Week 28

From Pregnancy Guide Online: Our little miracle is growing and developing at an astonishing rate! Eyebrows and eyelashes are now present, and the hair on the head is growing. The eyelids open, and the eyes are completely formed. The body is getting plumper and rounder (weighs about 2 pounds) and is composed of around 2 to 3% body fat. Muscle tone is gradually improving. The lungs are capable of breathing air but if the baby is born now, it would struggle to properly breathe. Be sure to talk to your baby a lot because s/he can recognize your voice now!

I've been slacking on keeping up with the "usual" baby developments on a weekly basis for a while now (in the beginning, it was, "Guess what, baby, this is the week the neurons start generating!"), but I just took a quick look and yeesh, 15 inches of baby seems like a lot to be packing in there. It's been a pretty entertaining couple of days... I suppose there must be some kind of baby origami involved, as the baby's been positioned in such a way that little knees and elbows are actually periodically poking out of my belly with more and more force every which way. On the other hand, supposedly it's only two pounds of kid riding around in my belly, which is hard for me to believe - that's the equivalent of only eight quarter pounders, while my estimate would've put it more along the lines of a midsize turkey.

And that isn't the only pregnancy whine I have this week. I'm always tired now. Exhausted really. I have to wonder how much of what I'm suddenly experiencing this week is being influenced by some sort of subliminal biofeedback. I mean, having heard over and over that the second trimester is the easiest and most comfortable time of pregnancy [they lie by the way], it is rather curious that the aches, pains, and insomnia clocked in prematurely before I even started my third trimester and have now taken a turn for the worse. I am starting to have ocassional Braxton hicks, normal non-working contractions, and little Mikey continues to wiggle up a storm... particularly when I'm sitting down. He has since decided that my cervix is the best trampoline in the world and so I join the ranks of cliche of having to go to the bathroom every 2 minutes.

He does love it when I rub my fingers against his back, and he pushes out harder til he has had enough. Ironically, what seems to calm him down the best is when Mike puts his hand on my stomach - almost like they have a father-and-son deal going on that I don't know about. I really do believe that the baby can interact with you [even though Mike doesn't like it when I poke my belly]. I think that it is important to "play" with the baby... and on those hard pregnant days, it seems to be about the only thing that pulls me through. I'm singing to him more too, and it may be my imagination, but it seems to have a calming effect. I can only hope that it works just as well after he's born.

I'm due for my glucose tolerance test sometime before my next appointment on the 10th. I'm worried because for the past week, I've been eating so much candy [thanks to ladies here at work bringing in pounds of Halloween treats] that I'm afraid little Mikey will come out with cavities! I forget that I'm at higher risk for gestational diabetes because my mom had it for all her three pregnancies. Guess we'll have to wait.

Baby stuff updates: I've bought him a Winnie the Pooh walker (Mike teases me because he says Mikey won't use that for months). My sister just bought us the most adorable Winnie the Pooh diaper bag, and a Winnie the Pooh baby scrapbook. She seems to have been mesmerized by buying baby stuff because she bought us the stroller and carseat not too long ago! And Mike has just bought a stethoscope so we could hear little Mikey's heartbeat as often as we please!