31 Weeks, 6 days

I had an OB appointment yesterday & the news was good. They did an ultrasound to check for her movements, to see if she was practicing breathing, her heartrate, and the amniotic fluid levels. We passed! She was asleep when I first went in, but I rolled around a bit and woke her up enough that she started kicking back. Then they did a 15 minute non-stress test of her heart rate and my uterine activity levels. Her heartrate was between 125 and 150, so that was good...and I didn't have any contractions (which I could have told them that), so that was good too. They didn't measure her growth during the ultrasound, but they will next Monday. My external measurements are still a little ahead of schedule, but not enough that they think she'll be an enormous baby or anything. Plus, its better that we measure a little on the bigger side rather than on the smaller side since hypertension usually restricts fetal growth a bit. All in all, it was a good visit & I can't wait to see her again next week. Maybe we'll have a little extra time to get some pictures of her next time too.

November 4th was our 2nd anniversary. After dinner we decided to come home and get comfy, so I put on my new robe (a gift from Jeff) and lit our unity candle.Don't worry...that's not really champagne in the picture, its sparkling grape juice. However, I can't wait until I can have a glass of champagne again. The hospital will let you bring some in the postpartum rooms, so we may be popping a little of the bubbly after she's born.This was our first snow of the year. It didn't stick, as you can tell, but it was still pretty coming down. This is mean dog Velvet....And this is nice dog Velvet.

Week 31

From Babyfit.com:

Your Baby's Development This Week
Age of Fetus—29 weeks
The baby's growth in height and weight will begin to slow from here on out (but the baby will still gain 2 pounds this month). The baby's brain is still growing rapidly, making connections and learning complicated functions it will need for the rest of its life.
Other changes that are happening:
The baby may have a callous on its thumb from sucking on it.
Unless there is a problem with the placenta, the baby's blood is its own and does not mix with yours.
Baby's Size (head to rump) this week: 11.75 inches
18 inches (head to toes)
Weight: 3.5 lbs The baby's size is about the length of a Madeline doll.

Happy Halloween! I'm now at 30 weeks!

From babyfit.com:

Your Baby's Development This Week
Age of Fetus—28 weeks
The baby's brain is taking a wrinkled look because of the rapid growth. Red blood cell production is now entirely the result of bone marrow. The grooves and indentations of a developed brain are called convolutions.
Other changes that are happening:
The baby will put on more than a pound of weight this month.
By now the layer of downy hair (lanugo) has nearly disappeared.
The baby's toenails are now visible
Baby's Size (head to rump) this week: 10.75 inches
17 inches (head to toe)
Weight: 3 lbs The baby's length is about the same as a loaf of bread.

I've still been feeling good (knock on wood). My last appointment was on the 7th and everything was normal. My BP is still a little lower than what is "normal" for me, so that is good. I have one more 2 week gap between appointments and then I'll start going every week. I'll also have an ultrasound at every visit from here on out so they can measure her growth and make sure everything is progressing as normal. This way too they'll know better if she is ready to come out early or not just incase my hypertension gives us any problems. So, we'll have tons of pictures over the next 10 weeks to show you! I think we're also going to do that 3D/4D ultrasound next week so that everyone who is far away can see a video of how she is doing. Hopefully she'll cooperate this time and we'll get some good footage of her. My doc didn't measure me externally or anything this time, but she thinks that she's on track to be of a normal size. That was reassuring since the midwife I saw last time thought she might be rather large.

This is my new halloween decoration that I just LOVE! Their names are Bones & Spike. Jeff just humors me because I love to decorate for all the holidays.

We babysat for some friends of ours the weekend before Halloween. This is me attempting to play Go-Fish with Taylor (4) and Austin (20mos). It was a little surreal for us because it almost felt like a flash-forward 4 1/2 years into our future!! They were dolls & we should be so lucky as to have 2 great kids like them. Jeff and I decorated festive cookies "with" them while they ate the icing. I know, this picture may be a bit vulgar, but these really were our customes this year. We had 2 parties to attend on the same evening, and this is the only thing Jeff agreed to wear. There weren't childred present at the parties, so that makes it a little more appropriate! We tried them on in the party store before we bought them to make sure it fit around my big belly, and we started laughing so hard I had tears rolling down my face. They were quite a hit because everyone else in the store was cracking up with us.

29 Weeks!

At my last OB appointment, on 10/24, it was all good news. There were no tests to take this time-yippee! My urine was clean-no protine-yippee! The ultrasound showed she measured as if her due date was 1/7 (that's 11 days ahead). And my external measurements of my uterus had me at 30 weeks when I was really only 27 1/2. My OB was actually on vacation, and the midwife we saw didn't want to be the one to change my due date. I'll see my OB on the 7th and we'll see what she thinks then. I don't think they'll change my due date from 1/18 because I'm 100% sure that is accurate. They were just surprised that she could be a "little on the bigger side", as she put it, since I have hypertension. A mother's hypertension usually leads to a smaller baby. I'm happy no matter what size she comes out as long as its between 5-9lbs.

These ultrasound pictures were taken on the 24th-

This is a front/side view of her face in 3D. It gets shadowed on the left side from the placenta (she was trying to hide behind it). Jeff thinks she looks like Casper the ghost in this one.

Here is a side view of her head with her hand infront of her face. She was sucking on her hand most of the time, so it was hard to get a clear head shot. Again, the dark shadow that might look like hair on her head is acutally the placenta. This picture is mostly of her feet. On the left side you can see a tiny bit of her profile...her hands are crossed & one is infront of her mouth. Her feet are up and crossed over eachother. Everyone that sees this thinks she has big feet like her daddy.

Back to 2D...This is her profile. They're not as clear as last time (if you look back to compare) because she just didn't cooperate as well this time. The tech had me rolling all over the place trying to get her in a more photogenic spot. Plus, she hid behind the placenta for 25 of the 30 minutes we were in there. Who would have thought Jeff & I would have a shy child?

Just to make sure, we took another picture of her girlie parts. Everyone agreed, she's still a "she'.
Here is what babyfit.com says she is doing this week:

Your Baby's Development This Week
Age of Fetus—27 weeks
By now you should have gained between 19 and 25 pounds. The baby's brain is developing well and can now direct the rhythmic breathing necessary for oxygen and body temperature. The baby is also building up more fat under the layer of skin causing its appearance to be less wrinkled.
Other changes that are happening:
The baby becomes more capable of surviving outside the womb every day now.
The baby is more sensitive now to light, sound, taste and smell.
The baby's eyes can now move in their sockets
Baby's Size (head to rump) this week: 10.5 inches
16.75 inches (head to toes)
Weight: 2.75 lbs Right now the baby's size is about the length of a football.