Fetal development in pregnancy week 24
It's another week full of exciting developments for your magical growing baby!
Just take a look at the checklist for this week: 1) ears: done; 2)
fingernails: done; 3) (if you have a boy) testicles: taking their 3-4
day trip from the abdominal wall to the scrotum; and 4) lungs walls:
secreting “surfactant”.
What’s surfactant? It's basically what it sounds like: a
surface-activated fat that helps your baby's little lungs inflate (where
inflate = fill with air not get more expensive for no understandable
reason).
In the meantime, your submerged baby is still breathing in their
amniotic fluid (and a bit of pee), preparing and rehearsing their lungs
for an oxygen-filled life outside the womb.
By the end of this week, your wee womb-squatter will be weighing in at a whopping 2 lbs and 14 inches long.
All this new weight means your tiny baby is actually starting to fill
out their skin, but they're not anywhere near their adorable fat-baby
potential.
Most of the fetal “filling out” is coming up in that long awaited (and slightly dreaded?) third trimester. Woo-hoo! Get ready!
No comments:
Post a Comment