Your Baby's Development
Even though fat is beginning to accumulate on your baby's body, the skin still hangs loosely, giving your baby a wrinkled appearance. Your baby's daily workout routine includes moving the muscles in the fingers, toes, arms, and legs regularly. As a result, you may feel more forceful movements.
By now your baby weighs a little more than 1 pound (454 grams). If preterm labor and delivery were to occur this week, a baby could survive with expert medical care, but might have mild to severe disabilities. With increasing research and knowledge in the field of fetal medicine, the long-term prognosis for premature babies (preemies) improves every year.
Your Body
The closer you get to your delivery date, the more trouble you may have sleeping. Anxiety, frequent urination, heartburn, leg cramps, and general discomfort can translate into a short night's sleep for a pregnant woman. But your baby's health and your own depend on you getting adequate rest. Try a warm bath, soothing music, a relaxing book, or a cup of herbal tea to put you in the mood to snooze.
Many doctors recommend that pregnant women sleep on their sides, not their backs or stomachs, so that blood flow to the placenta is not restricted. If you find this uncomfortable, try placing a pillow between your knees to relieve the pressure of your weight while lying on your side.
So...the bit about preemies...I found out this weekend that my boss's wife does that research. Cool, eh?
ReplyDeleteShe also flies around the world and holds seminars to inform doctors of the findings. She has been doing this for the last 20 yrs and has gotten to not only see, but also be a part of the increasing survival rates, decreasing blindness, deafness, and cerebral palsy. She started out actually working with preemies in the hospitals who were 2lbs and under. I just thought it was so neat.