Day 174 of 280, second trimester
You are 24 weeks and 6 days
From now on, babies grow at their own rate, largely influenced by their genes.
106 days until your due date
Until now, most babies are roughly the same size and weight. From here, genetic and especially environmental factors increasingly affect how fast your baby grows and whether he reaches his full growth potential.
Because babies increasingly differ in size, ultrasound becomes less accurate for working out how far along you are. The best time to date a pregnancy is 11–14 weeks, by measuring crown to rump, and the 20-week scan also dates it very accurately from the head and abdominal circumferences and the thigh bone length. If your first scan is this late, it can only roughly estimate your stage of pregnancy, and your due date should never be changed if an earlier, more accurate scan has been done.
Your baby's proportions are becoming much closer to a newborn's. Until the third month, his head was almost half his length; now his head, body, and legs are each about a third. At birth his head will still be large compared with an adult's, but only a quarter of his length.
Explainer
Filling out
Still very skinny, your baby is starting to fill out as fat reserves continue to build.
Good to know
It's all in the belly
The story goes that carrying low means a boy and carrying high means a girl. In truth, how you carry probably depends on the tone of your abdominal and uterine muscles, your build, and your baby's position; a small-framed woman may carry to the front, while others carry low or high.
The old wives have other clues too: if your face has filled out and looks round, it's a girl; if your right breast is bigger than your left, it's a boy; and if your partner gains weight, it's "definitely" a girl!
Appointments and key dates around now
- Whooping cough vaccineUsually around 20 weeks, best before 32 weeks
Read the full 24 weeks pregnant guide
This is general information based on NHS guidance, not medical advice, and every pregnancy is different. Talk to your midwife or GP about anything that worries you. If your baby's movements slow down or change, or you have bleeding, severe pain or leaking fluid, call your maternity unit straight away. In an emergency, call 999.