28 weeks

Vegetable of the week, a Chinese cabbage (WHAT????). Baby is now about 14.5 inches, and 2 1/4 pounds. Those stats don't bring up the image of a cabbage to me, but... whatever. Apparently the baby has eyelashes now, and her eyes are fully formed and working. Wonder what she sees in there?!?! My sources say women typically gain about 11 pounds this trimester. UGH. I've done enough growing, thank you very much. All further baby growth can occur by living off the excess from my thighs and rear end. I'll send a memo to the child and instruct her to do that. I keep wondering, if she weighs only 2 pounds, how come I am so much bigger??????? Not that I'm helping the situation at all with my daily chocolate eating.

27 week doctor's appointment

Saw the doctor again today. Up one pound over the last four weeks, for a total of 11 pounds "officially" gained. Seems ALOT more than that from this end! The doctor scared me a little, as she listened to the heartbeat and pronounced "Yup. Definitely a boy!" WHAT??? "The heartbeat is slow, so must be a boy." I told her that the ultrasound said GIRL... I had just painted the nursery, and not 1/2 an hour before bought lots of PINK things to decorate the walls. It had better be a girl. She told me she was historically wrong about these things :). Let's hope. Otherwise our little boy will have a very cute "garden themed" nursery in green and pink. Scheduled the C-section, so official birthday will be November 17th!! Good thing Rob's not a hunter, as that's two days after the opening of firearm season. And for all of you who keep asking for a "baby bump" pic... against my better judgement... here it is, in all it's glory! 27 weeks and 2 days.....

27 Weeks

Baby hasn't moved much over the last few days - maybe she's going through a growth spurt and needs her rest :). She weighs the same as a cauliflower and is 14 1/2 inches long. Big step this week - I painted her room, a pale pale green. Further decorating will ensue, but not for the time being. We're trying to decide how to transition one child OUT of that room for naps so that we can transition another child INTO the room for good. Tricky business. We need major brainstorming. I think if we pair a boy and a baby up in one room at first, the baby won't laugh at him as much his twin brother does, and actual sleep might occur. We'll see.

26 weeks

End of the 2nd trimester - Hello 3rd trimester! These vegetable analogies make me laugh -- now the baby is the size of an "English Hothouse Cucumber". Whatever!!! Almost 2 pounds, 14 inches long, and making breathing movements. Her hearing has developed even more -- she should be able to hear my voice, AND whomever I am talking to. Bet she's wondering about some of the conversations I've been having with her brothers lately..... ( "No Colby, you can't poop in your pants. You've got to use the toilet, or they're not going to let you in school!!!" ) Thankfully, she doesn't inherently know English. I have been very fatigued over the past week. Don't know if that's due to pregnancy, or staying up late to watch the Olympics!
Belly DEFINITIVELY larger than the rest of me. Trying not to waddle yet, but it takes conscious effort at times. Bravely, I donned a swimsuit in public over the past weekend, and people were polite enough not to make "whale" references, although my father in law did not-so-subtly ask me to move to the rear of the boat so that the "weight was in the back". I have refused to step on the scale in recent weeks, because I really DON'T want to know. I never did have food cravings when I was pregnant with the boys, and I can't say that I have CRAVINGS now, per se.... but I do feel entitled to daily amounts of chocolate and/or ice cream, which I know is not a good thing.

Interesting little tidbit -- at this point in my last pregnancy, I had been on bedrest an entire month, and hospitalized twice for a total of 6 days. THIS pregnancy, I went to the beach. Much better.

25 weeks

Vegetable comparison of the week -- a rutabaga! Baby is now 13 inches or so, and about a pound and a half. I have FELT the growth spurt over the past week. Last Thursday evening I just could NOT get comfortable in bed, despite pillows galore. I have since accomodated to the increased size, thankfully. This begins the period when baby girl starts putting on her baby fat, and filling out. Her hair is in now. We'll see if she's a brunette like the rest of the family is (or at least, the rest of the family WOULD BE if God hadn't invented hair color!). It's getting harder and harder to find decent pictures of developing babies on the internet. After wasting way too much time looking for a picture today, I have decided to punt, and leave it up to your imagination. She now looks like...well, a little baby. That's what my sources say, and I'm believing them. The 25 weekers in the NICU that we saw when the boys were born looked like miniature, skinny, babies and so I'm assuming you can all imagine that on your own:). Not looking for a picture gives me more time to do things like... I don't know... do the dishes, and clean out my computer closet. WHOOOPPEEE!!! Luckily, I am still able to do those types of things, instead of being stuck in bed and taking repeated vacations to the hospital!

24 Weeks

We're moving right along here! Baby is now the size of an ear of corn, and most likely weighs over a pound! We have reached an age of "viability", which is another milestone. Not that we would want it, but IF the baby were born at this point, she would have a 43% chance of survival. That goes up to 75% next week, and 83% the week after that. That is good news. I think this baby is going to "stick"!!! I feel her move now often, and Quinn and Colby ask repeatedly to touch my belly to feel her. I think they are really going to like having a baby sister. They already talk about her constantly. Of course, she's pretty low-maintenance at this point, living in my belly. We'll see if they stay that excited once she's "outside" and crying :)