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Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Week 24 : 16 Weeks To Go...

Week 24: Breathe baby, breathe!
Fetal development in pregnancy week 24:

fetus in sixth month
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 an oxygen-filled life outside the womb. By the end of this week, your child is around 2 lbs and 14 inches long—perhaps a little more plump, but isn't anywhere near their full baby-fatted cute-self. Most of the cutesy “filling out” is coming up in that long awaited (and slightly dreaded?) third trimester. Woo-hoo! Get ready!

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