Happy New Year

Happy New Year Everyone! We're ringing in the new year with a belly bump and his new little friend, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Cheers to you all!

28 Weeks

Are you dreaming about your baby? At 28 weeks pregnant, your baby may be dreaming about you, too. Brain wave activity measured in a developing fetus shows different sleep cycles, including the rapid eye movement phase, the stage when dreaming occurs.
By now, your baby, who weighs in at about two and a half pounds and stands — or rather lies — at almost 16 inches (measured head to toe) has added blinking to his or her growing bag of tricks. (Outside in the real world, blinking is necessary to help keep foreign objects out of the eyes.) Other impressive new talents being added to your baby's roster in the womb include coughing, more intense sucking, and, perhaps most important, better breathing.

The good news is that babies born this week, though premature, have an excellent prognosis because their lungs have reached the point (for the most part) of maturity — so you too can breathe a little easier now. Of course, it's still best if a baby doesn't check out of that uterine hotel just yet — there's still a lot of growing and maturing to do over the next 12 weeks. ~Information from whattoexpect.com

My Symptoms (Side Effects?)

• At the doctor's office today, I learned I've gained 22 pounds. That was after about 5 pounds that I lost at the beginning though. So about 17 pounds weight gain so far.
• Cranky and tired. Feel like I've been pregnant forever!

24 Weeks

Here I was almost 24 weeks. Compare to one month prior.

Smart Cookie

Check out this awesome toy that Grandma and Grandpa gave me for Christmas. I won't be able to play with it right away, but you know mommy loves that it could help me learn my ABCs and 123s. The blocks are nice and soft to throw or kick around so I won't hurt myself or anyone else. Plus, there are cool little rattlers and teethers that fit inside the blocks. Mommy already tried out all of the toys, so that she could be certain I would love to play with it when I'm able to. I'm excited to get them out and dig in!

Future Soccer Star

Daddy bought me these super cool soccer boots for Christmas. I am all ready to go to play soccer as I now have a Manchester United onesee, these new soccer boots, and a Manchester United ball. I've also been practicing my super cool soccer moves in Mommy's belly. I've been kicking super hard, but I don't think she minds. Even if she's trying to sleep most the time that I'm training in here.

27 Weeks

Most babies this age, yours included, still like to snuggle in a slightly curled position inside the uterus (thus the term "fetal position"). Even so, beginning at this stage, your baby's length will be measured from top of head to toe — which makes your baby nearly a full 15 inches now. And at just over two pounds, he or she has doubled in weight from four weeks ago.

Your baby's auditory development (hearing) is progressing as the network of nerves to the ears matures. And even though the sounds your baby hears are muffled (thanks to the creamy coating of vernix covering those ears), he or she may recognize both yours and your partner's voices. So this might be a good time to read and even sing to your baby (or rather, your belly) — and a good chance to start boning up on those nursery rhymes and lullabies you'll need to be repeating (and repeating) pretty soon. And while you're at it, here's another way to have some family fun at 27 weeks pregnant: If your partner presses his ear to your belly, he might be able to hear the baby's heartbeat.

Your baby's taste buds are very developed now too (with more taste buds than he or she will ever have outside the womb, actually). Need a taste test? If you eat some spicy food (you hot mama, you), your baby will be able to taste the difference in the amniotic fluid (but keep in mind that you'll have different mealtimes, with your baby's coming about two hours after yours). Some babies will even respond to that spicy kick by hiccupping. And although hiccups (which feel like belly spasms to you) may seem like they're disturbing to your baby, he or she isn't stressed at all. It's just one more sensation that babies need to get used to. ~Information from whattoexpect.com

My Symptoms (Side Effects?)

• Oh my aching back!
• Trouble sleeping - partly because it's impossible to get comfy and partly because Miles is very active at night.

Merry Christmas

From Judd, Lisa, Sinjin, Jessica, and the Baby Bump (Miles)

26 Weeks

Look who's looking. Your baby's eyes — which have been closed for the past few months (so that the retina, the part of the eye that allows images to come into focus, could develop) — are beginning to open at 26 weeks pregnant. What this means is that your baby is able to see what's going on now (unfortunately the view in your uterus isn't all that exciting). But do try this at home for kicks (baby's that is): Shine a flashlight at your stomach. Your baby might kick in response (as in: "Get that light out of my eyes!").

The iris, the colored part of the eye, still doesn't have much pigmentation (that'll fill in over the next month or two), so it's too early to start guessing your baby's eye color. Even the color your baby will be born with might not be the permanent shade; so you may be kept guessing until your baby is close to six months old.

Look what else is going on this week: Your baby's brain-wave activity is kicking in at this stage in fetal development, which means your little one can not only hear noises but can now also respond to them. Not in so many words, of course, but with an increase in pulse rate or activity.

And talking about activity, at your baby's current height and weight (about nine inches tall and two pounds), and at the rate he or she is growing, your baby will soon be feeling a little cramped in your uterus. Not to worry, there's still plenty of room for your baby to grow. It just means your gymnast will have less room for those somersaults, cartwheels, and other Olympic feats. ~Information from whattoexpect.com

My Symptoms (Side Effects?)

• Difficulty breathing...sometimes. I've been breathing heavier, and if I need to take a big inhale of breath, I have to stop short. I think it's because there is less room for my lungs to expand.
• Bending over has become a hassle and a literal pain. I have finally started telling my students that they need to be the ones to pick up paper, pens, books, trash, etc off the floor as I'm to fat to do it myself.

The best pregnancy quote so far...

From a good friend at work, in an email:

I like preggo lisa she is almost as crazy as not-so-pregnant lisa...LOL

Pregnancy Poem

This poem by Sylvia Plath is perfect for how I'm feeling lately...

Metaphors

I'm a riddle in nine syllables,
An elephant, a ponderous house,
A melon strolling on two tendrils.
O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!
This loaf's big with its yeasty rising.
Money's new-minted in this fat purse.
I'm a means, a stage, a cow in calf.
I've eaten a bag of green apples,
Boarded the train there's no getting off.

25 Weeks

At nine inches and more than a pound and a half in weight, your baby is taller than two juice boxes stacked one on top of the other, and almost as heavy as four of those little boxes (an analogy you'll find particularly apropos in a few years, when those juice boxes start taking over your refrigerator, your pantry, your car.…).

Don't look now (as if you could), but your baby's skin is turning pinker. No, not because he or she's getting overheated (in fact, the amniotic fluid is perfectly climate controlled, keeping your baby at an always comfortable temperature), but because small blood vessels, called capillaries, are forming under the skin and filling with blood. Later this week, blood vessels will also develop in your baby's lungs, bringing them one step closer to full maturity — and one step closer to taking that first breath of fresh air. But at 25 weeks pregnant, those lungs are still very much works in progress. Though they are already beginning to develop surfactant, a substance that will help the lungs expand after the baby is born, the lungs are still too undeveloped to sufficiently send oxygen to the bloodstream and release carbon dioxide when he or she exhales.

The lungs aren't the only system that's gearing up for air intake. Your baby's nostrils, which have been plugged up until now, are starting to open this week. This actually allows your little one to begin taking practice breaths. (Of course since there's no air in there, your baby is really only "breathing" amniotic fluid, but it's the practice that counts, right?) ~Information from whattoexpect.com

My Symptoms (Side Effects?)

• OH MY GOD! is what I yelled last night when I woke up with the worst leg cramp of my life. I haven't had leg cramps since I was a teenager going through growing pains. I scared the crap out of Boo who thought something was seriously wrong. Sorry hunny!

Soccer Mom

Whoa baby, my uterus is the size of a soccer ball. And I'm pretty sure Miles is the next David Beckham because he won't stop kicking me super hard.

24 Weeks

Your baby weighs more than a pound and a half right now and sports a crown-to-rump length of about eight and a half inches (standard letter size!).

Wondering what (and who) your baby will look like? If you had a baby cam at 24 weeks pregnant, you'd almost be able to tell by now. That beautiful face (though still tiny) is almost fully formed. What's still missing from the picture is the fat that will be piled on under baby's skin. Until those fat deposits are made, that very tender skin is still very transparent, which means a close look would let you see clear through to all the organs, bones, and blood vessels. Fortunately, that see-through look won't last much longer. Babies at this stage of fetal development are gaining about six ounces each week — with much of that gain coming from fat, in addition to growing organs, bones, and muscle.

What's been playing on your little rocker's stereo system these days? All kinds of sounds can be heard by your baby in your womb: from air exhaling from your lungs (deep breath now), those gastric gurgles produced by your stomach and intestines, your voice and your partner's (which your baby will be able to recognize at birth), and even very loud sounds such as honking horns, barking dogs, or a wailing fire truck. ~Information from whattoexpect.com

My Symptoms (Side Effects?)

• Itchy, itchy, itchy. Especially the belly.
• Freezing...probably more to do with the weather than the pregnancy.