Heartbeat!

Today the midwife listened to my heartbeat. Can you hear it too?

Twenty-five Weeks Pregnant

Head to heels, I now measures about 13 1/2 inches. My weight — a pound and a half — doesn't sound like much, but I'm beginning to exchange my long, lean look for some baby fat. As I do, my wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and I'll start to look more and more like a newborn. My hair is probably recognizable now (in color and texture), although both may change after I'm born.

Twenty-Four Weeks Pregnant

I'm growing steadily, gaining about a quarter of a pound since last week, when I was just over a pound. Since I'm almost a foot long, that makes a pretty lean figure, but my body is filling out proportionally and I'll soon put on more baby fat. My skin is thin, translucent, and wrinkled, my brain is growing rapidly, and my taste buds are developing. My lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" and cells that produce surfactant, a substance that helps the air sacs inflate easily.

Here I am!

Twenty-three Weeks Pregnant

I am more than 11 inches long and weigh just over a pound. I may be able to feel Mummy's movements now, so put on some tunes and dance around the house. I look red now due to blood vessels showing through my transparent skin. My true skin tone will develop over the course of my first year. Blood vessels in my lungs are developing to prepare me for breathing, but complete lung development will take many more months. The lungs are the last organ to fully develop. I can swallow, but I normally won't pass my first stool (called meconium) until after birth. Loud noises heard often in utero — such as music or the roar of a vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze me when I hear them outside the womb.

Twenty-two Weeks Pregnant

I now look like a miniature newborn, checking in at 10.9" and almost 1 lb. My skin will continue to appear wrinkled until I gain enough weight to fill it out, and the fine hair (lanugo) that covers my head and body is now visible. My lips are becoming more distinct, and the first signs of teeth are appearing as buds beneath my gum line. My eyes are developed, though the iris (the colored part of the eye) still lacks pigment. Eyelids and eyebrows are in place, and my pancreas, essential for hormone production, is developing steadily.