- STARTING WEEK 27 -

this week marks the beginning of the third trimester - the retina, which's important in the reception of light images, develops its normal layers by the 27th week of gestation - these layers are important in receiving light, light information & transmitting it to the brain for interpretation
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ahniér's skin's very wrinkled from floating in water - this will stay this way until a few weeks after birth as your newborn fills out into a baby - she's about 15" long & weighs over 2#, she's as hefty as a head of cauliflower (pictured below) - at just over 2#, she's doubled in weight from four weeks ago - most babies this age, including ahniér, still like to snuggle in a slightly curled position inside the uterus (thus the term "fetal position")
ahniér's auditory development (hearing) is progressing as the network of nerves to the ears matures - even though the sounds she hears are muffled (thanks to the creamy coating of vernix covering those ears), she may recognize voices - so this might be a good time to read & even sing to her (or rather, mama's belly) & a good chance to start boning up on those nursery rhymes & lullabies you'll need to be repeating (& repeating) pretty soon
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ahniér's taste buds are very developed now too (with more taste buds than she'll ever have outside the womb, actually) - need a taste test? - if you eat some spicy food, she'll be able to taste the difference in the amniotic fluid (but keep in mind that you'll have different mealtimes, with your baby's coming about two hours after yours) - some babies will even respond to that spicy kick by hiccupping & although hiccups (which feel like belly spasms to you) may seem like they're disturbing to your baby, she isn't stressed at all - it's just one more sensation that babies need to get used to
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your not-so-tiny-anymore brilliant baby(about 2# & 15" long!) is slowly rotating in preparation to “head out” - obviously, this doesn’t happen overnight, but when you start to feel an unfamiliar pressure on your cervix, you’ll know ahniér's a fully flipped baby locked & loaded for the countdown to her birthday!
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even now, at the beginning of the third trimester, her little lungs are already capable of breathing air while the pulmonary vascular system can provide sufficient gas exchange & the central nervous system can generally regulate rhythmic breathing as well as their basal body temperature - for what it’s worth, at this point in a healthy pregnancy a premature child (with intensive care) could easily win on the show: “survivor: the early years.”