Week 21

Here's the baby development update for this week:

Your beautiful little miracle-gro baby will be putting on a full ounce and a half this week (and weighing up to 16.5 ounces), but that’s just the beginning! Within the next five weeks, they’ll really be packin’ it on! For now, we’re pleased to report the addition of rapid eye movement (REM) a key component to any healthy baby’s sleep schedule. While in the dermatology department: their thin soft skin is very red, rather translucent, and a bit wrinkled. Not to worry, it’s not a premature aging disease. It's just their clever little body setting them up with extra space that will smooth out once your little one starts packing on the baby-fat. That won’t be for a few more weeks, though. So for the time being, your munchkin is still a little lean mean growing machine! The beginnings of what is commonly called “brown fat” is just starting to fill in to help your baby retain some body heat, which is crucial as they’re not yet capable of regulating their own body temperature.

And Adina had asked where I was getting this info from, so for anyone else who is interested, it's this great site called baby-gaga.com and it has all things baby on it! Lots of info and book recommendations and there are all these forums so you can talk to other people dealing with similar things as you. I'm part of a "November Mama's " group, so we're all at about the same point in our pregnancy and it's just nice to be able to check in with others who are in the same boat as me. they totally understand what I'm talking about and it's reassuring to know that I'm not the only one!