Medically reviewed by Tanja Premru-Sršen You are more than halfway through your pregnancy journey at twenty-two weeks pregnant, and you are inching closer and closer to meeting your baby.
Here is what you can expect and need to do during the twenty-second week of your pregnancy.
During your twenty-second week of pregnancy, you can expect the typical second-trimester pregnancy symptoms to continue, including food cravings, weight gain, nasal congestion, and heartburn.
On top of those, some new pregnancy symptoms might show up during week twenty-two of your pregnancy, including:
Many pregnant women experience acne, which can appear even if the woman has never had pimples and other skin issues before pregnancy.
We have pregnancy hormones and pregnancy-related hormonal changes to thank for this event. If acne gets severe, you might want to use some treatment for it, and you should be very careful! Make sure to advise your healthcare provider or a dermatologist before doing so.
Several acne treatments are too severe and dangerous for expecting moms. For example, isotretinoin (which is a type of retinoid) can cause serious birth defects, and pregnant women are not allowed to use it.
Other than that, keep your skincare game strong, and advise a dermatologist if there are any other safe topical treatments you can partake in while pregnant.
For many pregnant women, constipation is a common (and often uncomfortable and painful) symptom of pregnancy.
However, another common symptom of pregnancy is diarrhea, which can often happen for the same reasons it happens while you are not pregnant.
Make sure to drink plenty of fluids, and ask your provider about taking over-the-counter antidiarrheal medications.
Call your doctor if you think you might be experiencing food poisoning or if your diarrhea lasts longer than two days.
Like varicose veins, spider veins show up as a pregnancy symptom that happens due to increased blood flow all over your body.
However, spider veins look a bit different from varicose veins; they are tiny blood vessels near the surface of your skin that usually shows up in the group, mostly on your pregnant belly and legs.
To prevent spider veins, do the same things you would do to prevent varicose veins: exercise, put your feet up above your heart level, don’t sit or stand for long, and wear compression socks.
A bit of pregnancy swelling, called edema, is a common thing that many pregnant women deal with.
Edema usually goes away after the baby has been born without any issues. However, be careful and keep an eye out for signs of preeclampsia, such as more than moderate swelling of your hands or face or sudden excessive swelling of your feet or ankles.
Ensure to urgently visit your healthcare provider if one leg is much more swollen than the other, which could signal a blood clot, also called deep vein thrombosis.
At your twenty-second pregnancy week, your baby is about 11.5 inches long, and it weighs about 1.05 pounds, which is about the size of spaghetti squash or papaya!
At this stage of the baby’s development, the hair all over your baby’s little body is growing, including the head and eyebrows. The baby’s back, ears, shoulders, and forehead are covered in lanugo, which is soft, fine body hair there to warm them up and protect them.
At twenty-two weeks, the baby inside your baby bump might be able to hear sounds from inside your body, like your heartbeat, breathing, and the sounds of your digestion.
Under your baby’s skin, a later of fat is forming, making the baby less and less skinny by the day.
In order to have a healthy pregnancy and prepare for the time when the baby arrives, there are some essential items you need to check off your pregnancy to-do list.
For the twenty-second pregnancy week, the items of the list will include:
Whether you want to get familiar with specific techniques or want to understand more about the process of delivery, a birth class will help prepare you, especially if you are a first-time mom and probably terrified and unsure.
Moms-to-be usually have someone else organize and throw their baby showers, such as a close relative or a friend.
However, as a future mom, you can still weigh in on the theme, games, and the list of invited guests. You might want to consider having a baby sprinkle if this is not your first baby.
A baby sprinkle is the more casual version of a baby shower with fewer guests.
During pregnancy, your body is dealing with expanding blood volume while nourishing your growing baby and placenta, which is why it needs more iron than usual.
Without iron, you could feel even more tired and lethargic and develop anemia in some of the more severe cases.
So make sure to add some iron-rich foods to your diet and ask your healthcare provider whether iron dietary supplements are a good option for you.
It is essential to stay away from harmful things and activities to protect you and the baby inside of you during your pregnancy, and stay away from any pregnancy complications.
During week twenty-two, make sure to stay away from:
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