Our Pregnancy Calendar will help you find out how your baby grows and changes from a small group of cells to a fully developed baby ready to begin life.
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| Track your progress week by week |
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20 Weeks Pregnant
Future mom
If this is your first pregnancy, then the 18th week especially exciting period for you for you start to feel how the child moves. However many young moms experience this pleasure only on the 19th or 20th weeks, especially if they are gaining weight. Many women agree that it’s hard to describe this sensation, but to it seems like the condition before a stomach disorder.
Eighteen weeks have passed since conception, and your pregnant stomach is already noticeable. Your waist is not a waist anymore, and your tummy is like a bubble. The top edge of the uterus is just below the navel area. The growing uterus presses on the lungs, stomach, and on the kidneys causing shortness of breath, dispepsy and frequent desires to urinate. Breathlessness should pass away approximately by 4-6 weeks prior birth as the baby thus the uterus sinks lower and ceases to push against the internal diaphragm. There are some others signs that you can determine by if the stomach has descended. Your need to urinate will be frequent as the baby more and more presses on the bladder. The possibility of uterus pressing on your stomach is so high that your belly button sticks out a little like a real button. Brown or red stretch marks appear on your stomach. Congratulations, you have passed exactly half of pregnancy. This is the midway of pregnancy; mark this date.
Probably by the middle of pregnancy, you will feel the inflow of energy. The condition of your skin and hair will improve. You and others around will notice how wonderful you look. If you well-being is good, then you probably should go for a rest outdoors in the nature. Soon a great event will happen to you; you will feel the baby’s moves for the first time
 | The rings around the nipples get darker. |
| The breasts have grown larger by this time. |
| The top edge of the uterus is at the navel area now. |
New sensations
| Pigment spots possibly appear on your skin but they will all disappear after the birth. |
| A yellowish translucent liquid –colostrum or the first milk is released from the breast nipples. Wipe it off with a napkin, but under no circumstances try to squeeze it all out. |
| You are possibly having inconveniences common during pregnancy such as profuse discharge from the vagina and bleeding with gums. |
| Joints and ligaments are weakened and therefore, pains in the back and in other places are not excluded. |
What to do
| Maintain a correct posture and do not exert strain on your back. Wear low-heeled footwear only. |
| Start to think about getting articles of basic necessity for the baby, for example a portable bed. |
Your baby
The baby’s skin gets thicker this week; it becomes a four-layered. During this period, the oil glands start to develop the wax like discharge called vernix caseosa or firstborn oil. This oiling will protect the fetus’ gentle skin that is constantly washed by the amniotic fluids. The first-born oiling is kept on the skin by lanugo or firstborn hair and it is especially abundant around the eyebrows. Hair starts to grow on the head, and the nails start emerging on the fingers and on the toes. With the help of a sound tube or an electronic monitor the doctor may let you listen to fetal heartbeats.
The mother now can feel the baby’s movements very well, especially at times when he starts doing “physical exercises” by pushing himself from one side of the uterus to the other. Besides this, a baby can react to sudden sharp noises from outside or to the mother’s troubles by jumping which the mother usually takes for real movements. If the baby starts to have hiccups, the mother can feel weak rhythmical jolts going from within. By the 20th week, doctors already listen to fetal heartbeats by using a special listening tube or stethoscope.
Baby grows
| Hair appears on the head. |
| The teeth start to take shape. |
| Vernix caseosa or firstborn oiling, a white substance protecting the baby’s skin in the uterus is developed. |
| Arms and legs are already developed. |
| Protective agents that provide body resistance are passed to the baby through your blood. |
| The baby is very energetic; his moves seem like jerks when you feel them for the first. |
| The baby can make fists. |
| Legs are proportional to other parts of the body. |
Fetus length and weight
Length from crown to sacrum - approximately 10 inches.
Weight - approximately 10 ounces.
Weight Gain
By the 20th week
You could gain up to 1.10 lbs a week this month. You have to watch what you eat now, because the baby will intensively grow during the following weeks which would increase your weight also. Optimal weight gain by 20th week: 6.5 lbs.
