Your baby
Your baby is all liveliness and moves about two hundred times a day. And there is every chance you will start to feel those movements now. What does it feel like? One woman describes it as a sort of rumbling of the bowels, another as a butterfly in her belly, a third as a soap bubble popping. This intimate feeling will stay with you for the next twenty weeks.
If this is your second or a later pregnancy you have probably felt the movements sooner. But even if it is your first, you may have felt your baby much earlier. At the moments when you feel nothing, he or she is probably sleeping soundly.
Felt nothing at all by around this week? Do not worry: sometimes it simply takes a little longer and you will have to be patient.
You
That you have to eat for two during pregnancy is a myth. As long as you keep eating healthily and sensibly, you really need not fear that your child is going short. In principle you may eat a little more from week 20 onwards: in the second half of your pregnancy you can use around 100 to 300 extra calories. But that is not much, of course — a slice of bread or a couple of extra potatoes and you are there.
Precisely because you are moving about less now, you do not need many extra calories. What you do need to watch is the quality of your food. If you eat healthily you automatically get enough vitamins and minerals.
From 10 weeks you no longer need to take folic acid. You do still need vitamin D: 10 micrograms a day, throughout your pregnancy. What else you need each day, and what is better left alone, you can read under Food and lifestyle.
The 20-week scan
Around this week you probably have the 20-week scan (in Dutch), which can be done between 18 and 21 weeks. The scan costs you nothing. The sonographer looks for physical abnormalities in the baby, and also checks that it is growing well and that there is enough amniotic fluid. Read more under Ultrasound scans.
You get the result immediately after the scan. And if you want to know: it is often possible during this scan to see the baby's sex. So talk it over with your partner beforehand — do you want to know whether it is a girl or a boy?
Calf cramp
Do you get cramp in your calves? It is a common complaint in pregnancy, mainly at night. It can be a sign that your legs are overtired, or an early sign of varicose veins, probably to do with the changed circulation. It can also come from a lack of calcium.
Caught by cramp? Stretch your leg and pull your toes towards you, taking hold of them if need be. You can also massage the muscle well, from the bottom upwards, and put a warm compress on it.
It also helps to go for a short walk before bed. What matters is getting the blood flowing. Move your feet enough: circle them while sitting with your legs up. And raise the foot of the bed.
The nursery
When does the nursery have to be finished? First of all: a newborn baby does not necessarily need a room of its own. Your baby can perfectly well sleep in your room for the first few months. You may like the reassurance of having your child close at night, and it is handy if you are doing night feeds. In fact the advice is to let your baby sleep in a cot of its own in your bedroom for the first 6 months.
But if you would like to give your baby a place of its own — if only to make it feel welcome — it is best to start getting it ready in good time.