Pregnancy Week By Week – Week 16

As a first time to-be-mother, pregnancy was a completely new experience for me. I had a lot of questions and was fondling to understand the changes taking place in my body. I was equally worried about the growth of my baby inside my womb.

With this blog series, “Pregnancy Week By Week”, I hope to extend a helping hand to all expecting parents by telling you about my journey.

There might be some things that you would be able to relate to and would even give you solace to know that someone went through the exact same thing as you. Hope I’m able to help!

Disclaimer – This is entirely my personal experience. The intent of this blog is not to advice but only to share. Any medication, medical examinations, dietary intake or exercise, mentioned in this blog, were prescribed as per my pregnancy and my body. Please do not perform these without consulting your medical adviser.

Increased Appetite by Week 16 of Pregnancy

This week I felt even more human. I felt like eating. While my sense of taste continued to be off, I was facing much less nausea and vomiting. 

My desire to eat had grown a bit more as compared to last week. After nearly 2.5 months of minimal eating, this was definitely a welcome change. 

I continued to follow the diet plan that was recommended to me in week 15. The idea was to eat healthy and focus more on vitamins, minerals and healthy fats. Having a balanced diet with proteins, carbohydrates and fibre was important.  

Growing Belly by 4th Month of Pregnancy

Another change that came with a revival of desire to eat was an increase in my waist size. 

I had definitely grown a couple of inches on my waist. I had also begun gaining weight by this time. Which meant that I was not fitting into most of my regular clothes. 

This was more so for lowers like pants, pyjamas etc as compared to tops. Also, I was avoiding anything which had an elastic band so that my lowers don’t compress my stomach or make me feel queasy. 

As it is, I was already bloated from being gassy, so a growing waist was definitely adding to the limited number of lower wear options for me. 

Clothing Options for Early Pregnancy Bump

To solve this problem, I instantly shifted to lowers that had a drawstring closure. In India, we have salwars, which are loose fitting and the drawstring allows you to adjust how toght they feel on the waist. 

This becomes particularly helpful when you are feeling bloated or sitting down (which is when your stomach tends to gather and you would need something that is not too restrictive on your waist). 

If you are someone who can wear dresses without needing shorts under them, that is a great option too. 

At this point you’ll also feel that your breasts have started growing. This is where all my loose t-shirts, kurtas and my husband’s t-shirts came in handy. In short, what is important is to keep yourself comfortable and wear breathable clothes. 

Pregnancy Symptoms Slowly Fading Away by 4th Month of Pregnancy

As for my other symptoms like light-headedness, weakness etc, I could feel them slowly fade away and I started feeling slightly more active than my previous week. I started feeling more comfortable and was able to manage through my day with lesser bouts of nausea and vomiting.

Next week I will talk about my scheduled visit to the OB-GYN and the influenza vaccine prescribed to me.