Pregnancy Week 24 – Rapid Eye Movement In Your Baby

During this week, you will observe a rapid development in your baby’s growth and also the uterus continues its growth.

Along with these, you will observe great changes in you and your baby.

What are the physical changes that occur in your body during pregnancy week 24?

Your weight continues to grow and now the uterus is about 1½ -2 inches above your bellybutton. It is very normal to experience anxiety about your pregnancy weight gain.

During the second trimester of your pregnancy, it is very common to feel more hungry than usual.

Don’t attempt to eat extra foods like chocolates, ice creams or other fat forming foods. You need to make every calorie count by consuming a varied diet of healthy foods. Select snacks from the foods like plain yogurt, cheese, fruits, vegetables and boiled eggs.

As the days go on, you should be more aware of your baby’s movements. Even though the thumps and bumps are now noticeable to you, it takes few more weeks for someone else to feel your baby’s moves by placing their hands on your abdomen.

Week-by-week, you will feel more difficulty during the night to sleep. Anxiety, heartburn, frequent urination, night leg cramps, and general discomfort all lead to less night sleep. But, taking adequate rest is more important for you and your baby’s health. Try to have a warm bath, relaxing music, or a cup of herbal tea to keep you in the mood to snooze.

Regularly, you are able to notice the baby’s patterns of wakefulness and sleeping throughout the day. Enjoy each and every movement of the baby. Once you give birth to the baby, you will miss the chance of your baby’s movements inside the womb.

During the weeks of 24-28, your doctor may recommend you glucose tolerance test in order to confirm if you have gestational diabetes.

Regularly, watch your vaginal discharge and report your doctor if you notice any changes.

During the second trimester of pregnancy, you should be aware of some dangerous conditions like pre eclampsia. This condition is significantly characterized by the swelling of your hands, face, excessive weight gain, severe headaches, blurred vision or abdominal pain.

Also, this condition is characterized by high blood pressure and the existence of some proteins in your urine. This dreadful condition prevents your placenta from receiving enough blood, thus causing lack of nutrients and oxygen to your baby.

What are the changes that occur in the fetus during pregnancy week 24?

This is another big week for your magical growing baby.

• By the end of this week, your baby is about the size of 14 inches long and weighs about 2 lbs.
• Now your little baby has fully developed ears, fingernails, and testicles.
• Rapid eye movement is already begun.
• The baby’s environment will become more crowded because he/she grows in the size and fills up the space inside the uterus. As the weeks go on, the space gets even tighter.
• By this point, your baby’s skin is wrinkled. When fat deposition and muscle development take place, the skin begins to look smoother.
• During pregnancy week 24, the baby’s organs continue to mature similar to the digestive system, central nervous system and even circulatory and reproductive systems.
• During this week, your baby’s lungs start to develop little branches and they start to produce a substance called surfactant.
• After this week, the amniotic fluid surrounding your baby start to increase in volume and this process will go on until the delivery and when the uterus holds up to 2 points of amniotic fluid.

Usually pregnancy week 24 is considered as the point of viability, because if the baby is born now, there have some chances of survival, but the baby need to keep in intensive care for several months.

Fact for pregnancy week 24:

This is an excellent time to review some warning signs. Inform your doctor whether you experience any of the below mentioned signs of preterm labor.

If you experience uterine contractions or tightening more frequently or five times in an hour, vaginal discharge particularly if it is watery, vaginal bleeding, changes in the patterns of your baby’s movements, severe abdominal pain, headaches, backaches or pain while urinating, then immediately contact your health care provider.

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