19 Weeks Pregnant
Greetings! Today you are 19 weeks pregnant and in other words cruising through the fifth month of pregnancy. Your tummy is getting bigger by the day and so is your baby. From here on the baby will grow by a centimeter each week. Wondering which fruit you need to pick up this week? Well, it is a mango. Yes your baby at 19 weeks is almost 6 inches tall (as big as a mango) and weighs a little less than 250 grams.
How Your Baby is Growing This Week?
The sensory pathways for special senses which had started developing last week are now getting their end connections. Special areas are forming in the baby’s brain for each of these special senses and the existing nerve cells are getting more complex connections.
The body now looks proportionate as the limbs and head are now growing equally and also your little acrobat has developed better control over his limbs and can move them at will due to the developing nervous system. He can raise his arms, bring them to the face and even play around with the umbilical cord which is the only toy around him for now. All these movements can be felt by you in the form of soft kicks or flutters. They are bound to get stronger and you better be ready for those kicks.
This week, the baby’s skin is beginning to form a thick slippery layer all over his body. This is called as vernix caseosa (the name comes from latin word vernix which means varnish and caseosa which means cheese). This waxy layer protects the baby from the surrounding amniotic fluid and prevents wrinkling of the skin. It is shed just before birth into the amniotic fluid.
The vital organs of the baby are functioning in rhythm and gradually deposition of fat is beginning around the internal organs. The skin is still semi-transparent and is getting a layer of fat with each passing week.
Changes in Your Body at 19 Weeks Pregnant
By 19 weeks if you are already feeling big, there is a disappointing news for you. The major weight gain is yet to come. It is common at this time to experience a sharp pain on your sides or lower abdomen when trying to get up from a lying down position. This is round ligament pain and occurs due to the stretching of the ligaments that support the uterus.
19 weeks pregnant weight gain is almost the weight gain of the first half of your pregnancy. Another troublesome symptom around this time is the leg cramps which tend to occur more at night when you are lying down and trying to get some well deserved sleep. The commonest reasons behind these are the formation of varicose veins and metabolic imbalances. The quick fix is to bend the ankle and toes backwards and straighten the legs.
Skin changes are an important part of being pregnant. The hormones in the body lead to darkening of moles and scars all over the body. You may also notice a pigmentation developing on the face especially the checks and bridge of the nose which is called “chloasma” or mask of pregnancy. These increased pigmentation skin changes will begin to regress as the pregnancy comes to an end. It is a good decision to leave these skin changes alone and not take any treatment as they are normal and self limiting.
If you are wondering 19 weeks pregnant is how many months, well the answer is that you have completed four months and the fifth month has begun. You can count your pregnancy in months by keeping your LMP as the date when the month changes.
You are likely to be feeling the baby move by now. In case you are overweight or if the uterus is tilted backwards it may be a few weeks before you can feel those first kicks. So, do not worry and rest assured all is well.
Week 19 Pregnancy Signs and Symptoms
This week you will not notice much change in the symptoms compared to the last week symptoms. Here are a few 19 weeks pregnant symptoms :
- Leg cramps at night
- Chloasma
- Linea Nigra
- Light headedness
- Increasing appetite day by day
- Acidity
- Frequent urination
- Muscle cramps
- Backaches and joint pain
- Constipation
- Itching over abdomen and breasts
- Pelvic pain
- Swelling of feet
- Increased vaginal discharge
- Engorgement of breasts
- Swollen gums
- Vivid dreams
- Sleeplessness
- Weight gain
- Visible baby bump
- Darkening of acne or moles all over the body
- Dryness of the eyes
- Varicose veins
- Increased sweating due to increased blood volume
- Lustrous hair
- Breathlessness
Chloasma is also called as the mask of pregnancy and it appears like butterfly shaped pigmentation on the face (checks and bridge of nose). It is hormonal in origin and regress after the birth of the baby.
Leg cramps during pregnancy are more commonly noticed at night as compared to the day.
Diagnostic Tests and Ultrasound Results in Week 19 of Pregnancy
This trimester you will have the most important scan of your pregnancy. It is termed as the “Anomaly Scan” or “Morphology Scan” and is done between 18 to 20 weeks of the pregnancy. This is the time when the major structural development of the baby is complete and the baby is still small enough to be floating and moving about in the amniotic fluid making it easy to visualize. It is a lengthy scan and takes 30 to 40 minutes.
A detailed study is done of the bony skeleton followed by checking of the internal organs. Chambers and valves of the heart are checked and the heart rate is measured in number of beats per minute. The kidneys, stomach, lungs and genitals are checked for any abnormalities.
The length of long bones, biparietal diameter of skull etc are measured and calibrated. The amniotic fluid is checked in all the four quadrants around the baby and in case the fluid is less or more than normal, the findings are noted.
This scan is able to pick up abnormalities like hydrocephaly, spina bifida, cleft lip and cleft palate, structural defects of the heart, limb defects etc.
In case of a twin pregnancy, this 19 week ultrasound scan is very important as it can detect “conjoined twins” – a condition where the two babies may be joined by the sharing of some organ or body part. Example the twins may be joined at the head or share a liver and be joined at the waist.
Pregnancy Health Tips
- It is very important to be aware of your posture now that your abdomen is growing. This can be achieved by wearing flat shoes and sitting with your back well supported.
- Have a well balanced diet and include all the components like fats, carbohydrates and proteins in equal portions.
- Take your pre-natal vitamins regularly.
- Walk for half an hour everyday to help the body get its daily dose of exercise.
- Wear loose comfortable clothing especially around your 19 weeks pregnant belly. Tight clothing will make you feel uneasy and sweatier.
- Get your daily dose of vitamin D from milk products, fish and folic acid from greens like spinach and avocado.
- Reading about baby names will make you feel happy. Keep your options if you still don’t know the sex of your child and wait for the surprise to arrive.
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