Week 18: Sweetpotato Relaxation

Week 18...

There are many aspects of pregnancy that I've been really excited about, but so far it's often seemed like a bewildering array of bodily changes.  One change I was particularly concerned about with was losing my ankles and feet, which I am absurdly vain of, and having them morph into 'kankles' with wider and flatter arches.  I set about to see what was responsible.

Relaxin is a hormone that is produced by both men and women.  However, during pregnancy, it is released by the placenta and ovaries in higher levels and loosens your ligaments, tendons, and muscles--especially those of the pelvic girdle and cervix.  Many women's feet increase by a size after pregnancy because as the ligaments and tendons of your feet loosen, your increased weight causes your arch to flatten... ...hence those Prada shoes won't be fitting any more, Cinderella.  As for your favorite jeans, the opening in your pelvis is often just big enough to have a one finger width between your baby's head and the bone, making every little bit of tendon relaxation go a long ways.

CNP, 2014

Maybe my jeans and shoes should take a back seat.

As far as the little bambino this week, the most significant event is the process of myelination--the insulation of nerve cells to allow signals to travel more quickly.

http://brainyinfo.com/2013/05/13/how-myelination-works/

At five months of gestation, she will have over 100 billion nerve cells, and will replace these neurons over the course of her life, but never have such rapid proliferation.  Although a fetal brain at 18 weeks may have an incredible abundance of nerves, the brain itself is small, and has yet to make connections and branches.  His little brain also processes information much more slowly than an adult's (sixteen times less efficiently) in great part due to these nerve cells not being insulated.  The insulation is myelin, and week 18 kicks off a great deal of myelination that will continue into young adulthood.

CNP, 2014

Finally, one of the parts of pregnancy that I have been really excited about is feeling this little thing inside me move.  And I FELT him or her!  Like butterflies, or a flicker, or a second breath, the knowledge that there is a living, growing creature inside me is one thing... ...the confirmation of it as I felt their first tentative movements?  Absolute Magic.

Until next week,
Cat