Week 17 Update

Just realized that I forgot to do my usual pregnancy week by week update yesterday, so thought I would include this morning (as I am now at exactly 17 weeks).

My Changes: My abdomen is continuing to grow, and I & some pictures will attest to becoming more and more visible to others (though my work maternity clothes still do a fairly good job of hiding). I'm loving it...right now, I feel probably more healthy than I ever have. And this is kind of the crazy part to think about: "it will begin to move other organs around to compensate for the growth of your uterus & baby."

Baby's Changes: Baby Desch is now about 6.5 inches long and weighs around 4 ounces. The umbilical cord is both lengthening and becoming stronger/thicker for these last 23 weeks (almost to the halfway point!). His/Her sense of hearing is also developing now that the ears are in their final position -- Ryan has been occasionally reading children's books to the baby, so will have to start doing more frequently now that we know he/she can actually really start hearing him.

Tips for Making Pregnancy Better: They didn't really give much of a tip this week, except to state that I might be experiencing pain in my legs...sciatic nerve pain, which is believed to be caused by pressure from the baby on that nerve. For the most part, I only experience the pain in the later half of my sleeping period and my solution is consistent with theirs, rotate to my other side (and then later rotate again, and then again...but not keeping me from sleeping, so can't complain; just a minor inconvenience which currently only costs me a few minutes of sleeping at a time).