26 weeks pregnant: what is happening this week

35.6 cm, cucumber-length, and the eyes open for the first time. Blinking is being learned. Eye colour is developing, and it is worth saying that the colour at birth is frequently not the colour at one year, which spares a certain amount of unnecessary speculation. Tiredness has usually stepped up again by now, along with clumsiness that comes from carrying weight in a place the body has no experience of carrying it. Leg cramps at night are common and specific: a sudden hard spasm in the calf that wakes you both. Forgetfulness gets called baby brain, which is a phrase doing a lot of work to describe interrupted sleep and a permanently occupied mind. One trimester to go. If the room is going to be redecorated, this is roughly the last window in which painting it is straightforward - ventilation matters, the smell is unpleasant when the sense of smell is heightened, and standing on a ladder is about to stop being sensible. Doing it now rather than in week 34 is the difference between a project and a scramble.