Each week of pregnancy is accompanied by a number of interesting events that take place in the body of a growing baby. Intrauterine development continues at 21 weeks. 21 weeks of pregnancy is a kind of milestone in the intrauterine development of the baby. By this time, the child has already formed many important vital organs, as well as nerve analyzers, through which he will recognize the world. The first sensations of the fetus appear.
Hearing
At this stage of pregnancy, the fetus develops the ability to hear various sounds. It is important to note that these are only the rudiments of hearing. The fetus cannot yet understand and analyze speech, since its brain is not yet sufficiently developed for this. However, the baby can hear various sounds and even recognize the voices of their parents. Numerous scientific studies have proven that baby's voice has a calming effect.
Too loud and annoying sounds contribute to the fact that the baby begins to push or move strongly in the mother's tummy, while pleasant melodies, on the contrary, improve the baby's well-being and have a positive effect on the development of his nervous system.
Experts recommend that future parents conduct "dialogues" with their baby. You can tell your child fairy tales, talk with him. Of course, the baby will not yet understand the speech he hears, but a beneficial effect on his nervous system will be provided.
There is scientific research to prove that regular conversations with a child who is still in the mother's womb have a positive effect on the formation of a psycho-emotional connection between mother and baby.
Vision
Despite the formed eye sockets and even the eyeballs, the baby still cannot really see. However, he is already able to distinguish between various bright flashes of light. For example, scientists have noticed that when the bright light of the lamp is directed at the child's face, even through the belly, he immediately turns away from the blinding rays.
Outside, the eye slits cover the eyelids. Their skin is very thin and delicate. The size of the eye and eyelid is still disproportionate. When the eyelids strongly cover the baby's eyes, it seems that the baby is asleep.
Taste
The child's tongue already has special microscopic outgrowths - papillae. It is thanks to them that he is able to distinguish between different tastes. A baby can do this only by swallowing amniotic fluid.
It should be noted that amniotic fluid can have different tastes. On one day it is a sweet and quite pleasant liquid, on the other it is salty, which can be slightly bitter. The taste of amniotic fluid is largely influenced by the food that the expectant mother eats.
A child, swallowing a small amount of amniotic fluid, is able to recognize their taste. In some cases, the baby likes it, but in others, on the contrary, it is unpleasant.
Scientists note that the fetus is able to swallow about 400 ml of amniotic fluid during the day. This process contributes to the fact that the amniotic fluid is constantly renewed. The swallowing of liquid, and then its release, is the most important stage in the development of the baby's urinary system.
First movements
Intensive development of the musculoskeletal system and the work of the nervous system contribute to the fact that the fetus has physical activity. The kid not only moves his arms or bends his legs, but also begins to twist his head. Also, the fetus is able to roll over.
The baby can push off from the walls of the uterus. Such active movements, as a rule, are already quite clearly felt by a pregnant woman. The more active the baby is, the brighter his mother feels it.
Often, pregnant women attach too much importance to the first movements of the fetus. Of course, the baby's physical activity is very important, but still it is not a determining factor in the physiological course of intrauterine development.
Some babies can be quite calm by nature, which later, as a rule, manifests itself in their character after birth. Others are fidgets. Even during its intrauterine development, a restless toddler causes quite a lot of anxiety to his mother, constantly kicking in her stomach.
A huge variety of all kinds of factors, from the diet of the expectant mother to complex pathologies, affects the baby's motor activity.
It is very important that an experienced and qualified doctor supervises the pregnancy. It is he who will be able to assess whether the baby's motor activity is normal and whether there are any pathologies.
Body parameters
Every day, the baby who "lives" in the mother's belly grows and develops. Experts often compare the fruit to an object or fruit. This makes it easier for expectant mothers to imagine what size their baby is at a certain period of its intrauterine development. A fetus at 21 weeks gestation can be compared to a fairly large banana.
The most important indicators of the intensity of intrauterine development of a child are considered the basic parameters of his body - weight and height. These indicators are necessarily measured during an ultrasound examination. Normal values of the basic parameters of a baby at 21 weeks of gestation are presented in the table that follows.
The method that allows you to estimate the size of the fetus is called fetometry. At its core, this is a specific ultrasound examination. When conducting such an examination, in addition to the height and weight of the baby, the specialist determines other clinical criteria. One of them is biparietal size (bpr). At this stage of pregnancy, its rate is 4.5-5.6 cm. The rest of the investigated parameters, which are also determined during the survey, are presented in the table below.
It should be noted that the expectant mother should not panic if her baby weighs slightly less than it should be according to his age norm. Body parameters depend on many factors, some of which are not at all a consequence of pathology.
Only a doctor who observes the development of a particular pregnancy can determine violations in the intrauterine development of a baby. Such an assessment is carried out in a comprehensive manner, and not only according to some one obtained value of the fetometry performed.
Location in the uterus
During its intrauterine development, the baby can be located in the uterus in different ways. It is important to note that before giving birth, he can change his location several times from 20-21 obstetric weeks. This usually happens with restless babies or in the presence of some pathologies of the course of pregnancy.
Doctors consider the most favorable option for the location of the fetus... In this case, the child's head faces the entrance to the small pelvis. With this variant of the location of the fetus, its birth, as a rule, occurs physiologically - in a natural way and without any complications. During childbirth, the head passes through the birth canal first, followed by other parts of the body. In this case, childbirth, as a rule, proceeds well.
A less favorable option is breech presentation. In this situation, not the head of the fetus is located at the entrance to the small pelvis, but its pelvic end.
The independent natural birth of a baby with such a presentation is fraught with the development of various pathologies, including very severe ones. The perinatal mortality rate in children with breech presentation is currently, unfortunately, still quite high. To prevent the risk of possible complications during childbirth, doctors with a breech presentation of the fetus prefer a cesarean section.
Appearance
A child who “lives” in his mother’s belly looks like a real man, but only very small. He can already distinguish individual facial features - a flat forehead, a tiny nose, cheeks, chin. The fetus even has superciliary arches.
On the sides of the face are small ears that are close enough to the neck. On the torso and on the head of the baby, there are very thin vellus hair. Also, he has already formed small cilia. The eyes are covered with thin eyelids outside.
The proportion of the body of the fetus also changes slightly. So, his head no longer looks huge. The limbs continue to change. Each arm and leg has small toes with marigolds.
The outside of the skin of the fetus is covered with a special substance - primordial lubricant. The secretion of the sweat and sebaceous glands, mixed with the exfoliated epithelium, is involved in its formation. The original grease is usually light yellowish.
Is it possible to determine the sex of the child?
It is already possible to find out whether a boy or a girl will be born at this time. It is very important that such a study was carried out by an experienced specialist - in this case, the probability of error is somewhat reduced. In case of multiple pregnancies, the specialist must determine the sex of each of the babies separately.
The ability to determine gender is largely due to the fact that the fetus has already formed the main genital organs by this time of its intrauterine life. Boys even have a formed prostate gland, and girls already have eggs.
For what happens to mom and baby at 21 weeks of gestation, see the next video.
