Monday, March 19, 2007

24 weeks! Our Footlong in a bun..in my oven!

24 weeks and growing!

Sorry, this is a tad late, Robby and I ran out of town last Thursday for a wedding in Louisiana. Getting back just last night has left us both exhausted. But here it is, my 24 week update. My next appointment will be this week on Thursday. They will be doing the glucose test. Just please pray for normal results and that the baby is continuing to grow the way he should. Love you all!

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THE BABY: Your baby's growing steadily, gaining about a quarter of a pound since last week, when he was just over a pound. Since he's a foot long, that makes for a pretty lean figure, but his body is filling out proportionally. Your baby's skin is thin, translucent, and wrinkled, his brain is growing rapidly, and his taste buds may be working now. His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" and cells that produce surfactant, a substance that helps the air sacs inflate easily.

Your baby can also hear more and more now, and you may even notice him startle at loud, sudden noises. But he's probably getting used to the regular noises he hears around the house, such as cats, any dogs barking, the roar of a vacuum cleaner, and definitely your voices. Many new parents are surprised by how unfazed their newborns seem by sounds like these, but if you think about it, they've had months to get accustomed to them.

MY CHANGES: The top of your uterus is now an inch or so above your belly button, which means it's about the size of a soccer ball. With the skin on your abdomen stretching, you may feel a little itchy now and then. If your skin is dry, keeping it well moisturized may help. Also, your eyes may be sensitive to light and feel gritty and dry. This is a perfectly normal
pregnancy symptom known as dry-eye. To ease your discomfort, use an artificial tears solution to add moisture.

GLUCOSE TEST: This test checks for gestational diabetes, a high-blood-sugar condition during pregnancy. Untreated, high blood sugar increases your risk for having a difficult vaginal delivery or needing a cesarean section because it causes your baby to grow overly fat, especially in his upper body. It also increases your baby's risk for complications like low blood sugar at birth. A positive result on your GCT test doesn't mean you have gestational diabetes, but it does mean that you should have the more involved glucose tolerance test (GTT) to find out.

BABY IMAGE:
http://www.babycenter.com/general/1498732.html

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