By this week, Michaiah weighs two and a half pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures between 14 - 16 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.
At about the 30th week, she'll start gaining 1/2 a pound each week. Just think: In the first trimester she was gaining a fraction of an ounce each week; now she's gaining 1 pound every two weeks!
All that baby weight is for more than filling out her chubby cheeks. Now that all of her major body systems are in place and functioning, she needs padding to protect and insulate her organs. Her built-up fat tissue will also help her regulate her body temperature after birth and provide the energy she needs.
The placental blood flow is increasing dramatically to support her rapid growth during the 3rd trimester, and the placenta itself is growing. For example, the placenta weighed only about 6 ounces during my 20th week of pregnancy, but by now it's probably close to 15 ounces.
Because she is adding fat and growing bigger, her movements will become less frequent -- it's getting harder for her to maneuver! She was once able to freely kick her legs and move her arms above her head. Now her home is becoming more cramped. Her lack of space is one cue it's getting closer to delivery day.
Michaiah's lungs are mature enough that, if born right now, she has a pretty good chance of surviving (with help from medical technology). Her lungs are starting to produce surfactant, a detergent-like substance that prevents the lungs from closing in and instead allows for expansion to take in air. This increases baby's odds at surviving if born early. The odds to do better outside the womb increases, when they inhabitate the womb longer. Her skin is still pretty wrinkly (one byproduct of living in amniotic fluid) but will smoothen as fat continues to deposit. The brain which was smooth up till now has grooves and is indented on the surface.
An ultrasound at 28 weeks shows a head that is large in proportion to her body; at birth a human baby's brain accounts for a whopping 12 percent of his body weight. Michaiah already has the 100 billion or so brain cells she'll have at birth. However, she still has to build connections between them to form the neurological network that will give her control over everything from her footsteps to her speech.
DID YOU KNOW??
During the first year of life, a baby's brain grows faster than the brain of any other mammal. This burns a lot of calories; your baby will require a diet that's 50 percent fat to fuel all that growth. Luckily, breast milk and formula are both designed to offer that balance. It's a good thing that this brain-building process takes place after birth; otherwise her head would be too large to fit through my pelvis!
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