Sunday, June 28, 2009

8 Weeks til the due date, possibly 7 weeks til we meet our girl!

Bella, Brian and I have our first shower today! It is at our place, just a little backyard bbq with our Madison friends! Jordan was sweet enough to offer us to throw one just for our Wisconsin friends since Kelly will be throwing us one in Naperville with all the Illinois friends and family on July 18. I will be sure to post some pictures tomorrow!


We are officially in the 8th month of pregnancy (although I have technically been pregnant for 8 months already and am really starting the 9th month...pregnancy calendars are screwy). Here is what is going on with the Babe this week:

How your baby's growing:
This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. She's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and her skeleton is hardening. The bones in her skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for her to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as her brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

The big news this week is lung development—baby's respiratory system is almost completely mature. That means if your baby was born this week, odds are she'd be a healthy bouncing baby with a just a little help from her friends (aka, the NICU). Some of the specifics are: Your baby can now detect light and tell the difference between night and day (of course that ability will miraculously disappear once she's born and up all night screaming). Her pupils will constrict and dilate in response to light. If you shine a flashlight on your belly, your baby may shy away from the light as if to say, "Cut it out, Ma. You're soooo annoying." Your baby will continue to pack on the pounds gaining around ½ pound a week from here on out.Your baby weighs about 4 pounds, as much as a grownup duck, and is approximately 17.5 inches long, about the same as a collarbone-length pearl necklace or a medicine ball that you'd find at a gym (gym? what's that? ha ha!).


The diameter of the head is almost 4 inches (10cm).
Under the skin the fat layer is getting thicker.
The toenails and fingernails are completely formed
During this time the baby sleeps most of the day. The uterus is getting to be a small space for the baby to move about, so you may have noticed a decrease in your baby's movements. The baby is still trying to move frequently but it just does not have enough room. The baby will turn its head from side to side and move its hands. As space in your uterus becomes more cramped, your baby's kicks and other movements may seem less forceful. You may want to check on your baby's movements from time to time and do a kick count.

How your life's changing:
As your baby fills out even more of your belly, lots of things might start to change: Whereas before you were sashaying, you may find yourself waddling (Definitley!!). This is because the ligaments in your pelvis have softened, allowing your hips to spread in preparation for birth. Finding an easy position to sit in — let alone sleep — is becoming more of a challenge (Sleep? What's that?? Sleeping has become so uncomfortable! The only time I get deep sleep is once Brian leaves for work and I lay the opposite way one is supposed to lay in a bed, flat against the headboard so I push against it with pillows under my belly...Brian might be getting the boot from the bed soon, ha or will have to learn to sleep the wrong way on the bed with his feet dangling off). And bumping into chairs and counters is par for the course (all the time! I am such a klutz now!!).

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