One more day we continue with the series of tickets dedicated to Pregnancy week by week, arriving at the week 18, that moment in which the mother usually says that the fifth month of pregnancy begins.
As of this week, the size of the uterus is already beginning to make the tummy more evident and, although normal life can continue, since the symptoms of the first trimester have already been left behind, new symptoms typical of the changes in life may begin to appear Mother. We'll see what are those changes in the mother Y which ones happen in the baby in the 18th week of gestation.
Changes in the baby in the 18th week of pregnancy
In the week 18 of pregnancy, when the baby has been forming for 16 weeks, it measures about 13-15 cm and weighs about 150 grams. To learn more about their measurements, tell them that their femur is now about 2.7 cm and that the circumference of their head is about 15.4 cm.
Your ear is more developed and the nerve terminals too, so is able to start listening to sounds like their beats and even the passage of blood through the umbilical cord.
The heart matures, being divided by the two atria and the two ventricles. The atria are still communicated with each other, passing blood from the right to the left through the so-called oval foramen, as a measure to prevent the passage of blood to the lungs. The moment the baby is born, when he has to start using them and starts breathing, that hole closes.
The external genitalia are already formed and that is why you can already know this week the sex of the baby. As the control ultrasound is usually done at 20 weeks, it will not be until that time when parents who want to know the sex of the child they expect.
In addition, as a curiosity, from this week the baby's fingerprints begin to form.
Changes in women in the 18th week of pregnancy
The body continues to change and it is estimated that the mother's weight gain until this week (the accumulated to date) is about 3,550 kg, although as we have said in previous weeks, this is only an average.
As we said at the beginning of the entry, the growth of the uterus means that it can already reach the level of the navel. That increase in size can cause the bladder to compress and the feeling of urinating to appear more often. It is said that the sensation is similar to when you have a urine infection, because you have to go to the toilet several times throughout the day and night, but without the stinging sensation typical of the infection.
In addition to noticing the changes in the size of the belly, the breasts begin to feel larger, at which point you have to wear more comfortable and comfortable underwear and outerwear. It is also possible that weight gain in the front modify the position and posture of the woman a little and change the balance a little when walking. You have to watch your back, it can start to hurt.
To prevent it and as a source of health and well-being, it is still advisable to carry a healthy diet and exercise that can strengthen the muscles in general and help that changes in walking do not affect.
On the subject of sleep, some women may have to change their sleeping posture, especially if they are used to sleeping on their stomachs. The size of the belly can make it annoying to sleep like that, having to find the woman another more comfortable position. Since the belly weight falls on the body itself, and may not be well tolerated, the most recommended position is sideways on the left side with a cushion between the legs.
