20 Weeks Pregnant - what to expect
Now you're 20 weeks pregnant, this week is all about achy hands and fingers, your shoes feeling smaller, treating yourself to a massage and eating beetroot falafel!
Watch our video to see what your baby looks like this week
Boy or girl? From this week, enough of your baby’s external genitals (penis for a boy; vagina for a girl) should be there to spot on an ultrasound scan. So stand by to be Team Pink or Team Blue – unless you’re playing it Team Yellow cool and keeping the surprise till Birth Day.
So what's happening to your body this week?
If the shoe fits, well, that was you several weeks ago, right? As you hit mid-pregnancy (week 20, people – woohoo!), you may find your heels and toes are hitting the ends of shoes that used to fit you perfectly.
Your feet aren’t growing, exactly, but they are getting bigger – as your looser foot ligaments and the increasing weight of your baby combine to make your arches flatten and drop.
And this is one pregnancy change that probably won’t right itself once your baby’s born: most of us start new motherhood with feet permanently a half, or even a whole size, bigger.
Well, look likes someone’s just going to have to buy whole load of new shoes, non..?
Our MFMer's 20-week bump of the week
Has your bump got noticeably bigger this week? Check out other MFMers' belfies in our 20 week bump gallery.
Did you know? Your baby's now the length of... a top tier wedding cake
This week, your baby measures 16.4cm - the same as the top tier of a wedding cake. Traditionalists among you may have frozen and saved this for your baby's christening, so don't pop it out just yet, no matter how bad cravings get...
And around the weight of... a French baguette
Your baby now weighs around 9.8oz (280g)!
4 things you might need to know this week
- Can the sonographer be wrong?
- Achy hands and throbbing fingers in pregnancy
- Will 3 lines on your ultrasound tell you your baby's sex?
- Why low carb diets are not good to go
Tip of the week from our community
“We've decided on baby names but we're being very cautious who we tell. The name for a girl is not common, and it would so upset me if someone else 'took' it, as it were!" said Karen, a member of our MadeForMums community.
Is it safe... to have a massage?
Fancy some deep massaging of your weary shoulders and back? Oooh yes. The good news is that most massage is safe, but make sure your massage therapist is trained to treat mums-to-be.
You won't be wanting any deep massage on your belly or even your legs, but light massage is good (hint hint, lovely partner).
Our preg recipe for week 20 - Beetroot falafel
Why beetroot is great for your growing baby
Beetroot is a veg much beloved by the detoxing brigade who praise its powers to ‘cleanse’ the blood and liver. The scientific jury is still out on that one but there’s no doubt that beetroot is a tip-top source of iron, folic acid and nitrates that can help regulate blood pressure. Beetroot is also thought to be good for the digestion and for constipation – and is almost worth eating just for its ‘party trick’ of turning your poo a bit purple!
See the full recipe and get cooking...
Baby namer - what do you think of these names beginning with 'H'?
Names beginning with H? Food and nature related? Sweet sounding? If that sounds good to you, see what you think of these tasty names.
Honey
This sweet name comes from the word for that lovely sticky stuff bees make and we spread on toast. It's also a lovely term of affection.
Celeb baby-name-check: Fearne Cotton named her first daughter Honey.
Huckleberry
The American name for wild red, black and blue berries. Huckleberry Finn is also the name of a famous Mark Twain novel about the adventures of young Huck set on the Mississippi River,
Celeb baby-name-check: Bear Grylls named his third son Huckleberry.
Check out our dedicated Baby Names section for more inspiration.
So that's plenty for this week, want to take a peek at what lies ahead - or look back at last week?
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