pregnancy | week by week

An ear of corn

Your Baby's Size =

Week 23: Growing Lungs, Growing Baby

Your baby is practicing for her first real breath.

Much of your baby’s development during the 23rd week of pregnancy focuses on preparing her for her first real breath at birth. Here’s what’s happening this week:

• Your baby probably weighs slightly more than 1 pound at your 23rd week of pregnancy, and she’s about the length of an ear of corn.
• Your baby’s lungs develop rapidly this week as she prepares for birth.
• By your 23rd week of pregnancy, your baby actually looks like a baby. She still has little body fat and is still trying to fill out her wrinkly skin.

Where’s the Weight Going?

Find out where those extra pounds add up.

Here’s how the typical pregnancy weight gain adds up, according to the fifth edition of Your Pregnancy and Childbirth published by the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Please note that the weight gain of every woman and baby is different.

Baby  6 1/2 to 9 pounds

Placenta  1 to 1/2 pounds

Amniotic fluid  2 pounds

Uterus  2 pounds

Heavier breasts  2 to 3 pounds

Additional blood volume  3 to 4 pounds

Increased fluids  3 to 4 pounds

Fat storage  6 to 8 pounds