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The twenty-third week of pregnancy is the middle of the sixth obstetric month of pregnancy. The fetus is five and a half months old at this point.
During this period of time, the future baby continues to gain weight and its growth increases. However, in the twenty-third week of pregnancy, the fetus does not look much like a born baby, as it lacks fatness and development of all body parts.
The subcutaneous fatty tissue of the future child is still underdeveloped, so it has a wrinkled appearance, but its accumulation and growth continues to be very active.
During the twenty-third week of pregnancy, the future child’s motor activity increases dramatically. The fetus actively moves inside the uterus, pushes away from its walls, constantly pulls the umbilical cord, regularly moves its arms and legs when awake, constantly feels its body, swallows amniotic fluid.
Sometimes the future baby during this period of time due to swallowed amniotic fluid begins to hiccup, which is felt by the pregnant woman as rhythmic shudders inside the abdomen.
But most of the time the future child sleeps. Scientists say that during this period of its development it even begins to dream.
The development of the future child in the twenty-third week of pregnancy is so rapid that we can talk about the formation of its unique appearance, which can already be described. The face of the fetus is distinguished by the presence of a clearly visible nose. Almost completely to this point in the fetus formed eyelids, the eyes of the future child is not only already formed, but above them there are clearly marked eyebrows. Ears of the future child in this period of time gradually rise from the neck upward and their position becomes consistent with the position of the ears of a normal person. The child at this time may already have some similarities with its parents.
The future child during this period has rhythmic respiratory movements, the frequency of which reaches a rate of one per second of time. The fetus is actively developing its sensory organs. The heartbeat of the fetus can be listened to and monitored with the help of an ordinary medical stethoscope applied to the abdomen of a woman.
In the bones of the future child is actively deposited calcium, in connection with which they become more dense.
The average weight of the fetus during this period is 450 grams, and its size reaches about 20 centimeters.
The intestines of the future child during this period may contain meconium, the so-called feces of primordial origin.
The immune system of the future child is actively developing, which is designed to form its future defense. During the twenty-third week, there is a “memorization” of pathogenic agents entering the amniotic space from the maternal body through the system of blood circulation common with the fetus and the resistance, immunity to these factors is formed for the future extrauterine life.