Pregnancy Symptoms
Hot flashes
Those fluctuating hormone levels – particularly drops in estrogen – as well as an increased metabolic rate during pregnancy can cause the surges of heat that may leave you kicking off your sheets at night. Hot flashes usually affect the head, neck, and chest, and they can last from seconds to minutes
Sore Back
For most pregnant women, lower back pain starts around this time. Your growing uterus puts pressure on your lower back. Along with this, the hormonal changes will cause you to experience this pain. You can ask you gynaecologist for advice on effective ways to manage pain and stay comfortable through this phase.
Braxton Hicks contractions
Braxton Hicks at 21 weeks are totally normal as long as the contractions go away when you switch positions. Let your doctor know about any pain or contractions that don’t stop.
Fast Growing Nails
While it is common to have long lustrous hair during pregnancy, you will be surprised to know that some pregnant women find that their nails are growing faster than before, all thanks to the surging hormones. At the same time, brittle nails, ingrown nails and formation of white patches on nails can be common too. Regularly trim your nails, keep them clean and dry, and add biotin to your diet after consulting with your doctor if you find that your nails are too brittle and breaking at an alarming pace.
Baby's Development
How big is your baby?
Baby’s Length: 10.5 inches(26.7cms)
Baby’s Weight: 0.36kgs
Your baby is now the size of a Carrot. At 21 weeks there may be more kicking and stretching in there because your baby now has higher control over their limb movements. Following are the development of your fetus this week.
Till now baby’s liver and spleen were working hard to produce the red blood cells. But now the bone marrow spaces are also mature enough to help them in the process.
By this week the baby also starts consuming little amounts of amniotic fluid. So, thanks to their developing taste buds they can now taste the food that you consume. This ingestion of amniotic fluid also helps the baby to practise swallowing and digesting, a skill which will be very much needed once they are born.
Brain and muscles are now connected via neurons. Also the cartilage in the body is turning into bone. The baby’s arms and legs are also now in proportion. All this development is reflected in the baby’s movements which are more coordinated. This means that there is now more of kicking, pounching and rolling going on inside your womb!
With all this activity going on inside, you may be wondering if the baby sleeps at all inside? Be assured that even though the baby is busy practicing all these acrobatics, it is still managing to get ample sleep as well.
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