When you are pregnant with multiples or twins at 21 weeks, you can tell yourself that you are pretty much in the final league of the journey. The approaching due date will begin to revolve inside your head and make itself known by the substantial progress you’ll see in these couple of weeks. Although things might start making you tired and exhausted a little more than before, all of these are essential in changing your body to accommodate the massive events that are going to occur within some months. Taking proper care of your self and keeping track of the development of your children can keep you a step ahead in all aspects.
With the halfway point way behind you now, the babies also begin to realise that they need to catch up with their growth and keep themselves ready to survive in the outside world. Most of the progress is focused on ensuring all those systems are functioning appropriately.
Food is the key to survival and this also becomes one of the top priorities for the growth of the babies in this week. The digestive system, having appropriately developed, initiates its processing and begins attempts at digesting the food. This is precisely where the black coloured meconium is formed inside the baby and stays there until it is flushed out in the baby’s first poop. The initial digestion processes within the child also generate enzymes and acids to support the function correctly.
The digestive development also reiterates itself to strengthen further the tendency of consuming food. The acts of sucking and swallowing also progress rapidly, as your babies tend to take in a lot more amniotic fluid and may even prefer sucking on their thumbs more than usual. All of these are the methods which assure the body that it is fit to survive outside.
With all these inputs focused on food and digestion ensuring that it can be synthesised, the excretory systems within the babies also begin to function at a higher degree. Kidneys and urinary organs start to process the amniotic fluid that the babies intake and flush it outside again. This is a cycle of sorts that orients the body’s functioning in the right manner.
Apart from these, the endocrinal system and the spleen begin working too, while the muscles and bone structure continues to develop speedily.
Around the 21st week of pregnancy, doctors usually start measuring the babies from head to toe, since their bodies would have begun to stretch themselves properly. This often puts children at a length of approximately 25 centimetres and would be lesser for multiples. Similarly, the weight also seems to be closer to 250-300 grams and can fluctuate for twins or triplets. Your little ones would now be as large as carrots inside your tummy.
The 21st week of pregnancy is one of the key milestones biologically since it provides a strong signal for the babies as well as the mother to begin adjusting to the upcoming changes before delivery.
On one hand, you might be saying goodbye to the previous symptoms that you had initially. But from the 21st week, the teaser for what might arrive in the final trimester might begin to reveal itself to you.
Have you been waiting for that beautiful pregnant belly that you keep seeing in advertisements or elsewhere on the Internet? Well, you are in the initial phases of those as your tummy will now begin to resemble more like it in the coming weeks. In the case of multiple babies, since the skin stretches extensively, certain movements of the babies might be visible occasionally.
Any ultrasound scans that were skipped in the previous week would be completed this week around, along with all the tests and checkups. Your babies would be visible very clearly, with occasional moments where you could see them swallowing and moving around, too.
The 21st week of pregnancy marks an important juncture in your dietary style. With the babies having taste buds of their own and pretty much consuming what you eat, every flavour that you taste, your baby ends up tasting too. This may create the bedrock for eating habits ahead in life. Which is why it is necessary to stick to healthy food items and stay away from anything that might be a bit too intense in smell or flavour.
Most of the changes that occur in the 21st week of the pregnancy with multiple babies usually revolves around taking good care of your own body and setting up a habit routine to suit the latter months.
Knowing that your babies are in sync with your progress, you can go a step ahead and purchase some necessary items, such as:
The development of twins at 21 weeks pregnant tends to take a speedy curve up ahead and pick up its pace from this week. Reassure yourself that you will be ready for the babies when they arrive and keep your mental and physical health optimal to be at your best when the time comes.