hi everyone we are the doctors bjorkman a pediatrician and ob gyn
going through pregnancy for the first time ourselves we are now
well into the second trimester which i have to say is way better than the first i have some energy
and i'm not nauseous and i just started feeling the baby move which has been so fun
and so with that we thought we'd use this episode to tell you all about babies development in the
second trimester and talk about one of the funnest parts of pregnancy the anatomy scan
so if this is your first time meeting us i'm sarah i'm kurt and we are the doctors
hey everybody welcome back we hope you are excited for this week's episode if you are new
to our channel click that subscribe button so you can be keeping up with our week by week pregnancy
guide and all the fun pregnancy education topics that we will be doing in the coming weeks and as
we mentioned the big goals for this week's episode are to share with you all the amazing things that
are happening with baby's development in the second trimester and also help to get you ready
for that second trimester anatomy scan let's start by reviewing baby's development over the first
trimester if you remember back those two cells one egg for mom and one sperm from dad came together
to form this group of cells that was growing and dividing and growing and dividing until we came
what we called the blastocyst that implanted into the uterus and then kind of became what will be
the baby and what will be the placenta and so at this stage of the game some pretty amazing things
have happened and continue to happen throughout the first trimester by week four there's already
an organized group of cells that make up the baby's heart that is starting to beat which we
were able to see on ultrasound in week six and by week eight baby had a formed neural tube and
that's what becomes the brain and the spinal cord and they also were forming their digestive tract
yeah and so over the final month of that first trimester baby had arms and hands and fingers
feet and toes all of these things were starting to move and grow and at the end of that first
trimester the baby had completed all of the major critical development of most of its vital organs
so if that's all that happens in the first trimester what is happening in the second
yeah so after consulting my favorite week by week baby development by fruit guide
it looks like this guy's gonna go from the size of an apple to a cauliflower yes while
we don't actually need to worry about changing species of fruit inside the uterus um there are
some pretty big changes for baby from week 14 to 27 that we're going to go through now
a week 14 baby is the size of an apple about three and a half inches long one and a half ounces heavy
its eyelids are closed but it can already sense light week 15 your baby is about the size of an
orange so four inches or two and a half ounces and at this stage your baby's skin is see-through
week 16 baby is about the size of an avocado four and a half inches long about three
and a half ounces heavy and during this time babies bones and muscles are growing stronger
so week 17 and your baby is about the size of a big tomato 5.1 inches or 4.9 ounces in weight
and at this stage of the game your baby's arms and legs are moving
um and this was when i first started feeling our little baby girl move at 17-1
and i had to be paying i was paying very close attention i was sort 0:03:44.880,1193:02:47.295 of for it not
long available ounces heavy i guess and at this stage of the game baby's genitals are fully formed
and able to be visible by ultrasound week 19 and baby is the size of a mango six inches long
and eight and a half ounces in weight at this stage your baby is starting to be able to hear
week 20 baby is the size of a banana or about 10 inches long 10 ounces heavy and ari is starting
to develop this fine hair called lenugo over the head week 21 and baby is now the size of a
pomegranate ten and a half inches long about three quarters of a pound um and if this
at 21 weeks your baby is starting to swallow amniotic fluid which helps develop their lungs
week 22 babies the size of a coconut probably one a little bit smaller than this 11 inches
long almost a pound in weight and by this stage of the game they've got distinct periods of
rest and awakeness week 23 and your baby is about the size of a grapefruit that's 11.4 inches or 1.1
pounds in weight at 23 weeks your baby's face is really fully formed and actually has eyebrows and
little eyelashes already week 24 is a big week a baby's about the size of a cantaloupe being just
about a foot in length uh 1.3 pounds in weight the big things for this week is babies reach
the stage of viability at which point we say baby is safe or could potentially live outside of mom
of course with icu health hospital where i work they start actually offering a resuscitation
and care for babies as young as 22 weeks along but 24 is generally the standard viability time
of babiness week 25 and your little baby is about the size of a rutabaga measuring 13.5
inches in length and measuring almost one and a half pounds and at 25 weeks that little skinny
baby is finally gonna start storing some fat and if you've never had a rutabaga before they are
great we love to boil them in some chicken stock mash them up with a little bit of water yum great
week 26 baby is the about the size of a head of lettuce 14 inches long 1.7 pounds at this stage of
the game baby's starting to open its eyes and that a little bit of hair is starting to darken too
week 27 that last week of the second trimester and your baby is about the size of a head of
cauliflower 14.4 inches and weighing in at almost two pounds um around week 27 baby is
actually starting to kind of explore the womb and that is helping their brain development and
to develop their tactile sensation for us using common fruits and vegetables to represent babies
size over the course of this trimester we thought was almost more comical than anything is clearly
the sizes are not perfect estimates of how big baby is but hopefully that was a fun and
easy way for you to see just how much baby grows during the second trimester yeah one of the most
amazing parts of the second trimester is getting to see all that development on at your ultrasound
commonly called the 20-week scan it is a scan that's done between 18 and 22 weeks to make sure
all babies parts are there yeah so at this scan an experienced stenographer
will use ultrasound looking at baby from all different angles through the belly
with an ultrasound probe and they usually have to use quite a bit of cool or maybe if you're lucky
some warm gel to get their pictures yeah now keep in mind that the stenographer has to get a lot of
images there are a lot of little baby parts to look at and so this scan can take anywhere
from 20 to 40 minutes another fun thing for us in covid is that i actually got to go to this
visit this is the one visit i get to go to um and so it varies from hospital to hospital but this
may be an appointment that both you and your partner will get to attend together
the focus of this scan is the baby's anatomy they are going to look and make sure all the parts are
growing and developing as they should they'll also usually get an estimate of baby's weight
by measuring the baby's head the baby's abdomen as well as one of the leg bones
other things that they'll be looking at is some of the vital organs to make sure that they're
developing appropriately like looking to make sure the heart has four chambers looking at the kidney
the bladder the stomach the brain the spine and the sex organs correct they will likely ask you
if you know the baby's sex already or if you want to know however if you have decided that
you want to be a surprise it is a great idea to let your sonographer know ahead of time
so they don't accidentally spill the beans there are other things they look at during the scan like
the amniotic fluid the location of the placenta as well as how fast the baby's heart is beating
some of the funnest parts though are getting to see those ten fingers and those ten toes and even
baby's little face yeah and so as you can imagine getting all these different pictures can be a bit
tricky especially if baby is moving around a lot or in a position that makes it hard to see certain
parts so do not be alarmed if they ask you to come back in a couple weeks just so they can get extra
looks at certain organs or parts to make sure that everything is normal correct that's actually
the situation we have found ourselves in currently our little girl was kind of head down wedged in my
pelvis and did not want to show her face so they could not clear her lips or her palate or her nose
they just couldn't see those so we will have to go back and get another scan so they can make sure
those things look normal a question you might have is what happens if something doesn't look quite
right and that's kind of the point of the scan is to look at baby's development and growth and
to help you plan what next if there are any issues yeah and so for instance say the sonographer and
the obstetrician thought they didn't get a perfect look at the heart or something looked a little off
they might send you to myself or one of my colleagues in our pediatric cardiology office
to do a detailed fetal echocardiogram of the heart right and most of the time when you need those
additional images everything is fine however once in a while it's not and it is
great to know at this stage of the game um things that could help you be prepared for
baby after birth or things that you could be doing to have a healthier pregnancy
so we just went to the one appointment that kurt will get to go to our anatomy scan and
we got to see a little baby uh confirmed it's a girl yes um definitely our cell free dna and
our sneak peek we're both right no boy parts girl parts only yes um and a brain and ten fingers and
ten toes and she's just adorable yeah so it was fun yeah and the heart was beating away uh looked
great yes yes so it's fun to be there and to get to go for once yeah so 20 more weeks 20 more weeks
cheers that's it for us this week we hope you had a lot of fun watching us use a small
produce sections worth of fruit and vegetables to describe babies growth and development over
the second trimester yes if you are going for your anatomy scan soon we wish you the best and
hope that you just love getting to see that little baby and make sure they print you lots of pictures
and for all of you we look forward to seeing you back next week make sure you hit subscribe
and if you like what we've been talking about or have seen uh please leave us a comment below
we would love to hear from you see you guys we're doctors but not your doctors anything
we've said in this video is for education or entertainment purposes only it is not
medical advice any specific medical questions you have should be directed to your provider