Week 29: your baby is the size of a kagu

Your fetus now weighs about 1.1 kg, roughly a kagu, a ghost-pale, nearly flightless bird found only in the forests of New Caledonia. Standing knee-high with a shaggy crest and bright coral-red legs, it is so distinctive that its only close living relative, the sunbittern, lives in South America.

It hunts by standing utterly still, listening for worms and snails moving in the leaf litter, then striking. It is one of the only birds with nasal corns, little flaps that cover its nostrils to keep out soil while it probes the ground.

Once nearly wiped out by introduced dogs, it has become a national symbol, and pairs perform loud, duetting dawn calls that carry through the forest like the barking of a dog that is not there.

Meanwhile, inside you

Your fetus this week is running out of room to somersault and will increasingly settle into position. Their bones are fully formed but still soft, and they are absorbing lots of calcium to harden them.