baby ready for birth,
your boobs are getting ready to breastfeed, and you might notice that there's a little bit of milk
that's coming out of your boobs in anticipation of breastfeeding. I have not noticed this.
You might also notice that your boobs feel slightly enlarged. Mine
feel a little bigger in the last week or so, but I haven't noticed
such an increase in size. If you are leaking, what you're leaking is colostrum.
Colostrum is the substance that your baby will be feeding on for the first few days after birth.
Snoring - the upper nasal passages can narrow during pregnancy, so you might
be snoring and keeping your partner up during the night, which is kind of a funny reversal
because in my experience, the partner tends to keep me up at night with the snoring.
I love these like Breathe Right nasal strips. I have a lot of allergies. They make me so much more
comfortable at night, so consider trying those. They might really help you out with the snoring.
In terms of doctor's appointments, you want to be confirming your 24-week sonogram. And let's talk
about a little bit of a checklist. You should keep doing your Kegel exercises. Try to keep
exercising. Try to do prenatal yoga, Pilates, or, if you're feeling really tired and just geeky, try
to sign yourself up for a relaxing massage. Keep drinking a lot and eating healthy. Aim to have
your major baby products and your nursery items selected and delivered and ready to go by week 36.
I say this because I had all my babies around week 36-37, so I couldn't wait for that last month of
pregnancy to get all this organized. I think it's a really good idea to try to tackle like one major
baby product per week. Really look into it carefully. Figure out what works for you,
figure out what works for your budget, get ready to order it, even order it early. Being
prepared, feeling prepared is just going to take away stress. I'm a big fan of that.
Thank you guys so much for watching. Here's the bump at week 23. Yay, the week 23 bump.
Uh, I feel good. Anyway, that's it for week 23.
Thank you guys so much for joining me. I will see you back here for week 24.
I really appreciate it. Take care, feel good,
stay healthy, and continue to enjoy your pregnancy. Thanks so much for watching.