Twenty-three weeks and growing! The babies now measure a grand total of 11 inches in length (head to toe). Eleven inches can be likened to an ear or corn or the length of a Harry Potter book. As excited as I am to be at week 23, I anxiously hold my breath until we are into the 30’s for gestational age, and then I feel like I can let out a short sigh of relief. Harry Potter, use your magic and make the next 7 weeks flash by like a blink of an eye! Each baby weighs approximately 1.1-1.2 pounds each and in the next 4 weeks their weights are expected to double. Between weeks 22-27, the babies go under the greatest amount of weight gain than any other five-week window in pregnancy. If the scale is any indication of how they are growing, I’m pretty positive they are growing on target! Despite the nausea and vomiting coming back with a vengeance (after a brief 5 day period of feeling somewhat “normal”), the pounds still are adding up on the scale (I would love to know how that math actually works out!).
I find it fairly amusing reading some of the information about how the woman’s body changes through pregnancy. Let me be the first to tell you, my body didn’t quite read the book, well at least for a singleton pregnancy, and it gives me all sorts of ideas of the need to write a book on how the woman’s body changes when expecting multiples. I find it humorous when I read that the navel was supposed to “pop out” at about 20 weeks when the uterus reached the height of the navel. Ummmm, people noticed my “popped out belly button” as early as 8 weeks on…and there was no hiding it since!! Or the linea nigra which is a pigmented line on the belly from pregnancy hormones which first shows around week 23…how about week 10?? Perhaps the most amusing part…how much weight you should gain by this time in pregnancy…the macaroni and cheese has to go somewhere! Despite the “quicker than expected changes,” I stand amazed at how God created the human body and the way the body responds to pregnancy, and of course Double and Trouble who are growing inside…this experience truly is the most incredible thing I have ever witnessed. Thank you God for allowing me this amazing opportunity…whether I be on the express train or not!
The babies are just now at the cusp of viability, so important developments are taking place in the lungs. Blood vessels in the lungs are forming to prepare for blood exchange of gasses during breathing. Surfactant, which is an important substance found in the lungs to prevent them from collapse, is just starting to be produced at this time. The babies are also starting to have breathing movements to develop the diaphragm muscle. The cerebrum (the part of the brain that is responsible for intellect, motor control, and memory) now has some folds and wrinkles, which will continue to form throughout the rest of the pregnancy. Other areas in the brain (areas that control hunger, emotion, balance, and basic impulses) are just beginning to emerge, but rather undeveloped at this point in pregnancy. Also, the babies now have rapid eye movements (REM) which are eye motions that occur during the stage of sleep when dreaming occurs (I think my babies dream about macaroni and cheese!).
Looking forward to our appointment next week where we should get actual weights and see how big the babies have grown!
23 Weeks
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