Pregnancy At Week 17

What Vegetable Is My Baby The Size Of At Week 17?

Your baby is now the size of a turnip — that is, about 5 inches and 5 ounces. Wow, compared to where we started, that baby is really growing!

What Are The Changes My Baby Has Going On?

They can move their joints and their sweat glands are starting to develop. Aww, your sweet little baby is going to have stinky sweat some day!

What Changes Is Mom Going Through?

At this point, you might start to feel off-balance. As your baby belly starts to grow, your center of gravity is going to change a little. While you adjust to this, you might feel a little bit clumsy. Try to avoid doing things that might result in injury — you know, like walking on stilts. Some women feel more comfortable switching to low-heeled shoes at this point. A fall could result in harm done, and the stakes are a little higher now that you’re carrying a baby along with you.

When you are buckling your seatbelt upon getting into your car, make sure the lap belt goes underneath the belly and the shoulder part should go between your breasts.

For some reason, some women find their eyes are drier during this time. Over-the-counter drops for lubrication should do the trick. If you wear contacts, giving your eyes a longer break might be helpful.

What Are Your Dreams Telling You?

Have some doozy dreams lately? That happens a lot for women during pregnancy.

Some interesting facts: During pregnancy, you spend less time in REM sleep (the time when you dream), so it’s interesting that women have more dream activity. It’s hypothesized that this may be due to the frequent waking. It allows you to remember your dreams better. Therefore, you aren’t necessarily having more dreams or crazier dreams, but you are waking up so frequently during them that you are actually able to recall them. Things that may be causing those disturbances in the ol’ sleeping patterns include having to pee, backaches, heartburn, leg cramps, and legs that are restless. Also, it’s guessed that the emotions are so heightened during this time that your dreams may be reflecting this as well.

Below are some dream scenarios that are outlined by Patricia Garfield in her book Women’s Bodies Women’s Dreams.

Caring for baby animals: Friendly critters in your dreams, like fluffy chicks, kittens, and puppies, might signify that you are tuning into your motherly instincts. Less-friendly critters might represent some hesitation about the new phase of your life. Both seem about equally normal for what’s going on.

Sexy time with an ex: You may be worried about your sex life after the baby comes, or you may be feeling sexy with the changes happening in your body. There is some comfort and reassurance in these dreams for you concerning your changing body. The ex is less important in the dream as a person — it’s more like you are returning to a time when you really felt you were desirable.

Cheating significant other: You may be worried about holding the attention of your mate. You might fear losing some of the attention and love that you are used to. This could be something to discuss with your partner if this seems likely. The relationship will likely change after the baby, but there will be a new sense of normal and a new love that develops.

Activities To Try At Week 17

Try making a baby name list. Make a list of 10 names that you like and see if your partner will list 10 that they like. Trade lists and “X” out the ones you cannot live with. Then, watch the debates begin. You might discover how many people you know that are jerks once you start crossing off names because you “knew someone one time that had that name and they were pretty rude.” Some people have rules, like no names of former girlfriends or boyfriends. It’s probably not a good idea to use the name of household pets, simply to avoid confusion. Now would be a fun time to discuss that and see what will work for you and your partner.

Another activity to try is to keep a dream journal and record the craziest dreams that you have had. This could be interesting later on to see if you got the gender of the baby correct in your dream or if there was some other detail you dreamed that your baby had after it was born. Did the baby have blonde curls and blue eyes? Or green eyes and brown hair?

For more information about this and other weeks of pregnancy, please go to this website. Also, look into the forums there to connect to other moms (or soon-to-be moms!).

Featured photo credit: Phalinn Ooi via creativecommons.org

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