23 Weeks Pregnant 🤰 What to Expect: Changes for You & Baby Development

The 23rd week of pregnancy is the first week of the sixth month of pregnancy, which means it's time to move our number line again. And in the 23rd week of pregnancy, we have some interesting baby development to cover this week including big news with the baby's lungs. And we'll discuss some symptoms that might be new for you in the 23rd week. Of course, we will want to go over what you might be wanting to add to your think and do list this week. And we're gonna check in with the mamas that we're following along as part of our expecting crew. Spoiler alert, we have a new mama joining us this week. Welcome to the Birth Toolbox Classroom. I'm Alice Adula and childbirth educator going week by week through pregnancy with you. Sounds like it's time for class. What's happening with baby's development this week? At 23 weeks of development, the fetus is between 11.9 and 12 inches or 29 to 31 centimeters in length, which is similar in length to a large mango. The weight of the fetus is just about 1.1 to 1.3 pounds, which means the baby weighs about the same as a shoe. The baby's lungs are rapidly developing this week. Their air sacs are multiplying and expanding and your baby's brain has billions of neurons forming connections and networks this week. Something I find really interesting inside the womb is in the baby's mouth. Their taste buds are also developing. And by 23 weeks, they can actually taste different flavors in the amniotic fluid based on what mom eats. Each week, we've been talking about the symptoms that might be challenging you during pregnancy. But this week, I wanted to mention that you might be in a sweet spot of pregnancy. During the second trimester, you might have weeks where you are feeling mostly normal with the exception of the kicks that are happening inside. This lack of symptoms isn't a cause of concern. Instead, I encourage you to celebrate these weeks where you're feeling good. This week, we have a new mama joining the expecting crew and she is experiencing this sweet spot. Let's meet our new mama and check in with the rest of the crew this week. I'm 23 weeks pregnant and overall, I feel pretty good. I feel like I'm in the sweet spot of not too large, but not nauseous, not having any other super unpleasant symptoms. Something that I've been feeling a lot lately has been kicks. It feels like he's kicking almost all the time whenever I'm still, at least, or thinking. Even in the middle of the night when I go pee and after I lay back down, I can feel his kicks, which is really sweet. So I'm trying to just soak up the sweet spot, it feels like, of this pregnancy, of being able to still pick up my toddler even when I'm not completely massive and my belly isn't super huge yet, but being out of the gross phase and feeling pretty active. And overall, I feel really good. I'm counting my blessings. Hi, I'm 23 weeks pregnant and this week I've been feeling pretty good. I don't really have many new symptoms. I feel mostly pretty normal, but one thing I have been noticing this week is whenever I'm in the car and we're going over bumps or when my toddler's trying to jump in my lap or whatever, my belly gets real tense, all the muscles around, and it's not very pleasant. So I have been trying to cut back on anything that's just kind of jostling me around, I guess. And one other thing I've been trying to do is up my protein because it's real hard to get to what my midwife recommends for me or whatever because I get some nausea when I eat a ton of protein. But one thing I have noticed is really helping is adding a little bit of collagen powder to things because it doesn't really have a taste, like it isn't off-putting like sometimes meat is. I can put it in my coffee and stuff. But yeah, it's been a pretty good week. I am 23 weeks pregnant this week and I'm feeling pretty good, yep, feeling normal. Still, you know, got a bit of an increased appetite, which I've had for most of the pregnancy aside from the part where I had morning sickness. Still getting some of the little aches and pains and just growing things. Those discomforts aren't too bad aside from the demands for my toddler to be carried around everywhere, which I can't really do so much anymore. I'm definitely also starting to notice that I can't really bend and lean over and kind of squat down as much as I was able to before. So yeah, just the belly getting a little bit in the way of things is becoming more of a factor. Main thing that's been on my mind this week is starting to think about my birth plan and what provider I'm gonna have to support me. It's time for the Think and Do board and this week we're talking about safety. On the Think side, we are going to add safe sleep. Now is a great time to read up about safe sleep for newborns and make sure you have a plan for safe sleep when baby arrives. Now I'm gonna drop a link to the safe sleep recommendations here and in the description below so you can check it out. Now one of the recommendations that are unknown to a lot of parents is for baby to share the same room with you for the first few months, but giving baby their own place to sleep. Now example of that is putting a bassinet in the baby's room with you. Okay, the second safety item on our Do side of the board is to check your detectors. This is a reminder to make sure that you have working smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors in your home. Now from personal experience, I also recommend that you have backup batteries for these detectors because you will be really annoyed if one starts chirping in the middle of the night just as you've gotten your baby to sleep. Hey, before you go, make sure you're getting our weekly newsletter. I'll drop the link in the description down below and you can also find it at birthtoolbox.com forward slash newsletter. I hope your 23rd week of pregnancy is a great one. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button so that you can easily follow along in the weeks ahead and I'm gonna see you next week.