Hi, everybody.
I'm Melissa. Welcome back.
I'm so excited to be doing our pregnancy week to week series with you guys.
I also am at week 5.
This is our Week 5 show.
We have a companion text piece with a lot more detailed
medical information and health information on my website at Cloudmom.com at week 5.
Your baby is a ball of cells resembling a tadpole
and is about the size of a peppercorn. The creation of the brain,
the spinal cord, the heart and the blood vessels has already started.
Your baby is about .05
inches long and weighs about .04 ounces.
Bump and exercise.
I'm not really seeing much of a bump at 5 weeks,
but to stand up and show you guys and you could tell me what you think.
I don't really notice much of anything
so I'll try to back up a little bit here.
For exercise I've been sticking to, you know,
most of the things I normally do: bar classes, yoga and walking.
That's basically my exercise routine.
I talked about breast sensitivity during week four.
Oftentimes breasts
will become more tender, more sensitive, and you'll see a darkening of the areola,
which is the skin, the darker skin around the nipple.
That's all totally normal.
One thing that could be happening for you at this stage is morning sickness.
I've actually never had it.
50 to 80% of pregnant women will experience
morning sickness, and it can be very debilitating.
It's a very difficult thing to deal with.
I plan on doing
a whole other show about it, but I wanted to explain a little bit here
what can be considered the causes for morning sickness
and what are some of the things you could do if you're facing this.
So in most cases, morning sickness will cause women to feel nauseous
and not to vomit, but they will have the sort of lingering nausea
which can go on all day, and it can last for as long as five to eight weeks.
So sorry.
The increased
levels of estrogen and progesterone in your body
are slowing down the pace at which food is passing through
you and your digestive tract. So your stomach might be emptying more slowly
and this might cause some of the nausea and even the vomiting.
So what can you do?
The number one tip is to snack frequently in small amounts during the day.
Just keep a little bit of food in your stomach at all times.
Ginger ale and ginger tea have been shown
to be really, really helpful. And here are some of the other tips.
Lots of fluids, lots of water, lots of herbal tea and things like that.
There are certain foods which may trigger you to feel nauseous or to vomit.
You want to sort of spot what those are and of course, avoid them.
Try to get a lot of fresh air.
And prenatal vitamins are also really, really important.
If you're experiencing really, really tremendous nausea and vomiting,
definitely talk to your doctor because there's some very rare cases
that a true medical condition can result and you would need to be hospitalized
and looked after. So call your doctor.
In terms of doctor's appointments,
most pregnant women do not have an appointment at week 5.
Most women will wait to week 8 or
so when they will have their first visit with the doctor.
And their first ultrasound and check for the fetal heartbeat.
But check with your doctor.
In some cases, doctors can examine for a fetal heartbeat
as early as 6.5 weeks and in others, they'll want to wait
until much later in the pregnancy, probably at like 11 weeks.
Diet. It's the same rules, guys.
I'm going to go over them
because these are so important. You want to avoid alcohol, soft
cheeses, especially unpasteurized cheeses, raw fish.
You want to eat a diet that's rich in Omega 3’s, folic
acid, calcium, iodine, protein, vitamins D and B12.
And I've given a list of foods.
And feel free to add some in the comments below safe seafood.
Some are not safe.
Avoid tuna
and avoid swordfish among other fishes, eggs, lentils, oatmeal, nuts, yogurt,
ground, flax seeds, greens, blueberries, olive oil, avocados, beans are tofu.
all great chicken meat, all sorts of foods that give you energy.
Whole grains, crackers, try to stay away from sugar
and try to stay away from, you know, very heavy, like fatty foods
just so that you can keep your weight under control.
So anyway, in terms of a checklist, make sure you're taking your prenatal
vitamins, eat lots of salads and really, really try to go crazy with the folic acid
check and see when you're going to visit your doctor, nap a lot
when you're feeling tired in the afternoon.
And I've been talking about fatigue and I will continue to talk about
pregnancy fatigue as I go through these weeks with you.
Try to get into good dietary habits and just try to stay
calm, stay relaxed and enjoy this like a very special time for you.
Thank you so much for dialing in and see you next week.