Week 22:

Fetal development in pregnancy week 22:


fetus in fifth month
The grow must go on! No wonder you’re getting so big, you’re now
housing a wonder-baby who weighs nearly a pound and measures nearly a
foot in length. Their perfect little pancreas is now further developed
and they’ve also started producing their own hormones! Your baby's
future in the circus as a world-famous tight-rope-walker is secure:
their inner ear is now developed to the point that they have their own
sense of balance. Lucky for your little explorer, balance also promotes
physical dexterity, which has them actively feeling out their
surroundings where skin, body parts, and the resident umbilical cord
are the big sensory experiences. Your foot-long baby, is looking a bit
like an oversized raisin right now as more and more wrinkles are
showing up each week. Not to worry, all that excessive wrinkling is
just their skin’s way of planning ahead for the time when they’ll start
piling on that irresistible baby chub.

And how's mom doing?
Take a moment to think about this: your
uterus has now stretched to such unholy proportions that it extends
beyond your navel! The not-so-exciting part of this remarkable fact is
that growth like this tends to leave stretch marks and can itch like
nobody’s business. If it makes you feel any better, Don’t
get suckered into buying really expensive creams that supposedly make
stretch marks ‘magically disappear.'Stretch marks are scars on your
skin and won’t disappear with a topical cream stretch marks on
the belly are extremely common. Don’t get suckered into buying really
expensive creams that supposedly make stretch marks ‘magically
disappear.'Stretch marks are scars on your skin and won’t disappear
with a topical cream . But feel free to apply all the aloe-vera (and
other anti-itch lotions) to alleviate the itching. In terms of
preventing their appearance, cocoa butter-based creams and creams full
of Vitamin E have a reputation for helping-- but there's still no
guarantee that those pesky stretch marks won't show up despite your
best creaming-up efforts.Also, your doctor may offer you a
glucose screening test sometime in the upcoming weeks. The test checks
for a high blood sugar condition that some women are susceptible to
during pregnancy. At most, 5 percent of women actually test positive
for this problem, but if you do, you will probably have a few more
follow up tests to be sure. If you end up with a positive test, make a
plan with your physician or nutritionist for treatment. Untreated, the
high sugar content in your blood enables the overproduction of baby fat
for your little one, and often results in overly high birth weight
which can induce premature birth and/or the necessity to deliver via
cesarean.