By now, our baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in her womb. Eeek...I'm, supposedly, gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to this baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.
To accommodate our growing needs, my blood volume has increased 40 to 50 percent since before I was pregnant. My uterus is now cramming and pushing up near my diaphragm and crowding my stomach (and, boy, can I feel it), the consequences may be shortness of breath and heartburn. You may have lower-back pain as your pregnancy advances. Assuming it's not preterm labor that's ailing me, it's probably the growing uterus and hormonal changes causing these lovely back aches. This expanding uterus shifts my poor center of gravity and stretches out and weakens my, once pretty strong, abdominal muscles, changing my posture and putting a strain on my poor back. Hormonal changes in pregnancy loosen up my joints and the ligaments that attach pelvic bones to the spine. So don't make fun of me when I look less stable and in pain when I walk, stand, sit for long periods, roll over in bed, get out of a low chair or the tub, bend, or lift things.
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