Catching Up

Since the the date has been advanced it's exciting double post time.

Week 24: Sense of balance develops

By now, your baby weighs about 1 1/2 pounds. Footprints and fingerprints are forming.

Thanks to a fully developed inner ear, which controls balance, your baby may have a sense of whether he or she is upside-down or right side up in the womb. You may notice a regular sleeping and waking cycle.

With intensive medical care, babies born at 24 weeks have more than a 50 percent chance of survival. Complications are frequent and serious, however, such as bleeding in the brain and impaired vision.

Week 25: Exploration continues

Your baby's hands are now fully developed, although the nerve connections to the hands have a long way to go. Exploring the structures inside your uterus may become baby's prime entertainment.

Sooner, not later

Apparently, those ultrasound images are useful for diagnostic purposes too, not just for peeking. And what did the doctor say? All is well, and we're moving up the due date by 10 days--from July 13 to July 3. So, it turns out I'm further along by almost two weeks than we thought. I'll let you all ponder the implications of that.

So, as of today, I'm at 24 weeks and 5 days.

We may well end up sharing a birthday (July 2).

Also, he's getting wigglier by the day.

Week 23: Lungs prepare for life outside the womb

Your baby's lungs are beginning to produce surfactant, the substance that allows the air sacs in the lungs to inflate — and keeps them from collapsing and sticking together when they deflate. "Practice" breathing moves amniotic fluid in and out of your baby's lungs.

Your baby will begin to look more like a newborn as the skin becomes less transparent and fat production kicks into high gear.

Felt him kick!

For the first time ever, I felt the sprog moving around this morning before I got out of bed. First some fluttery business, and then when I rolled over onto my back, two pretty solid taps against my abdomen. Kicks, punches, headbutts? I was getting a little worried, since the books seem to suggest that by week 23 you should be worried if you haven't felt anything, and this is the start of week 23 (and apparently, some people feel theirs moving around since week 19...)

Other than the occasional faint flutteriness and those two solid taps, mostly it feels like I've got a watermelon in my body, solid and sort of heavy. And getting heavier by the day. When I'm laying down, and when I turn over, I can feel it shift independently of me. Crazy.

Week 22: Taste buds develop

This week, your baby weighs in at about 1 pound.

Taste buds are starting to form on your baby's tongue, and your baby's brain and nerve endings can process the sensation of touch. Your baby may experiment by feeling his or anything else within reach.

For boys, the testes begin to descend from the abdomen this week.

Pictures!

At long last, ultrasound images for your squinting pleasure.

Click on any of the images to make it bigger.

What, you may ask, are we looking at?

The first one is the cute little profile.

The second is the spine!

The last one looks like the sprog is sitting on a photocopier. That's a shot of the butt, upper thighs, and to use Johnny's phrase, his "baby junk." That's right folks, it's a boy.

Coming soon...

Ultrasound stills. Really.

Week 21: Nourishment evolves

Although the placenta provides nearly all of your baby's nourishment, your baby will begin to absorb small amounts of sugar from swallowed amniotic fluid. This week, your baby's bone marrow starts making blood cells — a job done by the liver and spleen until this point.