Week 24

Baby is the size of a Cantaloupe this week, and my uterus is the size of a soccer ball now!  WHAT?!  That’s incredible!!  J

The dreaded 2^nd trimester leg cramps have arrived!  Last night, my left leg spasmed so hard and for so long that it actually pulled the muscle.   I remember having them with Bryce and never really found out the reason why.  I think they said it was from increased blood volume, or dehydration...or an electrolyte imbalance.  In any event, it’s just one more thing that keeps me awake at night.  (Between the bathroom trips, Bryce’s frequent wakings, and having a dog that often needs to pee at 4am)  Just preparing me for the year of sleepless nights to come.  :s

Enough is enough...and I finally got my ever expanding backside to the Gym.  I really have no excuse (except laziness) for not going...the Gym is right in my building - literally 30 steps from my desk. Not doing anything crazy (Mom), just walking on the treadmill and some light free weights.  Given my “jump” on the scale at the last appointment, I’d like to work hard and keep it in healthy check.  Besides, there a gazillion reasons why exercise is beneficial...especially while pregnant;  like boosting energy, sleeping better at night, preparing for childbirth, reducing stress, and the ever important improvement in self image.  (While feeling like a whale)   lol

Well, Aiden is officially “viable” this week.  God forbid he should come early, but if he did, modern medicine would be able to support his life outside my womb. It’s always around this time that I think back to a Paramedic call I did many years before becoming a Mother myself.  A 23 weeker that didn’t survive.  I can still picture him laying across the length of my palm as I attempted to ventilate his immature lungs, watching helplessly as his heart rate slowly faded to zero.  His baby shower had been that day...bags of gifts piled in the foyer.  Makes you appreciate that value and fragility of life.

What’s happening with baby this week? “It's another week full of exciting developments for your magical growing baby!  Just take a look at the checklist for this week: 1) ears: done; 2) fingernails: done; 3) (if you have a boy) testicles: taking their 3-4 day trip from the abdominal wall to the scrotum; and 4) lungs walls: secreting “surfactant”.  What’s surfactant? It's basically what it sounds like: a surface-activated fat that helps your baby's little lungs inflate (where inflate = fill with air not get more expensive for no understandable reason).  In the meantime, your submerged baby is still breathing in their amniotic fluid (and a bit of pee), preparing and rehearsing their lungs for an oxygen-filled life outside the womb. By the end of this week, your wee womb-squatter will be weighing in at a whopping 2 lbs and 14 inches long.  All this new weight means your tiny baby is actually starting to fill out their skin, but they're not anywhere near their adorable fat-baby potential.  Most of the fetal “filling out” is coming up in that long awaited (and slightly dreaded?) third trimester. Woo-hoo! Get ready!

For fun, I used a "morphing" computer application to fuse Daddy's face with mine and create a picture of Aiden. Here is the result!  lol  Actually, if you add a little more "padding" to the cheeks and lighten/remove the hair....you'd have a spitting image of Bryce. BTW we have a 3D/4D scan scheduled for March 16 so stay tuned for real pics (hopefully) of Aiden’s handsome little face.