23 weeks and your baby is about the size of an eggplant. They are nearly 12 inches long and
weighing just over a pound. The baby is getting use to gravity and is starting to pay attention to your
movements. They can feel the swaying motion when you dance or the tilting motion of your body when
you turn over in bed. Sometimes I see the baby throw the arms or legs up as mom turns on her side
during the ultrasound. It reminds me of lying in an old tire as a kid and throwing my hands up to slow
the movement when someone rolled me down a hill. They are developing more refined reflexes. Blood
vessels in the lungs are developing, now, to prepare for breathing outside the womb. Millions of brain
cells will begin developing over the next few weeks. These will control your baby’s basic life functions
such as breathing, the baby’s motor controls and senses such as touch. This is also the earliest week I
have seen hair on ultrasound. You cannot see hair this early on 3D color ultrasound because it is so fine.
Like the fuzz on a peach. With state-of-the-art machines like mine, you can see it in the black and white
2D as stubble on the surface of the scalp. Facial expressions will be seen more often now on the 3D and
the 4D motion may allow you to see a yawn or the tongue sticking out. Lots of activity is beginning to
happen in there. If it is okay with your doctor, consider drinking 6 ounces of natural fruit juice 30
minutes before your ultrasound to get the baby to move more. They tend to do more cool stuff when
mom does this for her session!
