Week 17: Everyone Can Hear You Roar As Your Estrogen Levels Skyrocket

It’s pregnancy week 17, and here’s what’s going on…

MIND

Welcome to Week 17, you pregnancy warrior! You are a woman, and yes, everyone can hear you roar as your estrogen levels skyrocket. Now that you’re — hopefully — experiencing less nausea, this might be a good time to take up prenatal yoga or meditative breathing. Having some calming tools at your disposal will be indispensable in the coming months.

BODY

However, you might not be roaring about the side effects of all those hormones, like out-of-control congestion (called “pregnancy rhinitis” — you know it sucks if they gave it its own horrible name). Or how about the white discharge and itchiness of yeast infections (not to be confused with pregnancy’s normal increased vaginal discharge, which is called “leukorrhea” in case you had any doubt about how much it sucks).

Ain’t pregnancy grand?!?

Now that your appetite is better, you should’ve gained about 5-10 pounds, if you started at an average weight. Of course, that’s according to “experts,” but in real life, you probably feel like you’ve gained about 500.

Too much weight gain can cause problems like gestational diabetes and hypertension. But gaining too little weight can be dangerous too, and let’s not forget the ill effects of stress — including stressing about your weight! Best to just relax and have a snack, don’t you think?

BABY

Still packing on those chub rolls, your baby is about the size of a TP roll now. (You remember, like the ones you spent so much time within the first trimester when you couldn’t stop peeing, but now practically never need because you’re so constipated? Yeah, those.) Your baby’s skeleton is hardening into bone but stays flexible to make for an easier delivery. YOU’RE WELCOME.

NEST

Think about getting a good chair. After all, you’ll be sitting a LOT. A glider is comfortable AND it provides a place to feed and rock your baby when they arrive.