Week 28: What's happening this week

By this week, our baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of his head to her heels. He can open and close his eyes, which now sport lashes. This movement is more of a reflexive blink than a deliberate opening and closing, but it won't be long before he's batting those beauties at us! Only 12 more weeks, we aer officially in our third trimester.

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Week 27: What's happening this week...

Our baby is really starting to get big. This week he weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14.4 inches long with his legs extended. He now sleeps and wakes at regular intervals. He may suck his fingers, and although his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with assistance — if he were born prematurely. Chalk up any rhythmic movement you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on.

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Week 26: What's happening this week

Our baby now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches (an English hothouse cucumber), from head to heel. His weight will more than triple between now and birth as he rapidly puts on baby fat. He'll need that fat to help adjust to colder temperatures outside the womb and as a source of energy and calories in the first days of life. It's not uncommon for newborns, especially those who are breastfed , to lose weight (sometimes as much as 10 percent of their birth weight) in the first week after birth.

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Week 25: What's happening this week

Head to heels, our baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. His weight — a pound and a half — doesn't sound like much, but he's beginning to exchange his long, lean look for a more rounded one. As he gains weight, his wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and he'll start to look more like a mini newborn. His hair is probably recognizable now in color and texture, although both may change after he's born.

On a personal note, he continues to move and shake quite a bit. I think he especially enjoys poking my bladder just to see how many times he can make me go to the bathroom. Already he is just like his dad...

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Week 24: What's happening this week

Our baby's growing steadily, gaining about a quarter of a pound since last week. Since he's almost a foot long, that makes for a pretty lean figure (not that we would expect any different from our gene pool), but his body's filling out proportionally. Our baby's brain is growing rapidly, and his taste buds may be working now. His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" and cells that produce surfactant, a substance that helps the air sacs inflate easily. He can hear more now, and they say we may even notice him startle at loud, sudden noises. But he's probably getting used to the regular noises she hears around the house.

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Week 23: What's happening this week

Our baby is more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound. He may be able to feel my movements now, so it is suggested I should on some tunes and dance around the house. He looks red now due to blood vessels showing through his transparent skin. His true skin tone will develop over the course of his first year. Blood vessels in our baby's lungs are developing to prepare him for breathing, but complete lung development will take many more months. The lungs are the last organ to fully develop.

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Week 22: What's happening this week

Our baby now looks like a miniature newborn, checking in at 10.9 inches and almost 1 pound. His skin will continue to appear wrinkled until he gains enough weight to fill it out. His eyes are developed, though the iris (the colored part of the eye) still lacks some pigment. Our baby's lips are becoming more distinct, and the first signs of teeth are appearing as buds beneath his gum line. You won't actually see his first tooth until he's around 4 to 7 months old, unless he's one of the rare babies who are born with teeth.

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