The next update will have a lot of detail about the final ultrasound we will have for this little guy. Or what should be the final ultrasound anyway. That will be at 8:30 AM on Friday morning. Can't wait. As with the previous ultrasound, I will put a video together with music and with explanations for any of you that want to see it.
On to Week 23 updates. Little Billy hits the 8 inch mark this week, crown to rump, or about the width of a sheet of paper. He's also hit the 1 pound mark!!! His appearance is very human at this point, looking more or less like a thin, miniature newborn baby. His house, Antoinette's uterus, can be measured a full inch a half above her belly button, which is why her belly has really begun to stick out in the last update. Antoinette is still behind the average in weight gain. She's up about 10 pounds from pre-pregnancy weight and the average mark at this point is 15 pounds.
The Braxton-Hicks contractions get stronger this week and the baby can actually feel the uterine walls gently squeezing and relaxing around him, like a little massage. They will increase in intensity and frequency as the pregnancy continues.
Despite looking quite red and wrinkled, the baby is adding baby fat very quickly. Skin cells are being added at a far more rapid rate than fat cells and the result is excess skin folds (the wrinkles). The reddish coloring is the result of the skin finally losing its transparency and adding pigment. At this point, the baby's daily sleep/wake cycle is easily followed by his Mother as she can feel each punch and kick inside.
In previous weeks, the baby was able to "suck its thumb", which amounted to the baby being able to stick its thumb more or less in its mouth. This month, the baby can actually perform the "sucking" mechanism, and therefore he will actually truly suck his thumb for the first time. The drinking, swallowing, and recycling of amniotic fluid continues, only now, the baby's internal systems are developed enough where he can actually process and digest some of the nutrients and sugars that are present in the fluid to supplement that which comes through the umbilical. The result of this increased digestion of nutrients are the first hiccups, which Antoinette has felt. More or less little "jumps" of the belly all at once. Will the baby hiccup 20-30 times before stopping like Dad, or will he hiccup 2-3 times before stopping like Mom? You probably don't care, so on we go...
Pancreas development has reached the point where the organ system has begun to actually develop insulin in small amounts. The insulin will eventually be responsible for aiding in the breaking down of sugars in the body.
Finally, the little guy is starting to get a bit cramped in there. If he thinks it is tight quarters now, he has no idea what's in store for him over the next 4 months. Bones, muscles, organs systems, are all growing at a steady rate. Just the highlights in this update, Folks.
On Saturday, Antoinette will officially be 5 months pregnant!!!
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