Yesterday's ultrasound

I just wanted to post pictures of the ultrasound from yesterday. Sorry about the poor quality of the pictures, my camera is still broken, so I had to take these with my webcam. I love how you can clearly see his little face. I think I see chipmunk cheeks! And its not really clear, but in the last picture, he's grabbing his foot with his little hand. CUTE!

31 weeks....plus two?

Dates and numbers:
There are 60 days until your due date on October 28, 2007.
You are 220 days pregnant.
You are 7.2 months pregnant.
You are in your 8th month of pregnancy. (huh?)
Your 1st trimester: January 21, 2007 to April 21, 2007. (0 - 12 weeks)
Your 2nd trimester: April 22, 2007 to August 04, 2007. (13 - 27 weeks)
Your 3rd trimester: August 05, 2007 to October 28, 2007. (28 - 40 weeks)

Your baby is continuing to grow each week that you remain pregnant. Your baby's crown-to-rump length is 11.2 inches and total length is 18 inches. Your baby weighs approximately 3.5 pounds at this point. Your uterus is about 4.4 inches above your bellybutton and continues to get larger. An average weight gain at this point is between 21 and 27 pounds. The weight that you gain is made up of your baby, placenta, blood supply, uterus, breasts, fat, water storage and amniotic fluid.

Because the ligaments and muscles supporting the small of your back relax and loosen in order to get ready for childbirth, your back may be aching from now on. There is usually nothing that can be done to prevent backaches, only to make them more comfortable. Many women get heartburn during these last few weeks of pregnancy because the oversized uterus leaves less room for the stomach and the contents within the stomach. Eating smaller, more frequent meals can help releive the discomforts of heartburn.

This week marks an incredible milestone in your baby's lung development. Before now, the air sacs and branches in your baby's lungs were present but not functionable. The lungs were not able to inflate properly. However, now there is surfactant being produced in your baby's lungs. Surfactant prevents your baby's lungs from collapsing outside of the uterus and the baby is able to take in air and breathe properly. The fetal ear is almost completely developed both inside and out. Your baby can hear your voice and other familiar sounds that she will recognize after birth. Your baby is putting on white fat under the skin and the skin's color is pink instead of red at this point. Your baby's fingernails have grown to the end of her fingers and she may scratch herself while she is in the womb.


That's what I'm SUPPOSED to be at right now. But at my doctor appointment today she measured my fundal height and noticed that I seemed big. So they scheduled me for an ultrasound this afternoon. He's measuring 2 weeks ahead. In fact, when she measured his head, he measured at 33 weeks, 6 days. So he's a big boy. He weighs 4.1 lbs. The ultrasound tech said the doctor would look over the pics and either call me or talk to me at my next appointment, which is on my birthday.

I also went looking at daycares today. It was rather depressing. Not the daycares, they were very nice, but the cost. One was 800 a month, the other was 1125. I about fell over. As much as I liked both of them, I don't know that we could afford it. I'll keep looking though, those were in Arnold. I am hoping maybe one in Festus will be cheaper without comprimising the quality too much. It is a very sad feeling knowing I can't provide my baby with the very best care. Someday we will I'm sure, but for now, money is going to be tight, life is going to be hard. I know it will all be worth it, of course, but I've gotten used to a "higher" (comparatively speaking) standard of living. Knowing I will have to go back to the times like I had when I was in school...of ramen, bologna sandwiches, and Goodwill clothing is kinda depressing. But we'll make it.

As for me, I'm still feeling good, except the heartburn. I eat Tums like its candy. I'm tired a lot, but I've been really busy lately too, so that probably has a lot to do with it. I lost 2 more pounds at my weigh-in today. But that could be that they have new scales too. But if not, when you consider the 15 lbs I lost initially, those 2 lbs, plus Beanie's 4 lbs and another pound or so for placenta, I'm down over 20 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight! The doc says that's perfectly fine as long as he's healthy. So that makes me really happy, all the less I'll have to lose after he gets here!

Week 29

When you are 29 weeks pregnant, your baby has also learned to use its brain to control primitive breathing. This means that if your baby is born now, he or she could probably breathe independently. He or she is also a lot better at controlling body temperature at this point in your pregnancy.

Other fetal development that is occurring around week 29 of pregnancy includes the following:

*The baby will be able to turn his or her head to find the source of a bright light. Your baby is continuing to become more sensitive to sounds, tastes, and smells.

*The fat layers will continue to form.

*The head is in proportion to the rest of the body.

*The eyes can move in the sockets.

*The bones are fully developed, but they are still soft and pliable.

*The baby will begin to store iron, calcium, and phosphorus.

Your baby now weighs around 2.5 pounds and measures about 13-15 inches long from head to toe. At this stage a fetus's eyes are almost always blue and can distinguish bright sunlight or artificial light through the uterine wall. Your baby's movements may not be as acrobatic since space has become more cramped, but you will still feel a lot of kicking and stretching. In boys, testicles descend from near the kidneys through the groin en route to the scrotum. Your baby's head is getting bigger, and brain growth is very rapid at this time. Nearly all babies react to sound by 30 weeks.

As for me, I'm doing well. It's be unbearably hot the past couple weeks. Today it was 102 degrees. Tomorrow is supposed to be hotter. In fact, it is 10pm and is still 94 with a heat index of 98. Ugh. I'm just thankful that I haven't gained a lot of weight and it hasn't been any harder on me then a normal summer. I try to keep inside as much as possible. In fact, this last Saturday I cancelled my daytime program because of the heat. Plus our visitation is way down because of the heat, so I'm sure I would have been hard-pressed to get any visitors at it anyway.

I have still been feeling good. I get a little short of breath sometimes, and I've had a couple episodes when my pulse races some. But at all my doctor appointments, my blood pressure is always right on, so I'm not too worried. The baby is turned head-down I believe, because I always seem to get kicked in the ribs. But that's a good thing, as long as he doesn't flip back around, we won't have to worry about him being breech. Let's see...other than that, I just have the types of things you'd expect...heartburn, always have to pee, and the ever-constant "baby brain". Which I'm seriously having issues with on some days. It's bad enough to have ADD and be forgetful (and can't take my medicine!), its another to have that AND baby brain on top of it. I'm really surprised I get anything at all done at work sometimes. But I'm sure its partially my fault. If I would get more rest I would probably feel better. But it wouldn't be my life if it wasn't crazy-busy! I leave Sunday for a conference, then the next week I have to go to Jeff City one day for a meeting, when I get back I have to pack, then Stephen is home on the 3rd, then we will move shortly after that. So the next few weeks I will pretty much be catatonic.

Belly Button Watch

Yes, still an innie!!


Waaahoo!

Week 27

A little about Week 27:

Wow! By pregnancy week 27 your baby is over 2 pounds and is almost 15 inches long! That's quite large considering your baby's original size was smaller than a grain of rice! Your baby is now perfectly formed, though she still has a lot of growing to do in the upcoming weeks.

During pregnancy week 27 your baby's internal organs and systems continue to grow, mature and develop. Most noticeably, around pregnancy 27 weeks your baby's eyelids will open. Up until this point in time they were fused together. Around pregnancy week 27 and 28 they finally open. During this time the retina of the eye also starts maturing, allowing your baby's eyes to finally receive light and translate images.


How is Jamie doing during Week 27? Well, I'm doing great. I still feel great. I also STILL haven't gained any weight. How is it that I am entering my 7th month of pregnancy and not gained a pound, you may wonder? I have no freaking clue. All I know is that every doctor appointment I have, I'm weighing in at what I did at my 4 month appointment. At first I was really relieved. I still am, really, because I was afraid of gaining too much weight and being miserable. However, it is starting to get old when I have to keep hearing "You don't look pregnant!" "Are you sure you are pregnant?" and the worst..."You better gain some weight for that growing baby!" ugh, like I'm already a bad mother because I'm not putting on enough weight.

For their information, at my last doctor appointment (on the 20th), the doctor said that we're going to have to keep an eye on him-because he's measuring BIG. In fact, she said he's at the high end of measurement for how far along I am. Which boggles the mind even more when you look at my non-existant pregnant belly. But she does want me to eat more and try to gain a little weight, and I'm trying, but its just not happening. I don't know if he's just using a lot of what I'm taking in, or if its because I can't eat as much in one sitting, maybe a combination of both. Either way, rest assured people...the baby is healthy, he kicks me and moves around every day. He's a big boy, despite my lack of getting huge. But it would be nice to show off a pregnant belly. At this rate I'll never look pregnant!

My only complaint lately has been the heartburn. Heartburn after I eat, heartburn when I'm hungry, heartburn for no apparent food-related reason. But Tums have been doing the trick, so I'm popping those several times a day.

Also right now my gums are all torn up. I guess I've had a lot of "abrasive" foods in the past couple days or something. But they hurt, and they do bleed sometimes when I brush, but that is all normal.

I think I had my first Braxton-Hicks contractions a couple of days ago. I would get a little cramp that lasted just a second or two, and later that day another one, then one not long after....even though I knew what it was, it still scared me a little.

Other than that, Stephen will be home in exactly 30 days. I think I found us a duplex in Imperial, but still waiting to hear on that. And right now I'm really wiped out, so more later, but for now...sleep.