Week 16

Your baby is ready for a growth spurt now and in a matter of just next few weeks, your tiny tot will be doubling in weight, adding a lot of inches to its length. As of now, he or she is the size of an apple, which equals to around 4.5 inches in height, from head to rump. Legs are quite developed now and his head will be more erect than some past few weeks. Even though he or she isn’t quite recognisable yet, the baby would have a more flattened scalped now. Apart from this, a lot more must be happening inside you – from his or her growing toenails to heart pumping around 25 quarts of blood each day. Now that your baby’s backbone has become more erect, he or she can easily stretch or flex those muscles. They will be straightening out their back and neck all the more now, while the nervous system is busy making connections to the muscles. Not only this, even your baby’s face can now move too, indicating that he or she is developing the facial expressions successfully. Slowly but gradually, you will be able to feel fetal movements inside of you as your baby’s bones are hardening and developing a big growth spurt. If you could hold your baby now, he or she could fit into the palm of your hand, while the growing fetus will give your baby the room to play with the umbilical cord – a sign that your baby can now fully grasp into objects. Not only this, he or she will be able to kick the amniotic sac or put the thumb in its mouth. Since there is no actual baby fat yet, your baby is developing in the fetus while his skin would be looking transparent, more paper-like. Practically translucent now, if you would have been able to look at your baby during this stage, you will be able to look at blood vessels under that thin skin. One remarkable thing by now is that your baby’s ears and tiny bones inside the ears are in place, making the baby to hear your voice by the 16th week of pregnancy. In fact, many of the studies have also found that babies who hear the song in the womb tend to recognise the same voice when they are born, hence do choose your lullabies with that concept in mind.