69 Days to Go!

I started my 31st week of pregnancy today. There are 69 days to go to Gabriel's due date. And a whole lot of things still left on the to-do list before he arrives.

Gabriel's Development By This Week

Gabriel should be measuring at 18 inches and weighing in at more than three pounds by now. We can expect him to gain at least three to five pounds, possibly more, before he is born. His brain is working overtime these days, developing faster than ever. Connections between individual nerve cells are growing, and he can now perceive information from five senses, but not smell. Because he is still submerged in amniotic fluid he can't get a whiff of anything yet.

What's a day in the life of Gabriel like these days: making faces, hiccuping, swallowing, breathing, pedaling with little hands and feet along the uterine wall, listening to noises he can hear into the womb, and even sucking his thumb. His movements will regularly move my whole stomach now so it is visible from the outside. I've been trying to catch it on video so I can share the experience.

My Development This Week

I have lots of heart burn and shortness of breath these days since now my uterus can be felt as far up as four inches above my belly button, which means that it's pushing all the internal organs that used to be there somewhere else. It doesn't help the heartburn that I want spicy food all the time. Spicy is by far my preference for food during this pregnancy. I'm quite tired by the end of the day and ready for bed shortly after I get home from work. It seems that about the time the sun goes down, I am yawning and ready to hit the hay. I am currently the same weight that I was when I became pregnant. And currently a half a shoe size up. My feet began hurting again this last weekend, so I am concerned my feet may not be done growing and stretching out yet. YIKES! I understand that at this point in pregnancy another round of ligament softening occurs. Bending over has become down right painful. There's just too much stuff in my stomach now to comfortably be able to squish it all together to bend over. I'm leaving a lot of stuff on the floor so I don't have to pick it up. I continue to have Braxton Hicks contractions through out the day. Most nights I still sleep well, and I hope that continues until delivery. And I am still very much enjoying the movements that I feel from Gabriel throughout the day. He has not yet started to kick me in the ribs or cause me discomfort with his fluttering around.

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.