Hey mom! Feeling hungry? Do not be surprised if your fifth month of pregnancy brings a truck driver’s appetite and an athlete’s leg cramps.
As you enter the half way point of your pregnancy, you may notice some mild effects, but considering your baby’s rapid growth this month, you will be amazed that you do not feel even more.
By the end of your 20th week, your baby will weight about ten ounces and be around six and a half inches long, officially the size of a small cantaloupe. Arms and legs are at last proportionate to the body, combined with new bone growth, give your baby the ability to kick and stretch in your belly. At last, you will likely experience quickening, which is the ability to feel those little movements.
During the end of your fifth month, your baby will also begin to develop a protective coating called Vernix caseosa. The Vernix protects your baby’s thin skin from the amniotic fluid that surrounds it.
Two particularly need things happen, this month, the first is that your little individual will actually develop his or her own unique fingerprints. By week 20, if you are having a little boy, his testicles will begin to descend. A baby girl’s uterus will fully form this week and she will have developed eggs in her ovaries. All of these development means that if you want to know your baby’s sex, an ultrasound exam should be able to tell you what color to paint the nursery.
So much rapid growing is hard work, and your baby is hungry, that means you are probably hungry too, and eating every thing in sight. While it is good to eat more when you are pregnant, remember that moderation is key.
During month five, you are probably also starting to experience pain in your back and cramping in your legs that gets worst at night. Doctors are not really sure where those night time leg cramps come from. However, the back pain is often caused by the additional weight from your developing pregnancy. This shifts your center of gravity, pulling your lower back forward.
Is it not about time pregnancy caused a good change in your body? You will probably have noticed that your hair and nails look great. You can think your increased circulation for bringing more nutrients to these areas, but unfortunately, those less just locks and long nails will probably disappear, once your baby makes his or her debut. Day by day, your baby is becoming a real little person and you are doing just great at housing him or her while that happens.
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