It's time to eat!

Your baby has gone completely red. She’s not embarrassed, but this can be credited to the actively developing veins and arteries under her thin skin. Under this delicate skin, you can even see her bones and internal organs, so it's time to feed the baby well. All joking aside, she will double her weight in the next 4 weeks! Needless to say, now is not the time for fasting or diets, mommy! In her lungs, the alveoli develop — the very bubbles in which the blood is saturated with oxygen. And in the alveoli, the surfactant is already beginning to form — it’s a substance that prevents them from sticking together. Soon your child will be able to breathe on her own, is this not a miracle?

The baby is often kicking and making her presence known. There is no number to count to yet — long quiet spells while she sleeps are perfectly normal, and over the next few weeks you will learn her own rhythm. If you're lucky, you can even see her arms and legs on the surface of your belly (this is especially obvious when you are lying on your back). No need to worry — these movements are only normal reflexes that allow him or her to develop muscles and prepare for life in the big world.

You've already heard the baby’s heartbeat with a Doppler ultrasound, and around now a midwife can often catch it with a simple stethoscope at your appointment! Tempting as it is to buy one for the house, don’t — the FDA advises against home dopplers and stethoscopes, because it is far too easy to pick up your own pulse and think it’s hers. If you’re ever worried, your midwife can actually tell you.

The placenta is getting fatter, because it needs to transfer more and more oxygen and nutrients to the baby. Now its thickness is about 24-25 mm.

Would you like to dance? If you’re suddenly in a wonderful mood and want to start dancing, you can be sure that the baby will feel it — she is already beginning to realize her position in space.

And in other news — the baby is already the size of a glossy VOGUE magazine (yes, the fact that you’ll have a child soon is no reason to turn away from fashionable things and interesting events!).

Measuring the baby:
Height:
Crown to rump: 7.9 in (20 cm)
Crown to heels: 11.4 in (28.9 cm)
Weight 1.1 lbs. (500 g)