What’s Happening With Mom?
“Pregnancy brain” combines with the distractions of being pregnant to make many moms-to-be into airheads. Organized types may be horrified to find that, on their return from the supermarket, they forgot to buy the milk that they went for. If you were a ditz before you got pregnant, you might be locking the keys in the car twice as often.
Resign yourself to being a bit forgetful for the next few months, but take comfort in the name – pregnancy brain goes away after birth, when it is replaced by baby brain. This is the condition where you would be able to remember things if it wasn’t for being so tired from the sleepless nights.
Over your second trimester, you’ll gain somewhere between 8-12 lbs, averaging about a pound every week. And you know what that means? Mmm, food. Despite the old adage of “eating for two”, you don’t actually need twice the calories. Your doctor will give you guidelines for the amount of weight you should gain, and try to eat well, not just more.
And what about odd cravings – not just for cupcakes-with-peas, but for non-food items, like dirt, or laundry detergent? It does happen, and you might feel like a oddity wanting to eat shoe polish, but resist and consider it a notification to evaluate your diet to see if you are getting enough of all the nutrients you need. A common deficiency in pregnant women is anemia, iron deficient, and your doctor can do a simple blood test to check for that, and recommend an iron supplement.
And by the way, are you still taking your prenatal vitamins?
What’s Happening With Baby?
By week 14, your baby’s muscles and nerves are co-ordinated enough for baby to put a thumb in mouth. The reproductive organs, which developed deep inside baby’s body, are now complete and have moved to their final positions.
Baby boys have been making the hormone testosterone for a few weeks, but now both genders start making all kinds of hormones which primarily affect baby but also interact with your hormones. Blame that if you find yourself being a moody miss this week.
Tags: eating for two, food cravings, muscles and nerve, pregnancy brain, Second Trimester, testosterone
