Update on Baby Horak - 25 Weeks Pregnant

Head to heels, our baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight is probably around a pound and a half, and she's beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she'll start to look more and more like a newborn. She's also growing more hair — and if we could see it, we'd now be able to discern its color and texture.

Our baby's skin is turning pinker; not because she's getting overheated (in fact, the amniotic fluid is perfectly climate controlled, keeping our baby at an always comfortable temperature), but because small blood vessels, called capillaries, are forming under the skin and filling with blood. Later this week, blood vessels will also develop in our baby's lungs, bringing them one step closer to full maturity — and one step closer to taking that first breath of fresh air. But at 25 weeks pregnant, those lungs are still very much works in progress. Though they are already beginning to develop surfactant, a substance that will help the lungs expand after our baby is born, the lungs are still too undeveloped to sufficiently send oxygen to the bloodstream and release carbon dioxide when she exhales.

The lungs aren't the only system that's gearing up for air intake. Our baby's nostrils, which have been plugged up until now, are starting to open this week. This actually allows our little one to begin taking practice breaths. (Of course since there's no air in there, our baby is really only "breathing" amniotic fluid.)

It’s amazing to think this is already our last week of the second trimester!  We’re heading into the home stretch!  :)  Below, I posted a picture of myself 25 weeks pregnant.  What a difference from my first tummy picture 10 weeks ago!!  Haha!