Six Months Pregnant? Here’s What you Can Really Expect

The baby bump has made its appearance, you’ve been feeling good for a while and chances are good you already know what you are having at this point – if you wanted to find out. The sixth month of pregnancy is, by large, a good one. Trust me; I’ve been pregnant three times and experienced the sixth month (that’s right) three times. Each time it was vastly different yet so much the same. I can tell you what to expect this month; but don’t quote me on it. Every single pregnancy is different and that means what I experienced might not be anything close to your own reality.

However, there are a few universal truths about the sixth month that will usually prevail. From two singleton girls to a boy/girl twin pregnancy, I’ve experienced it all – and I’ve read all the books. In fact, I can quote all the books at this point. So, while you’re six months pregnant, where’s what you can (probably) expect.

Maternity Clothes

You might already be in them. If you’re like me, you start showing about a half second after you get pregnant. Even with my first, I was showing a pretty significant bump by 10 weeks. I don’t know if it’s because I’m petite and there was just nowhere for it to go or what. By the time I was pregnant with the twins, I was showing a sizable bump around 6 weeks and I could no longer keep it a secret from our friends and family even though I’d known for only three weeks I was pregnant.

Energy

This is a great month as far as energy goes. You have a bump, but it’s not so large that you cannot move around. You’re still sleeping well, your sickness has likely subsided – if you even experienced it in the first place – and you’re feeling good. You have energy to take on some prenatal yoga, a long walk at night and perhaps a bit of retail therapy because we all know you’ve been dying to shop for that baby for months.

Be warned, though, that your energy is going to start to subside in the coming weeks. By the time you’re halfway through your seventh month, you’ll be feeling pretty pregnant. Enjoy it now, because it won’t be back for a while.

The Last Bit of Comfort

Month six is good for comfort. You’re not so big that you cannot sleep or enjoy yourself comfortably, but you’re also not so newly pregnant that your body is going crazy. This is a good month for comfort. But, alas, it’s also the tail end of comfort for you. Be prepared to stop feeling so comfortable. In the coming months, you’ll find getting up difficult. Sitting down will become difficult. Getting in and out of the car will be a chore. By the time you hit month 8, doing anything other than just existing is going to seem like a lot of work and your comfort level is going to decrease significantly.

Adorable Baby Kicks

Now is the time that darling little baby you are carrying is moving around like crazy. It’s cute right now. This is the time that you will probably see the kicks through your skin for the first time. It’s usually around this month that my husband was able to see the baby kick for the first time and feel the baby’s kicks for the first time. It’s prevalent, and it’s often. You’ll find that it’s so adorable right now. I’d recommend savoring that. Coming up, this sweet kicks will turn into what feels like an Olympic gymnast working out in your rib cage, lungs and pelvis for the next few months. That’s a little bit less cute than what you’re dealing with right now.

The Unpleasant Glucose Screening

And welcome to the worst thing you will ever do while pregnant. The glucose test for diabetes. This is not fun. Actually, this is so much less than not fun. Unless you have a love affair with syrupy water filled with sugar, you will not love this. You have five minutes – seriously, or they will make you do it again another day – to drink a bottle of this nasty orange water that tastes like syrup mixed with sugar and water. It’s sweet, it’s disgusting and you’ll gag your way through it. One hour later, blood is drawn and you get to go home. This is going to determine whether or not you have gestational diabetes (you do not want). If you fail this test, you will then have to take another one that lasts three hours and from what I hear, is even more unpleasant.

Registry Time

The sixth month is usually the one in which you head to the store and start registering, and it is so much fun! By now you know what you are having, and that makes it even more fun. You’ve probably known for about a month now what you are having – a boy or a girl. The last time I was pregnant, I’d known for a month that I was having a boy and a girl – imagine our surprise to find out at five months pregnant that we were having twins! That made the registering that much more fun and that much more exciting. Just remember to do some research to find out what you really need because, trust me, you don’t really need much of what you think you do.

Rude Questions

Yes, the sixth month is typically when the rude questions from strangers begin. They’ll start asking you if you’re having twins, if you’re due right now, if you’re sure there’s one one/two/three in there. They’ll start looking at your other kids and your pregnant belly and judge. They’ll start telling you that they could ‘never’ do what you’re doing. Strangers will also start asking you personal questions about vaginal births, your breasts and if you know where babies come from. They might even ask you if you’re suffering with hemorrhoids yet.

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