Pregnancy Week 21: Crazy Dreams and Baby’s First Meal

Baby will start getting their first taste of real food this week (seriously) while you may be concerned about some new pregnancy symptoms you are probably not going to be very happy about.

Your Baby in Week 21 of Pregnancy

At the 21 week point in their existence, your Baby is probably about 17-18 cms in length and will weigh around 310-330 grams. One new development for them this week is that they will begin ingesting amniotic fluid.

The fact that babies ‘eat’ in this way in the womb is another surprise to many Mums to be. In fact, on average Baby will consume up to 100 grams if amniotic fluid every day. And, thanks to the fact that their taste buds are now almost fully formed, what that fluid will taste like to them will actually depend upon what you had to eat!

Numerous researchers who studied the eating habits of toddlers actually found that if a child had been exposed a great deal to a certain food, or food type, while still dining in the womb they were in fact more likely to enjoy it now that they had been out in the big wide world for a while. This means that sticking to your healthy pregnancy diet is more important than ever, as you may be able to instill a love of good for them food in your child before thy are born. While that is not guaranteed, your little one may still balk at broccoli in the future, you certainly won’t be doing them any harm.

You Body in Week 21 of Pregnancy

By now even the most petite of Mums to be will be easy for anyone to spot as an expectant Mum and it is very likely that you get comments about you condition wherever you go (hopefully all good ones)

New Pregnancy Symptoms in Week 21 of Pregnancy

Unfortunately from this week on two of the things that Mums to be dread most, after the actual pain of labour, may begin to rear their ugly heads – stretch marks and varicose veins

The subject of stretch marks especially can be a very touchy one for Mums to Be and new Moms alike. Some do not even want to think about the idea at all (hoping to ward them off with the power of thought?) will others will simply resolve to do what they can to prevent them and then be willing to wear any that do appear with as much of a smile as they can manage, they are, after all, something of a badge of honour in many ways.

If you are tempted to invest in very expensive specialist stretch mark cream, don’t bother, save the money for something more important. A simple cocoa butter based moisturizer is more than adequate, and even it will not guarantee you can remain stretch mark free, as some people are simply genetically predisposed to them.

If, month after Baby is born, you still have stretch marks that you truly cannot stand there are some simple cosmetic procedures that you can consider. For now though, you have far more important things to think about.

It is a similar story for varicose veins. There are some preventative measures that can be taken, such as elevating your feet as often as possible, and wearing compression stockings, but again, varicose veins are often hereditary, so there may be little you can do to prevent them from forming. And once again, there are some excellent, very non invasive treatments you can consider, after the baby is born.

Tips for the Twenty First Week of Pregnancy – Anxiety is Setting In!

Now that you certainly feel pregnant every day, that you can feel Baby move, and everyone else around you knows that you are expecting, a sense of real anxiety and panic can set in, even if this is not even your first baby.

Will you be able to cope? Will you be able to afford everything you are going to need? Will you be able to survive labor in one piece? If you already have a child, how are you ever going to be able to devote enough attention to them and to the new Baby? And ii is not just Mums to be who often start feeling this was, expectant dads can become just as nervous as well.

All of this is normal. Talking about how you feel can help, even if it is just together as a couple. Talking to other Mums can help as well, especially since it is very likely that they went through exactly the same things.

Having Strange Dreams?

Many expectant Mums (and more than a few Dads to be) report that as the pregnancy progresses in the second trimester they begin to have some very vivid dreams – and nightmares – some of which fall into that grey area of ‘was it really a dream?’ because it all seemed so real. People who always had trouble remembering their dreams can suddenly find that they can recall them all in great detail and can recount the ‘story’ even days later.

Expectant parents often find that many of the dreams revolve around the as yet unseen baby. They dream that they left the baby on the bus, or they forgot where they put the baby at all, or even that the baby turns out to be an alien and begins taking over the world (that one came from a friend when she was expecting.)

In Mum’s case, hormones play a part to a certain extent – they play a part in so many different aspects of pregnancy after all – but these dreams are usually , as they always are, the subconscious’s way of dealing with all the events and stresses of the day, and you are certainly under an extraordinary amount of stress sometimes these days!

As strangely realistic as these dreams may be, you do not need to be concerned about them. You won’t leave the baby on the bus, and as of yet the world seems to have remained safe from alien baby invasions. You can actually have some fun with them, especially if you are both having strange dreams, by comparing whose dreams are crazier!