Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Week 24- Baby Boy Ear of Corn


How your baby's growing: Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts him at just over a pound. Since he's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), he cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but his body is filling out proportionally and he'll soon start to plump up. His brain is also growing quickly now, and his taste buds are continuing to develop. His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world. His skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.
How your life's changing: In the past few weeks, the top of your uterus has risen above your belly button and is now about the size of a soccer ball.Most women have a glucose screening test (also called a glucose challenge test or GCT) between now and 28 weeks (Mine is October 21). This test checks for gestational diabetes, a pregnancy-related high-blood-sugar condition. Untreated diabetes increases your risk of having a difficult vaginal delivery or needing a cesarean section because it causes your baby to grow too large, especially in his upper body. It also raises your baby's odds for other complications like low blood sugar right after birth. A positive result on your GCT doesn't mean you have gestational diabetes, but it does mean that you'll need to take the glucose tolerance test (GTT) to find out for sure.
Baby: Your baby continues to grow and develop inside of you. He is now about the size of an ear of corn; measuring 12 inches long and weighing a little over 1 pound. In the coming weeks, your baby will continue to grow and mature a fast rate, gaining about 6 ounces of weight a week.
His brain is growing rapidly and his taste buds are developing. He is pretty lean at 24 weeks, but he'll soon be putting on some "baby fat" to fill out his frame and his wrinkled skin. He has begun to develop white blood cells. These cells are responsible for fighting off disease and infection.
His lungs develop branches this week and his inner ear is completely developed. In fact, he has basic control over all of his senses: hearing, touch, taste, smell and vision!


It's officially month 6!

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