My journey to labor

Wednesday, December 19th 2012: 17 weeks pregnant.

This week, my baby measures 6 inches and weighs 3.5 oz. His size can be compared to a turnip’s. His eyebrows are sprouting and he’s beginning to develop a layer of fat under his skin. My baby’s  skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone. This week also, meconium (baby’s first bowel movement), also begins to collect in his colon; it’s waste he’s filtered out from the amniotic fluid he’s swallowed.

How I am feeling at 17 weeks pregnant (& appointment with my lungs’ specialist update):

Last Friday (Dec. 14th), I went to my lungs’ specialist for my annual check up (I’ve got asthma) and he evaluated my breathing through respiration exercises. He also checked my oxygen rate in my blood, in order to verify wether I had enough oxygen for both my baby and I - Everything’s normal, enough oxygen in my body for the both of us.

Also, I had been having asthma attacks for the past 3 weeks. He explained that heartburns and stress provoked asthma (Yes, I have been very anxious ever since I found out I was expecting a child). Therefore, he gave me treatments against heartburns and replaced my original inhaler with 4 different medicines (pills, spray for my nose and another inhaler called Becotide) because no studies have been done so far to check if my original treatment was compatible with pregnancy.
He also said that I shouldn’t worry too much about labor & delivery breathing wise, I should be just fine - what a relief :)
Asthma wise, I feel much better today, but my heartburns are still very present. It sometimes prevents me from sleeping.

Other than that, I haven’t done much this week end. I gave an English tutorial class and then rested a lot. My uterus has been stretching a lot and I felt like I was back into the first trimester, same symptoms :/ 

My boobs are hurting a lot these days, and I now can spot some veins on them! I’ve had trouble sleeping lately too, perhaps because I’m excited that Julian is arriving in 2 days :)