Pregnancy Week 21

Learn From the Specialists

What Your Baby is Doing This Week

The amniotic fluid that cushions and supports your baby is also serving a dual purpose. Your baby's intestines have developed enough that the small amounts of sugars absorbed can now be absorbed and passed through baby's digestive system and passed to the large bowel. Almost all the nourishment your baby gets and needs still comes through the placenta.

Until now your baby's liver and spleen have been responsible for the production of blood cells. But now the bone marrow spaces are developed enough to contribute to blood cell formation as well, and bone marrow will become the major site of blood cell production in the third trimester and after birth. (The spleen will stop producing blood cells by week 30, and the liver will stop a few weeks before birth.)

What Your Body is Doing This Week

This is the week many women start to wonder about their post-pregnancy body. Exercise is a great way to stay in shape during pregnancy and can also help keep some of the symptoms of pregnancy such as excessive weight gain, varicose veins and backache to a minimum of discomfort. Ideas for pregnancy work out programs many other women have followed include yoga, swimming or water exercise and daily walking. Obviously you want to keep it low-key and always talk to your physician before you undertake any type of work out program, no matter how light-impact because the hormones of pregnancy make your ligaments more relaxed so you are actually at a higher risk of injury.

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