24 Weeks

Your baby is producing surfactant. This is stuff that keeps the small air sacs in our lungs from collapsing. The unborn baby is covered with a fine, downy hair and the skin is protected by a waxy substance. Some of this substance may still be on the child's skin at birth at which time it will be quickly absorbed. The baby practices breathing by inhaling amniotic fluid into developing lungs.
Baby gains about 3 ounces this week. The weight is in muscle, bone mass and organs. The body begins to fill out with his appearance increasingly becoming more like a newborn. Taste buds begin to form. If mom drinks something strange or bitter, baby may be observed showing his or her distaste.
Little creases have appeared on his palms. The muscular coordination of the hands has improved as they suck their thumb. Over the next week or so, the sweat glands will be forming in the skin. The lungs are developing branches of the respiratory tree and cells that produce surfactant, a substance that helps the air sacs inflate easily.
Baby now weighs about 1.3 pound and is around 12 inches long.

23 Weeks

Your baby does a regular 'workout' inside your womb. He 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 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.
By this week, your baby weighs a little over 1 pound and is 11 inches long.

22 Weeks

Your baby is about 11 inches long and weighs in at about 1 pound. The eyebrows and eyelids are fully developed, and the fingernails cover the fingertips. Sounds from a conversation are loud enough to be heard by the fetus in the uterus. If you talk, read, or sing to your baby, it's reasonable to expect him or her to be able to hear you. By this week, your waistline is definitely gone. The top of your uterus is now about 1 inch above your bellybutton. Your friends and relatives can tell you are pregnant. It would be hard to hide your condition.

The baby is about 11 inches long and weighs in at about 1 pound.

GUESTBOOK/COMMENTS

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Also take the poll at the bottom of our website...When do you think Lucas will be born?

Lucas's Room

Daddy and Mommy worked all weekend getting Lucas's Room cleaned out and ready for his nursery. We also picked up his crib and dresser/changing table from Grammy and Pappy Kensinger. What a great gift! Thank you so much Grammy and Pappy! We both helped put it together but, Mommy grabbed some great pics of Daddy at work! We had a lot of fun and good laughs while putting it together! The crib has the bedding in it but, no matress yet so it is hard to see what it will really look like because the fitted sheet is just bunched up under the bumper pad. We have some decorating to do but I am loving it so far! It is so fun walking by and seeing the crib in that room...it is really starting to feel real! We are really looking forward to the baby shower on August 22. I AM SO EXCITED!!!

**Check out the new belly pic on the left side!**

21 Weeks

Your baby's bone marrow has started making blood cells, a job done by the liver and spleen until this point. The placenta has provided nearly all of your baby's nourishment, now your baby will begin to absorb small amounts of sugar from swallowed amniotic fluid.Based on the size of baby's head, which is about 2 inches (5cm), the date of birth can be determined to within one week. The fetus is steadily gaining fat and has grown a whitish coat of a slick, fatty substance to protect skin in amniotic fluid and to ease delivery.The baby can hear and recognize the mother's voice, and may respond to some types of music.

20 Weeks

Your baby reacts to loud sounds. Baby can actually hear noises outside of the womb. Familiar voices, music, and sounds that baby becomes accustomed to during their development stages often are calming after birth. This is an important time for sensory development since nerve cells serving each of the senses; taste, smell, hearing, sight, and touch are now developing into their specialized area of the brain.
Your baby now weighes about 11 ounces and at roughly 7 inches long they are filling up more and more of the womb. Though still small and fragile, the baby is growing rapidly and could possibly survive if born at this stage.

It's a BOY!

**Oh come on...you're embarrASSing me!**

Our appointment was awesome! To see little Lucas moving all around was so great! His heartrate dropped to 154bpm which was very sneaky because it was very high the last couple of times making us think he was a girl! We were both very suprised but so EXCITED! The full anatomy went well and Lucas pasted the test! He weighs 10 oz. and is looking so cute already! We can't wait to meet him! I have my next appointment on August 25th before I go back to work on the 26th. I will still keep you posted each week on the growth of Lucas and what he is up to.

Ultrasound...19 weeks

**I slid down Mommy's tummy...this is fun!**
**I'm smiling at you!**

**Oh man...what was I going to do!**

**My foot and hand!**

**Finally...they are leaving me alone so I can sleep!**

19 Weeks

If baby is female the uterus starts to develop, the vagina, uterus, and fallopian tubes are in place. Females have a limited supply of eggs in their lifetime. At this point your daughter will have 6 million eggs. This amount decreases to approximately one million by birth. If it's a boy, the genitals are distinct and recognizable. Even if the sex looks obvious, ultrasound operators have been known to make mistakes.Baby's legs are reaching their relative size and with the increase muscle development occurring as well, you will start feeling much more than tiny flutter kicks soon. If you have not felt movement yet, you will soon. Your baby will increase its weight by more than 15 times between now and delivery.Your baby's size is around 6.5 inches and 9 ounces.