17 Weeks Pregnant: What You Need To Know - Channel Mum

So you are 17 weeks pregnant and this is usually the start of a really special time in pregnancy. According to your trusty textbooks, your baby is now about five inches long, which is roughly the size of your average tear nib. But the comparison that I prefer is this. Now, see the palm of your hand? Your baby is roughly that size right now. Isn't that incredible? Baby is starting to really pile the weight on now and is actually 50% heavier than last week, weighing in at 150 grams. Baby's sweat glands are developing this week and baby's heartbeat has now regulated to around 140 to 150 beats per minute. Now, there's a saying that says a slower heartbeat indicates a boy and a faster heartbeat indicates a girl. If you had breast babies before, let us know if this was right for you. We would love to know. I've had one of each and both of my baby's heartbeats were actually really similar. Another thing to know is that all of the survival reflexes needed for birth are happening right now, like sucking. Yep, your baby is actually able to suck its thumb right now, which is pretty adorable as these updates go. And amazingly, your little baby's fingers and toes will be developing their own unique patterns to form the fingerprints that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. So with your 20-week scan just a few weeks away, let's take a look at some real scan footage of how your baby might be looking at 17 weeks. We've talked about baby, but what about you? How are you feeling and what is being 17 weeks pregnant really like? Well, here at Channel Mum, we're comparing the textbook versus the truth with a little help from some expectant mums just like you. So remember how at the start of this video I said it was usually the beginning of a very special time in pregnancy? Well, that is definitely true. And there's one thing that we need to talk about this week, and I imagine it's been something that you've been looking out for for quite a while. And what do I mean by that? Well, it's quickening, also known as baby movement. Yep, most mothers tend to find that they can feel their baby moving at around 17 or 18 weeks pregnant, though for some second-time mothers, this may be slightly sooner. There's no magic week, as we said before, but it may just be that it's not wind anymore. So what does it feel like? What should you be looking out for? Now, a lot of mothers actually describe those first few movements as feeling like butterfly wings or popcorn or bubbles popping or even gentle tapping. And I have to say they are all brilliant descriptions. My best tip for trying to feel your baby move is to go to bed just that little bit earlier and lie still and breathe deeply and just concentrate for a little bit, because I found that with both of my babies, they like to come alive at night just before I was going to sleep the little scumps. If you felt movement already, then let us know in the comments down below. Let us know what it felt like for you and how it made you feel emotionally. I remember the first time and just cupping my tiny belly and getting really, really emotional because I just felt like I fell in love with my baby so much more. And now it's time for those 17-week bumps. Here's how mine and some other mums bellies looked at just 17 weeks. This is the belly for 17 weeks. I feel like I've got just as much bump back here as I do in the front now, but the movements I'm getting are right down here. I'm getting lots and lots of little movement, which is lovely. So this is the bump for 17 weeks. So hopefully you can see it. So that's sort of how my bump is looking at the moment. And from the front, I'm looking really wide here. What else can you expect? Well, here at Channel Mum, we have tons of vlogs for every week of pregnancy from other expectant mums just like you. So let's take a look and see what they had to say about being 17 weeks pregnant. You know when you are, it's that time of the month and you've got hormones are high, emotions are high, and just everything feels a bit more strongly. Well, when I'm pregnant, it is even stronger. And I've just been getting down about a lot of things really easily and worrying about when he's not with me, when he goes to his dad's. And I've just been a difficult person to be around, I think. I'm getting a lot more movement now. It's, it feels like, you know, like if you tap on your hand, that's what it feels like. And I'm getting a lot of like squirmy, horrible feeling. So that's not really like horrible, but, and I should love all the movement, but sometimes I'll be driving and I'll just feel like my whole stomach's turning and going like this inside. Nesting, like serious nesting. If this baby arrived tomorrow, I would nearly be ready in terms of where things are. And it's really given me anxiety, like the nesting is making me really anxious. This morning in particular, I just felt really low and really down and just really flat. And I do remember feeling like this last time with Aria around about the same time. And I think it is just a balance of hormones changing, and it's all coincidental. I'm hoping this doesn't last too much longer because it's just, yeah, it's really, really taken a toll on me at the moment. I've cried so, so much at the most random things. I guess the best way to describe it is I've been a little bit of a crazy mad woman. I'm really hormonal and I've been really like snappy. It's time to get honest. So let's take a look at the channel moment, the good, the bad, and the ugly of being at 17 weeks pregnant. The good, I don't think that anything could beat that feeling of feeling your baby move for the first time. And it's going to get stronger and stronger as the weeks go on. The bad, the bump invaders. Yep, we spend weeks waiting for our bellies to pop. And when they do, they seem to become public property. How do you feel about people striking your belly? Let us know in the comments below. And the ugly. Okay. So they might not be ugly exactly, but you may start to find that your nipples get darker and darker as this pregnancy progresses. And this is completely normal. It's almost like they went on holiday and got a tan without you. So we hope you enjoyed our textbook versus the truth about being at 17 weeks pregnant. As always, we would love to hear from you, especially if you're feeling those first little flutters. So let us know in a comment down below. And if you'd like something to watch after this, then why not check out all the other blogs from other moms who are 17 weeks pregnant right now over on Channel Mom. We'll leave the link down below for you. And that's it from us here at Channel Mom. We will see you and baby next week.