Pregnant: What happens in week 21 of pregnancy

Your baby's development in the 21st week of pregnancy

The concretization phase begins: The basic development of your baby is complete – from now on it mainly needs to grow and build up fat reserves. In addition, other organs begin to take on their functions. Thus, the fetus's liver and spleen begin producing in week 21 of pregnancy white blood cells (leukocytes), which are important for later immune defense. Your baby's kidneys now produce the amniotic fluid on their own, taking this task over from the placenta.

Regular sleep and wake rhythm: In the 21st week of pregnancy, your baby already has a somewhat regular sleep-wake cycle developed. Depending on how much you feel the fetus in your belly, you quickly notice when it is taking a nap or actively kicking around in mom's belly.

The brain continues to develop: The development of the brain began already in the first trimester. In week 21 of pregnancy, the first grooves slowly form, which later form the typical structure. With the development of the brain, the sensory perceptions of your child further: It listens for sounds and voices, perceives changes in light and feels its own body.

Refined sense of taste: The theory that the mother's eating habits during pregnancy shape the child's later taste preferences is not without reason: already in the 21st week of pregnancy the fetus perceives different tastes by inhaling and swallowing amniotic fluid. Since the amniotic fluid is partly formed from the mother's blood, it can take on the taste of the food eaten – so your baby already learns different tastes in the womb.

Fast heartbeat: Your baby's heart and circulatory system are fully developed and very active in week 21 of pregnancy. You probably listened to the rapid, forceful beating at your last medical examination? The fetus's heart beats about twice as fast as yours and is partially somewhat irregular – all perfectly normal for the 6th month of pregnancy.

What can be seen on the ultrasound image?

The fetus is growing and thriving, which becomes increasingly apparent on the ultrasound. Your baby is now between 25 and 27 cm (crown-to-heel length) in size. This corresponds roughly to the size of a banana. In addition, it has a proud weight of 280 to 350 grams on the scale. Due to your child's enormous growth spurt, it no longer fits completely on one ultrasound image. Therefore your gynecologist determines several reference measurements such as the length of the femur, the abdominal circumference, or the head diameter. From this they determine the fetus's weight and size. In addition, the fetal heartbeat can be clearly heard with a fetal Doppler. This moment is always something very special for you as parents.

Physical changes – what happens to the mother in week 21 of pregnancy?

In the 21st week of pregnancy, the pregnancy complaints are still manageable – compared to the first phase of your early pregnancy. Find out here what is changing in your body:

Weight gain: In week 21 of pregnancy, the expectant mother has usually gained about 4.5 to 7 kilograms since the start of pregnancy. If your scale shows a bit more, that is absolutely no cause for concern. Currently your body requires up to 500 extra calories per day, to provide your little miracle with sufficient energy and nutrients.

Colostrum forms: Along with the belly, your breasts are also growing. In the 21st week of pregnancy they begin to produce colostrum (first milk), which may already squirt or drip from the milk ducts. The colostrum supplies your child for the first three to five days until real breast milk comes in.

The baby's head is palpable: Over the past weeks your baby's head has steadily grown and the soft skull bones have started to harden. The midwife may already feel the little head through the abdominal wall in week 21 of pregnancy. Usually at this time it is still positioned upwards, not in the birth position.

Balancing becomes more difficult: Many women in week 21 of pregnancy increasingly have difficulty standing on one leg or performing complex movements, because the growing belly shifts the center of gravity forward. Women often now have a swayback and walk a bit more clumsily than usual.

Stretching pains in the lower abdomen: With the growing uterus, there may now be an increased occurrence of a short, pulling pain in the lower abdomen occurring. This occurs when the round ligaments that hold the uterus on the left and right in the abdominal cavity are stretched. However, stretching pains should not be confused with contractions – in normal cases the abdomen remains soft.

Back pain: The uterus and your child are steadily growing, which shifts your center of gravity further forward. Due to this change in weight distribution, many women develop back pain or even lower abdominal pain. To prevent these, you should increasingly opt for comfortable shoes to wear. Also heavy loads weighing more than 5 kg should be avoided if possible.

Sciatic nerve: Some expectant mothers complain of a stabbing pain in the buttock and thigh that radiates down to the toes. The culprit is the sciatic nerve. Your baby can put pressure on it. To counteract the pain, the so-called step position is advisable. For this, lie on your back and place your lower legs at a right angle to your thighs on a chair. Heat from a hot water bottle also helps against the pain.

Does stress during pregnancy harm my baby?

In the 6th month of pregnancy, most women still go to work daily or take care of household and family at home. Even without pregnancy, everyday life can be quite stressful – but can psychological stress, conflicts or sadness harm the baby? It is established that the unborn child picks up a lot of the mother's emotional life via her hormones the unborn child perceives much of her emotional life. However, the body develops astonishing protective mechanisms during pregnancy that keep psychological stress away from the baby. In addition, the fetus does not have memory capacity to the extent we know it: mood lows, outbursts of anger, or bad moods are therefore highly unlikely to have lasting effects on your baby.

21st week of pregnancy: This is important

Now and then a "baby talk": Already in week 21 of pregnancy your baby can recognize familiar voices, melodies and sounds. Even after birth, these sounds will provide it with security and help it to calm down. For this reason you can in the second half of pregnancy more often consciously talk to your child or now and Page 5 of 5again turn up its favorite music. Your baby will soon store the sounds as familiar.
Put your feet up and listen: Taking a timeout more often and putting your feet up does every pregnant woman good. But from the second half of pregnancy many women look forward even more to the little rest breaks. The reason: the baby increasingly adjusts its activity to the mother's activity. If she is in motion, the child can be rocked to sleep and becomes noticeably calmer. If the mother lies down, the fetus becomes active: now you clearly feel the twitching and the little kicks in the belly.

For the 22nd week of pregnancy