23 weeks!

23 weeks already! This week we are in the process of switching the office and the nursery. It's pretty challenging since we both have desks, computers, and tons of stuff to fit into a much smaller room.

At 23 weeks, the kids are hitting the one pound mark and getting hiccups. They are approximately 11.5 inches head to heel. They are continuing to develop facial features and they are exploring their bodies and world in the comfort of their own personal "living womb." The babies now have eyes that open and close, ears that can hear, and a thumb well worth sucking. They can now can suck their thumbs for real, instead of just putting it in their mouths. This is a picture of what one of our lil' ones might look like right now if we caught them sucking their thumb.


Their sense of movement is well developed now, they can feel my movements. I can now see them on occasion as they practice their karate kicks.

Blood vessels in their lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that their increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing them for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as a dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze them when they hear them outside the womb.

Fat is still being deposited at a rapid rate, but the babies still look red and wrinkled. Skin is being produced at a higher rate than the fat is, so the skin hangs loosely. The babies look red because the skin is losing its transparency and pigment is beginning to form.