Week 17

By the 17th week of pregnancy, your baby is equal to the size of a turnip and is slowly learning to suck and swell, an act that’ll help the baby to be prepared for breast or bottle feeding. You on the other hand, must steer clear of unwanted tummy touching. By now, your little one is growing fatter and that too quickly. The baby weighs at around 150 grams by now, accompanied with a face that looks entirely human. Specifically, because the eyebrows and eyelashes have now developed, your baby is looking more and more like a human. But having said that, your baby’s eyelids are still fused shit now, but they can still move their eyes around. Your baby’s fat will now continue to grow till the end of your pregnancy. His or her heartbeat is now getting regulated by brains and is beating at the rate of 140-150 beats per minute, which is nearly around twice as fast as yours. Amazingly, your baby’s toes and fingers are also forming their unique patterns and fingerprints, which will stay with the baby for the rest of his or her entire life. How beautiful it is to think of baby’s fingertips and toes adorning with complete individual swirls and creases, right? As a matter of the fact, most of the survival reflexes your baby will be bearing at birth is getting perfected in the uterus by now. Your baby might suffer from little hiccups and you might or might not feel them. One interesting thing to note is that by the 17th week of pregnancy, your baby will be developing brown fat under his or her skin – a layer of fat that will keep the baby warm after birth. Sooner or later, additional layers of fat develop. Your baby also tends to develop air passages as the lungs finish the branching process. By this time, your baby will continue to prepare to take in the oxygen. Lastly, your baby’s skeleton is starting to shift from soft cartilage to a bone structure, whereas the umbilical cord is supplying enough nutrients to the placenta, which continues to grow stronger and thicken. A 5-inch marvel, calculated from crown to rump, by now your baby is even on the track of developing his or her sweat glands.