24 Weeks

(Click to enlarge) (Above photos courtesy of http://www.babycenter.com/)

Baby:

- An important milestone this week: baby is now viable. In other words, he’d have a good (around 40 percent) chance of survival, with medical help, if he was born right now.
- Baby is growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week.
- That puts him at just over a pound and almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn).
- He cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but his body is filling out proportionally and he'll soon start to plump up.
- His brain is also growing quickly now, and his taste buds are continuing to develop.
- His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world.
- His skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.
- He is very active because he still has plenty of room to move around there.

Mom:

- Recognizing baby's pattern of movements now. He is usually more active in the late morning, anytime I’m sitting still for a while and again in the evening.
- Most women have a glucose screening test (also called a glucose challenge test or GCT) between now and 28 weeks. I have my test scheduled for my 29 week appointment on 7/2. This test checks for gestational diabetes, a pregnancy-related high-blood-sugar condition.
- I have on and off swelling in my hands, arms, ankles and feet. It mostely occurs in my feet and ankles as the day goes on.
- A sad sad thing happened on Wednesday...my fingers EXPLODED swelled like little sausage links and I had to take my oh so pretty wedding rings off. It was a tragic event.
- My weight: 142 lbs according to the wii. Wow, 4 lbs in 1 week, I wonder if our wii is off again.

Other News:

- Progress on turning the girl room into a jungle is coming along, the room is almost all cleared out and I think I know which paint color I want.