22 Weeks Pregnant | A Proper Routine Emerges

Baby is around the length of a spaghetti squash and has started keeping their own hours.

What is happening this week

Your baby is roughly 28cm from head to heel and about 450 grams. Their lips, eyelids and eyebrows are now distinct, and the eyes have formed although the irises still lack pigment.

They are also developing a sleep-wake cycle — which will not necessarily match yours, as you may already be discovering at eleven at night.

How you might be feeling

Movement is usually unmistakable by now, and often strongest when you finally sit down. Many people find this the week the pregnancy becomes real to other people too — the bump is visible, and strangers start commenting.

Backache, heartburn and vivid dreams are all common and all normal.

Worth writing down

Note when they are active. Twenty-two weeks is early enough that the pattern is still novel, and it is the sort of detail you will want when they are two and still refusing to sleep before ten.

Our Pregnancy Journal — Made With Love has a page for every week to forty, so there is somewhere for this to go. It pairs with Your First Years for afterwards, or take both together. If you are buying for someone else, the Pregnancy to Baby Keepsake Gift Set covers the whole journey.