Seventeen Weeks

Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.See what your baby looks like this week.
Who stole my ankles?

My one crowning glory, my one delicate and thin body feature – gone to the water retention pregnancy gods.

When I got home yesterday after a normal day at work, I looked down at my little tootsies only to see two swollen stumps where my delicate ankle bones used to protrude. I thought to myself, “Isn’t this a little early for swollen feet? Doesn’t this usually happen in the eighth or ninth month?”

So I got out my trusty Pregnancy Week by Week and found that swelling is completely normal because of all the extra fluids moving around in your body. I cross referenced this advice with What to Except When You’re Expecting and it said the same thing – just be sure my blood pressure stays low and I’m not spilling protein into my urine. Well, I can’t find out either until I see the doc on Monday. The books suggested that I drink plenty of fluids and that I keep moving or do not stand or sit for too long and wear comfortable shoes. I’m on the comfy shoe wagon, I just need to remind myself to take frequent breaks and walk away from the computer after a few hours. One benefit of working in a children’s hospital is that I can take a break and always find someone to play Uno with or go for a stroll in our new therapy garden. Propping my legs up on top of my computer monitor (which is a huge no no according to our IT dept) may be too high, I need something in between. I’ll bring in a little stool for under my desk – just another thing we have to purchase!

After the purchase of the car, I was full steam ahead on to the next big purchases and I think Frank was getting a little overwhelmed by all this talk of buying this or needing that. He sweetly asked me not to talk about any big purchases for a week. I like how he put a time limit to it, but honey, seven days and counting and we’re off to look at baby furniture.

I’ve been feeling the baby move more. Still not at any special times of the day, just when she/he feels the need to flutter. I have noticed it’s moves often after I have something sweet or after I eat. It still feels like a flutter, or a pop here or there.

We have our next doc apt on Monday. I’ll definitely ask him about the new swelling, about some stretching pain I’ve been having – both of which I’m sure are normal. And of course we have our BIG ultrasound!