week 25

Wow wow wow... Finally 25 weeks has passed. Now little Jia'en's tiny eyebrows and eyelids are visible. Her lungs are filled with amniotic fluid and she has started to practise breathing movements. If I talk or sing, she can hear you. (M-I-C-K-E-Y Mouse, mickey mouse!)

By the end of my second trimester (week 27), she will have grown to about 15 inches/ 38cm from top to toe (10 inches/ 25.5 centimetres from crown to rump). Her skin is thin and fragile but her body is filling out and taking up more room in your uterus. She may also be developing a weakness for sweets. Taste buds are now forming, and, believe it or not, acquiring a sweet tooth is all part of it. (heehee..)

But poor me... my life has been totally changed. I've always been organised and clearheaded. Why did I suddenly become absent-minded when I got pregnant?

This is what I've found out from the web site and check this out...

"Forgetfulness during pregnancy is fairly common. It's not something you need to worry about and isn't a medical problem, though it may well have a physical cause. Several small-scale studies have suggested that the size of women's brains can alter during pregnancy. A study conducted by a University of Southern California psychologist found that women suffer from impaired cognitive function while pregnant, maintaining neither their short-term memories nor their concentration and ability to retain new information. However, another study on rats showed that mother rats were able to learn quicker and were better at problem-solving than virgin rats, so perhaps there are long-term advantages to becoming a mother!"

Hmm, in other words, my memory should recover and it should improve greatly after delivery. Thank God for that!

Not only did my memory fails me. I realised that I can't take too spicy stuff too. I had this wonderful Ba Cho Mee yesterday but I ended up having constipation :(

The culprits are the pressure of my growing uterus on my rectum, along with pregnancy hormones, which slow the transit of food through my digestive tract. And before you know it, some iron pills can make constipation worse. This is exactly what is happening to me!

To prevent constipation, mummy-to-be should drink more water (8 glasses daily) and lotz fruits.

Choose from the following:
• Mainly soluble fibre — apples, legumes, oats, pears and rye bread
• Mainly insoluble fibre — beans, fruit, green leafy vegetables, lentils and wholegrain cereals.