Week 21 - 22
January 20th, 2007 at 9:30 pm (Stages of Pregnancy)
Your baby is around 25 cm long from head to toe (or 10 inches) and weighs just under ½ a kilogram (or about 1pound). By 22 weeks, your baby’s nervous system completely ‘connects’. The vital link between their brain and spinal cord (the brain stem) now matures and many nerve cells make vigorous connections. When this happens your baby becomes capable of recognising warmth, light, sound and pain.
Your baby’s skin is increasingly being covered by vernix. A thick, white, greasy cream that protects their skin in their watery environment. This disappears by 40 weeks (or if your baby is born more than a week early, you will notice it is still on their skin). Your baby’s eyelids are still fused shut but the retinas of their eyes are fully developed and they now have distinct eyelashes and eyebrows. Your baby’s hair follicles are now pigmenting to give your baby’s hair colour, looking either dark, fair or red.
Babies at this stage typically like to lie in a transverse position (or crossways), with their feet and bottom on one side of your belly and their head on the other side (rather than head down).