28th week of pregnancy

I am in the 28th week of gestation. Gabriel's eyes are partially open and can perceive light. His eye lashes and eye brows continue to grow and subcutaneous fat is being deposited to put a fat layer on him. Our baby is almost 15 inches from head to toe and weighs over two pounds. He's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing his eyes and perhaps even sucking his fingers. His brain is very active now. While his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if he were born now. About 9 out of 10 babies born now will survive with intensive care services and the help of medical technology according to babiesonline.com. I've experienced Braxton Hicks contractions in the past couple of weeks. Braxton Hicks are sporadic uterine contractions that actually start at about 6 weeks, although most will not feel them that early. Most women start feeling them during the second or third trimester.

I had another appointment with my OB/GYN on Wednesday morning. My blood pressure was fine. I got my paperwork for the next one hour glucose tolerance test and blood work to check for anemia, all normal testing that occurs at this time frame. I just need to find the hour to take off from work to do the one hour glucose test. I had no weight gain from my last appointment a month ago. I heard Gabriel's heartbeat on the doppler again. Another ultrasound in 4 weeks has been suggested to try to pinpoint exactly where Gabriel is in size at that point. So we get another chance to view our boy on November 7th.

On Tuesday night, Michael and I attended a breast-feeding preparation class. Mike was a trooper sitting through the whole thing. I still didn't learn everything I wanted to know, but there are good lactation specialists at The Family Place where we hope to deliver Gabriel. They will be able to give us some one on one attention then. Meanwhile, I will keep reading my books to learn more.

Michael has been working on sanding and prepping the walls of Gabriel's room for painting. We have narrowed down to three possible wall colors.