Week 22 Pregnancy VLOG, baby 4 by Teresa Palmer

WHAT WEEK?
22

HOW BIG IS BABY?
7.5 inches long, weighs around 1lb/450g or size of spaghetti squash.

WHAT’S SOMETHING NEW THIS WEEK?
I’m noticing there’s a real routine to how this little girl moves about in utero. She tends to be asleep from the AM through till 3pm-ish and then wakes up again and wriggles around for a bit. Around 10pm and throughout the evening she is active and kicking/rolling around in there. I just purchased a kick counter to be able to start using over the coming months so that I can make sure she’s doing okay in there.

MOST CHALLENGING MOMENT?
I have 3 doctors and a midwife this pregnancy, due to living in two countries and not being back in Adelaide with my midwife until I am 32 weeks pregnant. Of course, having a more delicate pregnancy means extra monitoring for baby girl and I so there are many eyes on all my scans. I sent our 20-week anatomy scan results to my backup doctor in Adelaide who identified a couple of issues. One being that my placenta is very close-lying to my cervix but hopefully by 32 weeks it will come away enough to not be an issue for delivery, the second issue is that I the scan showed higher levels of umbilical arterial Dopplers which measure the blood flow through the umbilical cord. So of course I dove into studies online and found out this information; “Adverse perinatal outcomes including preeclampsia, small-for-gestational age newborns (smaller than 3rd percentile or smaller than the 10th percentile), preterm delivery (<34 weeks or <37 weeks of gestation at delivery), cesarean section, admission to the neonatal intensive care unit and intra-uterine fetal death.” Cue anxiety spike all week! My US doctor Jay Goldberg looked at the details of the scan and seems unworried so it’s been a bit of a week of oscillating between thinking everything is fine and then worrying. I know that as soon as I back home to LA next week and when I see the neonatal specialist May 14th that I’ll be feeling much better.

MOST EXCITING MOMENT?
Mark felt the bubs move through the tummy this week. It was a swift kick and I felt like it was the first time we both knew it was her for sure. Other times he thought he had felt her but I hadn’t really felt her move then so we were on the fence about whether it was in his head but this time it was right around when she’s most active (between 10-11pm)

STARTING WEIGHT?
116lbs

CURRENT WEIGHT?
131lbs

EXERCISE?
A bunch this week! Going up and down lots of stairs, big walks, running in scenes for work and going on 2 long bike rides. This past Thursday I had the day off so we all went for a massive trek around the city and ended up riding for hours. It was really enjoyable and a brilliant way to get around and see the city before we leave.

MEALS?
Lots of Beyond Burgers!! I’ve been having these almost everyday. Also I always start the day with avocado toast, snack of vegan chocolate and then have a Mediterranean pasta each day for lunch at work. Dinner is usually a vegan quesadilla and guacamole or a juice and burger!

FOOD AVERSIONS?:
Gimme gimme all the food! None so far.

CRAVINGS?
This Beyond burger I’ve found! If anyone else is visiting Tallin or lives here you MUST try my favourite vegan burger in the ENTIRE WORLD from Veg Machine called “Beyond Burger Smash” it utterly unbelievable and I will certainly miss it when we leave here.

REFLECTIONS?
I’ve been feeling really happy about everything going on right now. It seems the world is starting to shift back in to a place of something that resembles ‘normal’. I have been so lucky to be able to continue working and I’ve been given two more work opportunities for this year that will see our family through the next 12 months.

We have a lot of family time coming up in both LA and Adelaide. I’m craving the days of just being together, going on walks with the dogs, road tripping up the great ocean road on our bus and seeing friends once more. The world has been through so much and still so many are struggling but it seems that the light is starting to shine through and that gives us hope.