Week 21: Lots of movement going on this week! I usually feel her around 9 – 10am, again around 7-8pm, and then at about 11pm – 12am. Alec has been trying to feel her for the past two weeks and finally felt her moving last night for the first time (April 22 2011).

Your baby’s digestive system is maturing, now enabling the fetus to swallow amniotic fluid, absorb much of the water in it, and then pass unabsorbed matter as far as the large bowel.

Week 22: I’m looking bigger and bigger! I must definitely look pregnant now as I’m getting a lot of looks on the street. Baby clearly loves the theatre as she is really active when I’m watching a show.

During this week, your baby’s skin will make the transformation from being translucent to opaque but will still look red until enough fat builds under the skin layers. The skin will also be very wrinkly under the thick coating of vernix until the fat fills it out.

Week 23: More fun pregnancy symptoms are coming up – swelling feet (I need to buy new shoes!), reflux, back aches, pins and needles. I’ve been so tired this week – it could be a growth spurt or an iron deficiency possibly. One funny moment – Alec placing his ear on my stomach to try and hear the baby’s heartbeat. She responded by kicking him in the head.

Your baby’s brain is now starting to grow rapidly, with billions and billions of brain cells developing in the next couple of weeks. These brain cells will control every aspect of your baby — from breathing to circulation, recognising sensory stimulation to movement, and everything in between.

Week 24: Six months milestone! I had my 6 month check up and everything is looking great. Baby is in the 75th percentile for size/weight. My weight is also looking good – I’m weighing in at 162 pounds (73.5kg). I’ve put on 5 kilos so far, which puts me smack on track. Feeling pretty good except for upper back muscle spasms which started this week. I’m going prenatal yoga twice a week, but clearly it’s not enough.

Your baby — who is almost a foot long — now has hair starting to cover his/her scalp. And while defining characteristics like cowlicks will be visible, the hairs will be short and fine until closer to the birth. As of right now, the hairs don’t have pigment, but in the next several weeks you’ll have a brunette, blonde or carrot top growing in your tummy. Her face is fully formed.

Week 25: I can feel bigger movements now – the baby turning and twisting as well as kicking and punching. I’ve spent most of the week with excruciating back pain – I’m not sure what’s causing it, if it’s the baby pressing against nerves, or my posture changing, but it’s been really painful. I’m feeling moments of panic (I’m not ready! I don’t know how to take care of a baby!) along with feeling more organised as we start to look at furniture and book in childbirth education classes.


Hair now has colour and texture. This is a pretty big week for your baby’s nose and vocal cords. The nostrils are starting to open up now (they were plugged up before) so your baby will be taking some practice “breaths.” And since the vocal cords are officially functioning, prepare to feel a few hiccups here and there!


Week 26: This week, my face got puffy (noooo!!!) and so did my feet, and I started to need to take afternoon naps like a nanna if I go out during the day. Over the weekend we went on a gospel walking tour of Harlem. Baby loved the gospel music, kicking and turning throughout the service.

Your baby’s hearing is progressing as the network of nerves to the ears matures. And even though the sounds your baby hears are muffled, he or she may recognise both yours and your partner’s voices.


Week 27: My mental acuity has been slipping since becoming pregnant, and I’ve had some doozys this week: such as deleting my calendar in gmail (it’s not recoverable!). I’ve gotten even clumsier than usual, too. Case in point – cutting, burning, stabbing and bruising myself all in the one day … On baby updates, it’s getting easier for Alec to feel her movements.

This week, your little one weighs in at almost 2 pounds and is almost 15 inches long. Eyelashes are also starting to grow at the ends of the lids, and someone will be taking a first peek around this week, as baby’s eyelids flutter open for the first time. The eyelids won’t stay open for too long yet, but the blinking reflex will begin. More good news: Your baby probably recognises the voice behind all those lullabies now, and he/she is falling in love just as fast as you are.

Week 14 – 15: Moved to New York! What an insane idea that turned out to be. I was so sick during the flight from lack of sleep and general exhaustion from having to carry around huge suitcases and my carry on bags that had two laptops and a hard drive, plus all of my photography equipment in them … not the best idea ever. I tried to go shopping for jeans and nearly cried when none of them fit me. I thought jeans shopping while not being pregnant was tough – I had no idea it would be so traumatic while pregnant! I’m quite tired with the jetlag and finding it harder than usual to adjust to being somewhere different.

Baby is now the length of an apple, weighing about 2 1/2 ounces and measuring 4 inches. At the close of this week, all major organs will be formed (heart, kidneys, liver, pancreas, lungs, and spleen), although not necessarily performing their functions yet. The organs will continue to grow and develop over the next couple of months and will be up and running in no time. Blood vessels can be seen through the baby’s thin skin, and although the eyelids are fused shut, the baby can sense light. 



Week 16: Over the jetlag and settling in to New York. I’m busy finding us an apartment and sorting out paper work that needs to be done, but have found a great pre-natel yoga class that I have been doing twice a week. I don’t seem to be any noticeably bigger or be feeling any different to the previous few weeks. I can’t wait to move into our new home so we can start putting the nursery together. We looked at baby things in FAO Swartz yesterday and they were so cute I wanted to buy everything! Met our new doctor – he was great and made us feel very comfortable in his hands. He did a quick scan to try and determine the gender, but the baby was being most inco-operative, so we will have to wait till the next scan to find out.

Baby’s now the size of an avocado! Tiny bones forming in baby’s ears mean she can now pick up my voice. A few more minuscule changes: Eyebrows, lashes, and hair are starting to fill in, and taste buds are forming.

Week 17: Just before the end of this week, I started to feel not so good – really tired and unwell. It seems the baby was going through a growth expert, and my tummy popped out a bit. It felt so weird, I could feel the baby pressing down on my organs for the first time.

Baby is about 5 to 5 1/2 inches long from top to tail and weighs a little more than five ounces, about the size of a lobster tail. This week, the bones of the ear become fully formed along with the part of her brain that processes signals from the ears. She may change positions frequently, cross her legs, recline, suck her thumb, and turn somersaults. Her retinas have become light sensitive, and she may be able to detect a glow if you shine bright lights at the belly (even though her eyelids are sealed).

Week 18: It’s getting harder to bend over in my mid-section. It feels like there is a giant waterballon in my way. I felt the baby kick for the first time tonight, while we were at the theatre watching Driving Miss Daisy on the last day of March. She has good taste in theatre already. It felt like a little punch or kick!

At five and a half inches long and five ounces in weight, she now may be large enough for you to feel her twisting, rolling, kicking, and punching her way around the womb. Plus, she’s developing yawning and hiccupping skills and her own unique set of toe and fingerprints.


Week 19: I feel her moving much more frequently this week. It feels incredible! Little pokes from her tiny arms and legs. We go to Washington DC for the weekend and I realise that I look obviously pregnant for the first time on this trip.

Baby is now about the size of a mango. Vernix is beginning to coat the skin, which is a greasy, fat-like substance that provides insulation and regulates body heat as well as protects the skin since it is submerged in amniotic fluid.

Week 20: Halfway there! I had my 20 week ultrasound and everything looks perfect. They confirmed the baby was a girl and gave me the print out to prove it. I was weighed and I’ve put on 4kgs since becoming pregnant – most of it in the last week I think. I have to cut back on the ice cream and cupcakes and get more exercise!

Baby is now the size of a banana. She is now starting to hear sounds, both from inside the uterus and on the outside. She will have no way of identifying the noises yet, but in time will come to recognise our voices over anyone else’s. The baby can now be startled by loud or sudden noises and can hear both my heartbeat and my growling stomach.

Week 4: We found out we were pregnant! It was a fantastic surprise – a few days before Christmas. I felt fine at this stage, just a little bit more tired than normal.

Week 5-6: I started feeling more tired and a bit queasy, with full blown morning sickness hitting me at week 6 on the dot. We were also moving house these weeks which made for a trying time.
The raisin-sized embryo is shaped like a “C” — with what will be the head on top and the tadpole-like tail on the bottom. Outlining the “C” is the neural tube, which will eventually become the brain and spinal cord. 

Week 7 – 8: I felt sick this whole time, and started to get other pregnancy symptoms like enhanced sense of smell. I also had a lot of food cravings and food that I couldn’t stand the smell of. I couldn’t stop eating during these weeks. The only thing that stopped the sick feeling was eating, so I was stuffing my face non-stop and looking chubby pretty quickly. We also had a dating scan at week 7 and were amazed to see a tiny flickering heartbeat. This was also the time where we flew to Melbourne to watch the Australian Open before Alec left for NYC.
The baby is going through an incredible growth spurt this week. The crown-to-rump length is a half an inch long — about the size of a blueberry — which is twice as big as last week and 100,000 times bigger than at conception. The teeth and inside of the mouth are beginning to form, and the ears are continuing to develop. Also, each eye now has an optic cup, retina and lens, and the top of the nose is forming. The hands and feet are beginning to form from stubby arms and legs, and the embryo’s tail-like protrusion is starting to disappear into a less aquatic-looking human. 

Week 13 – 14: My last week of work and first week off work, getting ready to move to the US. The morning sickness has completely gone by this stage. 
Baby is the size of a lemon. The ears have moved up from the neck and the eyes are gradually moving from the sides of the head to the front.

Alec and I have an announcement to make … we’re expecting a mini Knight-Thomas! The “plum” is due August 30th, and will be a little American baby, born in New York.

We’re so beyond excited with our little plum, and can’t wait to meet him or her later on this year. We found out about our little one a few days before Christmas, making it a very merry Christmas for our family indeed.