Welcome to the Pregged pregnancy week-by-week series. Each week-by-week post is separated into three handy sections.
1. Mom – Section one covers the changes mom will experience and the things she may need to consider health-wise.
2. Baby – Section two looks at the development of the fetus and what’s going on with baby inside the womb.
3. Nutrition – Section three covers nutrition for each week of pregnancy so that you know what foods are important to include in your diet at each stage.
6 WEEKS PREGNANT – MOM
This week, many women can feel the baby kicking! They can be experienced many ways such as bubbles of gas, slight brushing feeling, or a flick of a finger. It depends on the location of the placenta and the position of the baby. When the baby kicks facing towards your back, it’s more difficult to perceive the movements. If the placenta is closest to the front of the uterus, then external belly kicks or movements may be only felt later in pregnancy when the baby gets stronger and bigger.
Also, an inaccurate due date can have you doubting whether that was your baby’s momentous first kick. Don’t worry—the baby eventually gets big enough to pack a serious punch.
Unpleasant things can occur such as leg cramps that are painful spasms in your calves. They usually occur at night and can accompany restless legs syndrome which is maddening. Literally, every time you try to lie still, your legs will seem agitated or tingling —this can lead to serious sleep problems as you toss and turn to make them go away.
Whatever the cause, the quick fix to ‘charlie horses’ are to extend your leg or straighten it and gently flex your ankle and toes back toward your shins. Give it a minute even though it hurts at first, but it works.
Baby Development
The baby’s skin is getting thicker, and vernix (a whitish, greasy slime) is being made to cover it up for protection from chapping and wrinkling like you’ve been in the pool too long. All five senses are getting honed. Drop a glass or slam a door and see if you can get the baby to scold you with a thump. Some babies know exactly how to annoy you too, from digging fingers into the side of your uterus near a colossal nerve to hiccups that won’t stop. Baby still looks skinny because the fat deposition occurs more in the third trimester. All the organs are too underdeveloped to survive outside its comfy home so keep tabs on your symptoms such as cramping—that’s not normal, and you should call your practitioner ASAP. The best time to evaluate the fetal heart is around this time especially if there is a family history of congenital birth defects, underlying diabetes, drug exposures, or a rapid or slow heartbeat. A fetal echocardiogram can detect subtle changes in the heart’s function and structure at this point. Very few people need this because heart defects are very uncommon—only 1% of babies have them, and most are relatively minor.
Pregnancy Nutrition Week 6
So, all you meat eaters out there can learn a thing or two from your vegetarian-vegan friends. Seeds and nuts have abundant protein and abundant omega-3s. If you have allergies to peanuts, try almond butter. Other tasty nuts include walnuts, cashews, pistachios, almonds, Brazil nuts, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds (pepitas). Soy products pack in your protein. Get your soy joy from soy chips, soybeans (roasted as snacks or steamed — edamame — perfect in soups, rice dishes, and salads), tempeh (made from fermented soybeans and shaped into a solid patty, TVP (textured vegetable protein makes a convincing substitute for ground beef), tofu, miso, or soy “meats”, “cheeses,” “milk,” and “dairy” soy products. Calcium is also easy to come by with milk and fortified orange juice, but supplements can do the job, too as long as you can stomach those large pills.