24 Weeks!!

How your baby's growing:

Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts him at just over a pound. Since he's 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.

How your life's changing:

In the past few weeks, the top of your uterus has risen above your belly button and is now about the size of a soccer ball.

Most women have a glucose screening test (also called a glucose challenge test or GCT) between now and 28 weeks. This test checks for gestational diabetes, a pregnancy-related high-blood-sugar condition. Untreated diabetes increases your risk of having a difficult vaginal delivery or needing a cesarean section because it causes your baby to grow too large, especially in his upper body. It also raises your baby's odds for other complications like low blood sugar right after birth. A positive result on your GCT doesn't mean you have gestational diabetes, but it does mean that you'll need to take the glucose tolerance test (GTT) to find out for sure.

Finally, if you don't already know how to spot the signs of preterm labor, now's the time to learn. Contact your caregiver immediately if you notice any of the signs mentioned below.

What are the signs of preterm labor?

Call your midwife or doctor right away if you're having any of the following symptoms before 37 weeks:
• An increase in vaginal discharge
• A change in the type of discharge — if it becomes watery, mucus-like, or bloody (even if it's pink or just tinged with blood)
• Any vaginal bleeding or spotting
• Abdominal pain, menstrual-like cramping, or more than four contractions in one hour (even if they don't hurt)
• An increase in pressure in the pelvic area (a feeling that your baby is pushing down)
• Low back pain, especially if you didn't previously have back pain

These symptoms can be confusing because some of them, such as pelvic pressure or low back pain, occur during normal pregnancies too, and early contractions may just be harmless Braxton Hicks contractions. But it's always better to be safe than sorry, so call your midwife or doctor right away if you're experiencing anything unusual.

Yay!! 24 weeks! :)

I love getting to this point because I know that if I go into pre-term labor, with the technology and medicine today, there's a chance things will be OK. Or as OK as they can be with going into labor 3 months early.

I feel good still, except this darn heartburn won't go away. I'm chowing down Tums by the handful, but other than that, things are great.

The baby is moving all over still. I know I've gained a LOT of weight in this last 5 weeks, but I think that's ok...we'll see how bad it is tomorrow!

I'm also really eager to have my ultrasound tomorrow and make sure our "She" is still a She! It will be pretty crazy if we go in and do an ultrasound and find out it's a boy! That reveal party will have been for nothing! But that's ok. All I want is a healthy baby. A boy or a girl, either is fine.

I'll update tomorrow with stats and pics!

Happy 24 weeks baby girl!