6 months, y'all!

How far along? 24 weeks, 5 days .

Total weight gain: I've gained a total of 4 pounds so far. Not bad! Thanks, 'beetus diet! (even though I only barely like you)

Appointments: Had two appointments on the 16th. One with Maternalfetal Medicine and one with the regular OB. The MFM appointment went well. My 'beetus numbers are still great and being controlled by diet (no insulin), although my fasting numbers are creeping up there. I may have to take an insulin pill at night eventually to control that number. We'll see. We also scheduled the first growth u/s for May 9th. I'm excited to see the little one and how she's grown since 18 weeks!!   The OB appointment was good. I'm measuring a week ahead, but that's no big deal. But I feel it. Oof is my bump a BUMP.

How big is baby and what's new with her?

• She's now gaining around 3 ounces (90 grams) a week.
• Right now, she weighs about 1.3 pounds and is 12 inches long.
• The eyelids can be seen very clearly.
• If born at this stage is officially considered viable, they may well be able to survive. (YAAAY! What an awesome milestone to hit.)

Baby's weight is in muscle, bone mass and organs. The body begins to fill out with its appearance increasingly becoming more like that of a newborn. Taste buds begin to form. If mom drinks something strange or bitter, baby may be observed showing his or her distaste.

Little creases have appeared on her palms. The muscular coordination of the hands has improved as she sucks her thumb. Over the next week or so, the sweat glands will be forming in the skin. 

 

Clothing?  Many things are on 'repeat' in my wardrobe. I hate to buy more maternity clothes than I already have since it'll be getting warmer sooner than later and I can then wear some of the warm weather things that have been loaned to me. Tube top time!!!   ... jk ;)

Sleep? Toss, turn, toss, turn, pee, toss turn, toss, turn, pee, toss, turn, pee....

Food Aversions? None. :)  

Symptoms? RLP is pretty oucharific this week. Back is hurting. Stomach skin is stretching. Aside from that, not much going on symptom-wise.

Pictures: 

23 weeks - almost 6 months!

How far along? 23 weeks, 5 days

Total weight gain: I'll find out on Monday at my appointment. Don't think much of a gain though. Even though I feel like someone strapped a saucer sled on to my front side.

Appointments: Monday! (April 16th) OB and Maternalfetal Medicine appointments. YAY!

How big is baby and what's new with her?

Much of baby's development during the 23rd week of pregnancy focuses on preparing her for her first real breath once she is born. Here's what's happening this week:

• She probably weighs slightly more than a pound now, and she's about the length of an ear of corn.
• Her lungs develop rapidly this week as your baby prepares for birth.
• She is practicing breathing-like movements for practice, moving amniotic fluid in and out of her lungs.
• She actually looks like a baby! She still has little body fat and still is trying to fill out her wrinkly skin.

Clothing?  Still doing fine. Need a pair of dress pants though. Tried to wear a non-maternity pair this week with a belt and neither Baby P nor I were happy all day.

Sleep? Still sort of a drag. Seems to be getting progressively more and more uncomfortable. Oh boy. Makes me exhausted during the day. Zzzzz........

Food Aversions? None. :)  

Symptoms? Charlie horses in my thighs, still having pain in stomach where skin is stretching, back is sooooore if I take a long walk, still get a tiny bit nauseous if I don't eat every few hours. And this girl can KICK. Future soccer player? Dancer? This is what I picture her doing in there: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiehDcVZ-vA


Picture:

22

How far along? 22 weeks, 5 days
 
Total weight gain: Not sure. Is it bad that I'm just letting the OB weigh me at my monthly appointment? I'm not too concerned about gain due to the GD diet. Plus their scale reports such different numbers than my home scale that I can't be sure what's what.

Appointments: April 16th - OB and Maternalfetal Medicine appointments coming up. I can't wait!!!

How big is baby and what's new with her?

Little Miss P is measuring around 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound. She is starting to look like a miniature newborn. Her lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and she's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath her gums. Her eyes have formed, but her irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. Interesting milestones:

• Baby reacts to loud sounds.
• Baby starts having a regular sleeping and waking rhythm.  (Yes - she seems to be sleeping a lot when I'm at work. Wakes up on the ride home.)
• The mother's movements can wake her baby.
• Taste buds are forming on your baby's tongue.
•  Sounds from a conversation are loud enough to be heard by the fetus in the uterus. If you talk, read, or sing to your baby, it's reasonable to expect her to be able to hear you.

Clothing?  Still doing well with what I have. Yay for cooler Spring weather!  I do need some more hang out pants though. The one pair of maternity yoga pants I have aren't enough.

Sleep? Not the funnest time ever. Can't.get.comfortable!

Food Aversions? None. :)

Symptoms? Ab muscles stretching = ouch. There is one area right down the middle of my entire stomach that aches a lot. Things are definitely stretching.

Picture:Looking bigger?

21 of them weeks!

How far along? 21 weeks, 4 days
 
Total weight gain: Still not sure. I'm afraid I'm not gaining any, but trying not to worry about it. I'm eating as much as I can within the boundaries of the GD diet. Even figured out that I can have some ice cream (Lactaid variety of course) and peanut butter as my before bed snack. Yahoo!

Appointments: Nothing until April 16th.

How big is baby and what's new with her?

Little Miss P now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. She's practicing martial arts in mah belly. She likes to move and groove while I am sitting down at work and when I'm driving (and singing to her during these drives). She also likes to kick around while I'm listening to my nightly meditation podcasts on my ipod. We have a zen baby! Oh and they say that her eyebrows and eyelids are present now. :)

 

Clothing?  Doing well with what I've got. It cooled down again around here so I don't need to rush out and get shorts and ts yet.

Sleep? Sleep is still frustrating. The pee breaks happen every 2.5 hours. New thing going on is that my hands are asleep when I wake up during the night. I'm praying that this doesn't evolve into full blown carpal tunnel. That would be a drag.

Food Aversions? None!

Symptoms? Nausea has backed off again. :)   RLP isn't bad. Back hurts a bit more now as my bump gets bigger. You know what I do all of the time? Burp. I'm a burping machine.

Picture: You can't really see my bump in this shirt. It's there though. :)   Hasn't really changed size since last week.

Halfway there! 20 Weeks

How far along? 20 weeks, 5 days
 
Total weight gain: Not sure. I haven't stepped on the scale for a few days. I feel about the same though. Round.

Appointments: We don't have any appointments until April 16th now. Booo. I love hearing the heartbeat of the baby girl!

How big is baby and what's new with her?

She is getting used to all of her developing parts. She is moving around (and I can feel it! Like a little fishie swimming around in there. Coooooooool.)  She measures about 6 inches, about the length of an eggplant, and weighs about half a pound.  (That seems big! I'm sure it won't once she's the size of, I don't know, a bowling pin or whatever comes next.) Her hair and nails continue to grow and her limbs are well developed.

 

Clothing?  Now in need of t-shirts, shorts, and capris. It's such a warm Spring already!

Sleep? Don't need to sleep with the maternity belt right now - just the Boppy wedge under the bump and a pillow between my knees and ankles. But I do need to readjust all of those things when I get up to pee every 2 hours. Pee often = prep for motherhood. Well played, evolution or biology or what have you.

Food Aversions? None. :)

Symptoms? Nausea has come back a bit most days between the hours of 3:45 and 6:30. Rawr. Hoping this doesn't last long. RLP isn't too bad this week - nor is back pain. I'll take it!

Picture: 

19 weeks!

How far along? 19 weeks, 5 days
 
Total weight gain: Gained 2 lbs total since my positive pregnancy test. I'm actually happy about that. Baby needs nutrients - as does Mom.

Appointments: Had an appointment today with the OB. Everything looks good. I'm measuring right on track, baby's heartbeat is strong and in the 160s.

How big is baby? She weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.  (Nobody wants a pickled baby!)

Clothing?  Got a bunch of (8) shirts at Ann Taylor Loft this past weekend. Their new Spring line includes tons of peasant style shirts and flowy shirts with elastic waistbands. I was a happy, happy camper to leave the store with so many shirts that worked. They won't work for the whole pregnancy since they aren't truly maternity shirts and the bump will poke out eventually, but for now they're awesomesauce!! 

Sleep? Sleep time has kind of stunk lately. My hips have been hurting and so has my growing belly. The round ligament pain is fierce right now. I figured out that sleeping with the maternity belt (Godsend!!!) on and using the Boppy pregnancy wedge works really well.  The 'getting up to pee' thing is sort of out of control right now. I'm up probably 4-5 times each night still doing that. I thought that slowed down after the first tri. No such luck!

Food Aversions? None that I can think of, except I'm very sick of nuts and peanut butter courtesy of the GD diet. And I have a strong aversion to NOT having ice cream lately.

Symptoms? Only have nausea maybe 1 time per week - maybe. :)    New things: Hip pain, Charlie horses in my thighs, wicked Round Ligament Pain on right side, back pain. Just lotsa new pains.

Picture: One from the front this time. The side one made me look like a circle.

 

She's in there allright. Growing big and strong. :) 

18 weeks!

How far along? 18 weeks, 3 days


Total weight gain: I've actually lost 2 pounds since my last OB visit. That can be attributed to me following the GD diet. More on that below...

Appointments: We had our anatomy scan on Monday. It was amazing. Well, amazing aside from the new tech pressing on my side so hard with the ultrasound wand/gun/thingy that I ended up getting nauseous. But we found out we're having a girl. AAH! We are so so so excited. Mike is still sort of in shock since he was convinced that it was a boy, but he's still so happy and excited to meet our baby girl.  After the scan, we had an appointment with Maternalfetal Medicine to discuss my gestational diabetes. I'm doing ok controlling it through diet, but they actually want me to eat more and get more calories because I'm still hungry during the day. So I have to eat every two hours and load up my foods with fats when I can. I still have to be careful with carbs, but I've found that I can load those up during dinner with no ramifications. Woohoo! I'm going to have some fun eating more, I can tell you that. Although it of course is a fine line in regards to eating more and not having my sugar levels go up too high. Wish me luck not crossing that line!

How big is baby? Head to rump, baby girl is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and she weighs almost 7 ounces. She's busy flexing her arms and legs (We saw her do this during the ultrasound. So cute!). Her blood vessels are visible through her thin skin, and her ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from her head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around her nerves, a process that will continue for a year after she's born.

Clothing?  Went shopping this past weekend. Not fun. I'm not big enough in the bump area to look right in most maternity shirts. I ended up getting a cardigan and two blousy shirts. One is pictured below.

Sleep? Sleeping pretty good. I'm so used to getting up three times each night now. It's no big deal. Still miss sleeping on my stomach though. Sigh.

Food Aversions? Can't think of any. YAY!   (Although I'm pretty darn sick of peanut butter and eggs - my main protein sources)

Symptoms? Stomach still hurts most days but nothing too bad. New symptom = I can feel my hips expanding. It feels kinda crazy.

Picture: One from the front, one from the side this time.

Baby Girl deserves to have her picture included, too!