24 Weeks Pregnant

Baby at 24 Weeks Pregnant 🚼

Baby Natural is nearly six months old! Can you believe it? This week she's weighing in at 1.3 pounds, and measuring over 12 inches long.

Things are pretty snug in your womb right now, so it's incredible to think that baby will pack on another six pounds or more! From this point on, she has more weight to gain than inches to grow (the average weight of a newborn is 7.5 pounds, while the average length is 20 inches).

Weird factoid: Babies can't shiver until they're about one year old. That's because shivering requires a level of smooth muscle coordination that newborns just don't have (this is also why babies can't crawl or move much at birth).

Thankfully, babies have a "back-up" plan to help them regulate their body temperature: it's a special adipose tissue called brown fat. While "normal" fat tissue simply stores lipids, brown fat acts more like muscle and burns lipids to generate heat. While babies still need to be dressed appropriately and kept warm, it does help to know that they have these special pockets of fat to help keep them toasty.

You at 24 Weeks Pregnant 🚺

Six months into pregnancy, most mamas are sporting a wonderfully round belly.

Please know that your weight gain is all so intentional. The increased blood volume in your body alone will weigh 4 pounds when all is said and done. Not to mention the amniotic fluid (about 2 pounds); the placenta and uterus (another 1½ to 2 pounds, each); and additional breast tissue (yet another 2 or 3 pounds)!

Pregnancy weight gain distribution chart by Mama Natural

As you already know, the most important thing to focus on is nutrients, not calories. Your body will do what it needs to do.

Something you might ingest soon that is not-so-nutrient-dense is the glucola drink as part of your gestational diabetes screening. Somewhere between weeks 24 and 28, your provider will want to test your body's response to glucose as a screening for gestational diabetes. The drink is pretty nasty, so some natural mamas work with their midwives to use dates, orange juice, or even natural jelly beans as alternatives.

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