(source: babycentre.com.au)Your baby now weighs a little over 500 grams and measures about 29 centimetres from crown to heel. His hearing is well established and he can make out a distorted version of your voice, the beating of your heart and your stomach rumblings. Loud noises often heard in utero, such as the barking of a dog next door or the roar of a vacuum cleaner, probably won't bother your child when he hears them outside the womb.
Numerous studies seem to indicate that the unborn prefer classical music, especially Vivaldi. Play The Four Seasons for your child and pay attention to his movements. Does he quieten down during adagio sections and speed up for the allegro portions? You may have a budding conductor in your womb. In addition to advances in your baby's hearing, her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing. He's swallowing but he normally won't pass his first stool (called meconium) until after birth.
If your baby were to be born now, he would have a small chance of survival (about 16 per cent) with the right care. Every day in the womb makes a difference at this stage. If he was born at 24 weeks her chance of survival would rise to 44 per cent. As for you, you may feel clumsy now that your centre of gravity has shifted. Your gums may bleed when you brush your teeth and your belly button, once an 'innie', may now stick out. Don't worry. It'll revert to its pre-baby state soon after you give birth. The middle months are a good time to think about a holiday.
Further to reading the Babycentre newsletter each week, I've also been reading the book aka as the bible for pregnancy - What to expect when you're expecting. It said that the baby can now hear especially the voice of the mother (the inside voice). That is why when the baby comes out, he will most likely be soothed by the voice of his mum because he is most familiar with her voice for the past 9mths! Daddy's voice too can also be soothing if he always take the chance to talk to the baby while the bub's still incubating in mummy's tummy. Because of this fact, I always make sure mr M speaks to his little one every night before we go to sleep. It's such an adorable sight....
My baby now is very very active in his kicking. The other day I was at work & ate about 5 sour mentos. Immediately, the baby started to kick like mad due to the glucose rush into his blood. It was like my tummy was having the hiccups (which mind you the baby could actually be having the hiccups) & it went up and down for at least 10mins non-stop! It was very entertaining in deed...
p/s just the other day, I had the worse cramp on my quads. I finally have taste tested how it feels like! gosh it was so bad that I couldn't move my leg & had to get Mr M to massage it until blood was flowing through it! yikes.. pregnancy truly turns your body 180'!
