Week by Week: Week 24

Our Baby (a.k.a. Lil' Feisty):

• Is a foot long now! And what better picture to use than a delicious sub sandwich. I'm hungry just looking at it. 
• Is still pretty skinny, but hopefully that giant DQ Blizzard I ate this weekend will add some padding to Lil' Feisty's body. 
• Has a pinkish glow now, due to all the capillaries that have formed. 
• Is still developing a lot in the brain-area. 
• Is also continuing to develop those little lungs--surfactant is necessary for air sacs to inflate easily, and the cells that produce surfactant are beginning to develop now. 
• Is officially at the edge of the viability range. It's crazy to think that if I went into extremely premature labor our Lil' Feisty would be given every chance possible by hospital staff. Wow. 
• Is kicking up a STORM. 

I (traditionally): 

• Take the glucose screening test at my midwife visit this week. This will allow my midwife to determine whether I'll need further testing for gestational diabetes. The test consists of drinking an extremely sweet drink and having your blood tested an hour afterward. I have heard many stories about how gross the drink is and how rough ladies feel afterward. 
• Still have all those later pregnancy symptoms--back aches, swelling extremities. leg cramps, etc., and they're not going anywhere. 
• Might notice skin changes by now--either linea nigra (that dark, vertical line from belly button to crotch) or chloasma (a.k.a. the mask of pregnancy, a darkening of the skin around your nose and eyes.....like a mask).
• Might have some stretch marks finally making an appearance on my tummy. 
• Have some pretty dry and/or itchy skin due to LOTS of stretching. 
• Should know the signs of early labor . . . just in case. 

I (actually):

• Took the glucose screening test. It was not as bad as I had imagined. It WAS hard to drink it all. I'll write more at the bottom. 
• Definitely still have those back aches, hip aches, leg aches . . . mostly just aches all around. It's totally fine with me that they exist, but it's really strange as I discover new and interesting ways my body can ache or feel sore. 
• My linea nigra really hasn't darkned in much over the last few months, and I'm grateful that I don't have chloasma . . . at least right now. 
• Have found no sign of stretch marks yet. But if my family history stays true, they'll show up mere weeks before giving birth. 
• It's hard to know whether my skin is itchy from so much stretching and dryness (which is DEFINITELY there) because I'm totally COVERED in mosquito bites. I'm one of those lucky people mosquitoes flock to. And now that I'm pregnant, apparently all that extra blood in my body makes me even MORE attractive to them. I've got about a dozen bites on each limb, each more itchy than the last. Sigh. 
• Dutifully looked up the signs of early labor. 

So, I may have shot myself in the foot with my appointment this morning. Most of my appointments with my midwife have been quick and routine, and I drank that orange drink assuming my appointment would take the normal 20 minutes. I didn't factor in all the questions I had this time or the fact that my blood HAD to be drawn EXACTLY an hour after drinking. Whoops. But I did get to go through my rough draft of my birth plan with my midwife, which went really well. And Lil' Feisty was MAD that the dopplar kept pushing down from the top, so that portion of the exam ended with a swift and accurate KICK right on the dopplar, making a really loud popping noise. Perhaps we have a future soccer star in there. :)

The glucose screening test wasn't bad at all. The drink tasted like melted orange popsicles--you know how a popsicle is delicious until it's melted and syrupy and you realize just how sugary it is? It was like drinking that, and I did have to force myself to finish it all. Then I felt faintly light-headed for about half and hour afterward, but I'm sitting here 2 hours later feeling fine and dandy. And my results? . . . . . NORMAL. Phew. It's nice to have an online account with my midwife's office because I can just look up my test results and see them right away. So not only do I know that my results were normal, I also know just HOW normal they actually were. For the record, we aren't even close to a concern. 

My super long list of things to do and prepare before the baby arrives is slowly filling up with check-marks. Actually, they're scribbles through each bullet point, but that's just how I roll. Just yesterday, I bought the supplies to make the mobile for Lil' Feisty's room. I also bought a shelf at Salvation Army for $2 that will be painted and placed over the dresser/changing table. Our car seat arrived, and I read the entire instruction booklet. The book I've chosen to read about labor and delivery, HypnoBirthing: The Mongan Method, arrived, and I've just barely started reading it. 

I asked around about our local pediatricians and those in family practice accepting infants. Based on what I've heard, we have a few really great options, but now it pretty much depends on how Lil' Feisty turns out. Will Feisty be premature or in need of extra medical care? Will Feisty instead be totally chill and "normal" upon arrival? This will likely influence our decision when it comes to a regular caregiver. 

I have a gigantic zit on my cheek for the first time in over a year. I used to have BAD skin. We're talking deep, cystic acne all over my cheeks and jawline. It sounds crazy, but oil cleansing (essentially washing my face with oil) and washing my face LESS often totally cleared it up. And pregnancy has finally decided to speak up and give me a big ol' present. At least I have plenty of experience when it comes to dealing with these things. 

Freak-Out Moments:

I will admit that I was a little freaked about the possibility of having gestational diabetes. And I also gained weight at an alarmingly fast pace over the last week. AND my midwife told me that I was measuring quite large for 24 weeks this morning. So I've had visions of giant babies and diabetes problems running around my head for a few hours. But now that my results have come back normal, I'm only freaked out about having a giant baby. Our niece was a 10-pounder. Levi was WELL over 9 and a half pounds. I myself was almost 9 pounds and the nurses called me The Moose. So either Feisty had a big growth spurt this last week, or we're just going to have a big baby on our hands.

Either way, I'm just happy that things are still looking healthy and normal. Yay!

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Phew! Some product/project updates coming for the rest of the week. Can't wait!

Keep it real,