I'm now 20-weeks, or 5-months exactly. Time is flying and my belly is growing day by day (which people LOVE pointing out - especially at work ... not sure how I feel about that one).When I was a kid there was a pregnant Barbie where you could pop on a belly and pop it off. I feel like something has been popped to the front of me - it's funny, sometimes I turn quickly and hit my stomach against a door or wall because I'm not aware it's out there! Then there are times like tonight - I took a yoga class with Linz and when we were in the final resting pose the boys were going nuts! I guess they did not zone out in yoga - their belly button kickball made me quite aware.
Per Baby Center, here's what's going on:
At 20 weeks hair on the scalp is sprouting and sensory development evolves rapidly. The nerve cells serving each of the senses - taste, smell, hearing, seeing, and touch - are now developing in their specialised areas of the brain. Nerve cell production slows down as existing nerve cells grow larger and make more complex connections. The smell of a newborn seems to be the most developed of all senses, enabling them to recognize you immediately.
You no doubt feel the kicking and somersaulting of your growing twins. At times, they may be so mobile that they will wake you up during the night. The next ten weeks or so will be your twins' busiest and most active time, until the uterus gets too crowded.
A whitish coat of a slick, fatty substance called vernix caseosa will begin to cover your twins. It protects their skin during its long immersion in amniotic fluid and acts as a barrier against infection after birth. Your twins are swallowing an increasing amount of amniotic fluid, good practice for their digestive systems.
Until now your fetuses have been measured from crown to rump but from 20 weeks the measurement will be from crown to heel. And from crown to heel they are approximately 10.5 inches/ 27 centimetres long. Their eyebrows and eyelids are fully developed and fingernails cover the fingertips.
Your babies can now hear your conversations. If you talk, read, or sing to your twins, sound waves are transmitted along your spine to make them progressively familiar to your voice, helping them to recognise you after they are born.
Your twins can hear other sounds through the skin covering your belly, but they are distorted as they pass through your fat and muscle, the wall of your uterus and amniotic fluid. Only your voice will be clearly recognisable to them by the end of your pregnancy.
1 comment:
You look fabulous! I loved reading about how they can only really hear your voice and will recognize it when they're born!
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