Practice Your Breathing
They say that (what do you call babies before they’re born? I’m tired right now and my brain can’t find it’s words.) babies practice breathing in the womb. They need that, right? We all need practice and exercise, so why not our babies? But really, think about. What are those in uteros breathing? They’re breathing amniotic fluid! That’s fluid they’re sucking into their lungs. Fluid.
Well, anyway. Last night, whilst the Missus and I were sitting on the couch, I caught newbie practicing his breathing. There it was. A small section of the Missus’s belly moving up and down. The rise and fall of shallow breaths. Just a little practice.
Interesting post. I never thought about this before.
Since the amniotic fluid contains a substantial amount of fetal urine and some fecal material, inhaling amniotic fluid would seem problematic. Then there is the matter of the effect of inhaled amniotic fluid on the lung surfactant that keeps the alveoli open, and the ability to rapidly expel a substantial volume of inhaled fluid at birth in order to begin breathing air.
Happily, it looks like fluid only moves in and out of the upper trachea. Whew!
I don’t know Joel. The Mayo Clinic says the amniotic fluid goes into the lungs. Go to this page and find “week 23″.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fetal-development/PR00113
“Fetal lung fluid is essential for normal lung development. It was shown many years ago that the fluid within the fetal or newborn lung arises from the lung and does not merely represent aspirated amniotic fluid.”
From Ellas, N. and H. O’Brodovich (2006) Clearance of fluid from airspaces of newborns and Infants. NeoReviews 7: e88-e93.
If you send me an email address, I’ll send you the pdf of this article.
I have noticed this same thing with all four of mine and now number 5. It is obvious around 30 weeks. Just a shallow quick rise and fall and I can usually see it for at least 10 seconds if I stay still.