The 26th week of pregnancy is included in the seventh obstetric month and is the second week of the third trimester. Thus, the woman is getting closer to the upcoming grand event – the birth of a baby. The unborn child at this time continues to actively develop, gain weight and prepare for an independent life outside the mother’s belly.
Fetal development at 26 weeks gestation
At 26 weeks of development, the fetus becomes more and more like a baby:
His facial features take on a personality.
The auricles are fully formed and even slightly move away from the skull.
The child has already grown eyelashes and eyebrows.
The eyes are slowly starting to open.
The color of the skin gradually changes, and it itself is smoothed out, but not completely – wrinkles still remain.
The arms and legs become plumper, wrinkles appear in the elbow area.
Of course, these are far from all the changes that occur with the baby by the 26th week of its development. Now he weighs about 750 g, and his height is 35,5 cm. In the future, the baby will quickly begin to gain body weight due to the accumulation of subcutaneous fat.
As for the sensations of the fetus itself, it already has excellent hearing. The baby clearly distinguishes all the sounds that the mother’s body makes (he hears how her stomach growls, how her heart beats), and also reacts to loud sounds from outside. The child hears the spoken language of the parents and can isolate their voices from the general mass of sounds. Therefore, doctors give all pregnant women who are at week 26 good advice – turn on classical music more often, read fairy tales aloud, talk to the baby and sing songs to him.
Bone tissue continues to thicken, the rudiments of milk and molars are already fully formed, moreover, the rudiments of permanent teeth begin to ossify.
The lungs have taken their final shape and are located in the chest. The surfactant in them has just begun to accumulate, it is still not enough for the baby to breathe on its own.
An important relationship has been established between the brain and the adrenal cortex. Thanks to this, the pituitary gland now produces growth hormone.
The endocrine glands and fetal receptors are already fully formed. Therefore, at the 26th week of its development, the baby is already able to fully feel the taste of food.
Fetal arrhythmia at 26 weeks of gestation
Approximately after the 26th week of pregnancy or during it, arrhythmia, that is, failures in the frequency, rhythm and regularity of heart contractions, can be detected in the baby. Hearing this phrase from a doctor, there is no need to panic, since arrhythmia is most often justified by the natural processes of fetal development.
This condition is due to a sharp increase in the weight of the baby and a growth spurt, which provokes additional stress on the heart. As a rule, fetal arrhythmia is a temporary phenomenon that is reversible.