What’s Happening With Mom?
Your blood pressure has so far been higher than normal, but this week, it gradually begins to returns to your pre-pregnancy levels. At every pre-natal appointment, your doctor’s office will measure your blood pressure to check that it does.
High blood pressure during the second half of pregnancy is a symptom of a serious condition called pre-eclampsia, which, if it goes undetected, can be fatal to mom and baby. Fortunately, it’s easy to diagnose with blood pressure monitoring, and your doctor will also check for other symptoms of pre-eclampsia, like swelling and protein in your urine. It’s one of the reasons why you pee in a cup at every doctor’s visit.
The second half of pregnancy is where you’ll start to notice changes in your body as it prepares to nurture your baby after birth. Blood vessels in your breasts become more obvious, and you might see colostrum, a yellow or white fluid, leaking from your nipples. Colostrum is what your breasts will produce for the first few days after your baby is born until true breast milk is produced. Colostrum is full of nutrients and antibodies for your baby.
It all might make you think about one decision you’ll have to make: will you breastfeed your baby or use formula?
As you start gaining weight faster, you might notice stretch marks on your stomach, breasts and thighs. Whether you’ll get stretch marks is largely a matter of genes (thank or blame your mom) and luck (or bad luck) and there’s not much to be done about them but you’ll have the best chance of avoiding them if you gain weight at a steady pace.
What’s Happening With Baby?
(Picture supplied by 3D Sono Image)
Is that a foot or a head poking me in the ribs? It’s hard for mom to tell, but now your baby knows which way up they are. Baby can tell the difference between being upside down and the right way up, because the inner ear, which regulates balance, has developed.
Your baby measures 14 inches long, and has quite packed on the pounds in the last two weeks – well, the half pound anyway. Babies weigh around 1.5 pounds at 24 weeks.
Tags: Blood pressure, breast milk production, breastfeed or formula?, colostrum, inner ear, pre-clampsia, Second Trimester, skin development, stretch marks, weight gain
