Week 24

This is another big week for your smaller-than-life magic 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 that? Well, surfactant is sort of what it sounds like: a surface-activated fat whose main purpose is to assist the air sacs (their little lungs) during inflation (as in: filling with air, not getting more expensive). Just in case you’re curious, your submerged baby is still breathing in amniotic fluid, preparing and rehearsing the lungs for an oxygen-filled life outside the womb. By the end of this week, your child is around 1.5 lbs and 14 inches long—perhaps a little more plump, but isn't anywhere near their full baby-fatted cute-self. Because your growing baby is getting plumper, he has less room in your tummy to do cartwheels and somersaults.

Your little one is moving (spinning, kicking, pirouetting, shimmying, and maybe even doing a bit of the Can-Can) so much these days that if you invite your friends and/or family to touch your belly there’s a good chance they’ll get a milder sample of what you’ve been experiencing.

Wondering what (and who) your baby will look like? If you had a baby cam, you'd almost be able to tell by now. That beautiful face (though still tiny) is almost fully formed. The fetus's eyes are close together on the front of his face and they are still shut. Your baby's ears have moved into their final position on the sides of his head. Where they are now is where they will be when your baby is born! Hair will continue to grow on his scalp and his eyelashes are well developed. Most of your baby's features look the same as they will at birth.

Because the inner ear — which controls balance in the body — is now completely developed, your baby may be able to tell when he or she is upside down or right side up while floating and making movements in the amniotic fluid.