23 weeks

This week baby is about the size of a Loaf of Bread...

Here's what's happening with baby this week...

• He or she measures over 28cm and weighs up to 550 grams.


• The baby is over 11 inches tall, weighs about a pound.


• The eyebrows are visible.


• The child can successfully suck.


• Bones located in the middle ear harden.

Your baby does a regular 'workout' inside your womb. He or she turns from side to side and head over heels. Thanks to a fully developed inner ear, which controls balance, your baby may have a sense of whether he or she is upside-down or right side up in the womb.

Skin pigment is now forming. The fetus is now proportioned like a newborn except it is a thinner version of a newborn baby since its baby fat has not developed much yet.

The pancreas, essential in the production of hormones, is developing steadily. Baby has begun producing insulin, important for the breakdown of sugars.

If born now, your baby would have a 20% chance of survival, the odds going up with each passing day.

Your baby's got a while to go before her lungs will be ready for air and is practicing her "breathing" on the amniotic fluid—sucking it in and out of her lungs. Other highlights this week:

Fat production is in overdrive at this point (for the baby, not you! Well, OK, maybe for the baby and you). Your baby will basically double in weight over the next four weeks! You'll be happy to know the same won't apply to you.

Your Mini is starting to look more like a newborn as her skin becomes less see-through. Her body is looking more proportional now, although her head is still kinda big compared to her cute little body.

Turn on the radio and sway to the music. With her sense of movement well developed by now, your baby can feel you dance. You may be able to see her squirm underneath your clothes. Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze her when she hears them outside the womb.

Here's me at 23 weeks...

I know...I know...a day late and a dollar short! I have been SWAMPED at work, so you're lucky to even get a blog post at all this week! Plus, I have become a new facebook junkie! I finally signed up for an account, after people at work have been telling me for almost a year that I need to be on there. I was resistant at first, then I decided to check it out, and it still took me 6 months from that point to actually do it! It is so much fun to connect with people I haven't talked to in a long time, and to network with friends and acquaintences here at Church and in Phoenix. I love that even people in their 70's and 80's are on Facebook, not to mention all those that are younger.

I have still been feeling great, and am TRULY enjoying this pregnancy. Baby is moving more and more, and it is fun to try and guess what he/she is doing. I can feel more and more from the outside.

Nathan and I just found and bought a crib on Craig's List, and we were so excited. We got it "gently used" with only a few scratches, but the perfect color and style. It's not one of the new models that convert into toddler beds and then a headboard later, but I think we will manage with out that attribute! We brought it home on Sunday and put it up against the desk and dresser that Nathan is refinishing and staining, and it matched perfectly! Literally...we couldn't have planned it any better! God is so good!

We aren't setting up the nursery until we do a little bit of room remodel first. So, things are just sitting in the room or in our garage. When I say "things" I mean the couple of items that people have already given us...we haven't actually done any shopping yet. In fact, we really need to get out and start registering, and I think we will start that process this week or the next. There's so much to do, and I think I'm just realizing that we don't have as much time as it seems like we do. :-)