24 weeks | Viability!

    

Week 23 at Girls Weekend and Week 24 at the State Fair

Definite major growth with the bump in the last week.  The first photo above was at the tail end of a weekend of EATING nonstop, and the second photo was upon arrival to the fair, with nary a single calorie ingested.  Baby is doing some serious growing!

Reaching the point of viability feels monumental.  Huge.  Yes, I hope our baby stays put, and healthy, for the next 14+ weeks at least.  But knowing that if the unexpected occurs and our baby were born now, it still stands a chance of living in this world.  My fingers are crossed for the 14-15 weeks range (well before Christmas).  I know isn't realistic or smart to be thinking, but I can't deny it's on my mind.  Of course I want the baby to arrive when he/she is ready and not a moment sooner.  But the mind games of not knowing when it'll happen, thinking about how this momentous occasion will forever change our lives, wondering how it will go down, knowing that it could happen at the cusp of a major holiday and busy time of year...well, it's not easy for a planner like me.  This will be perhaps my most greatest test of patience and go with the flow ever (with many more to come I'm sure).

Baby K is compared to the size of an ear of corn or a standard-sized envelope, and about 1 1/2 pounds.  He/she is hearing and recognizing noises, and their face is almost fully formed.  Any hair that baby has is white, as there is no pigment yet.  I wonder if my baby will be bald like I was or have a nice head of hair.  Don't they say heartburn predicts hair?  I'm getting plenty of it already.

Movement has picked up considerably over the last two weeks, and I am having fun figuring out if I'm feeling arms or legs and what position the baby is in.  I've seen my belly bounce a bit from the outside, and Jon can now almost always feel the jabs from the outside.  Baby moves the most after I eat or when I lay down to go to sleep, but just recently started moving with music playing in the car!  This may have just been coincidental, but I like to think my baby is smart enough to enjoy music already.  Jon says I have to listen to DMB all the time now.  ;) 

Last weekend I got to take bump pictures with Alicia, who is expecting her third!  Since she's public now, I can finally express how freaking excited I am for her here.  And blessed to share our pregnancies at the same time.  I'm several years behind many of my friends having their children, so getting to share pregnancy with one of my lifelong forever friends is indeed a blessing.  I can only hope these two kids become as good of friends as their mothers are.  We shared a room at girls weekend last week and Jon later joked that our kids had their first sleepover.  Ha, not really, but I'm enough of a sap to have found that thought really sweet.

Labor and birth are feeling more and more real these days, mostly due to our birthing class. We're starting to learn about everything that goes on, decisions we'll have to make, and envisioning how we'll best deal with it all.  I've recently talked with my friend Kate who is a L&D nurse at our hospital, and am super excited about the prospect of having her be our nurse.  The chances are slim that my OB will be on staff to catch my baby, and well, the idea of having someone at my side that knows me well, and has tended to many, many, many births, is so reassuring.  Plus she's a rock star.  There's no guarantee she'll be able to attend, but if not she'll be able to help us get the best of their on-staff nurses.  And of course then there's Jon.  He'll be great, I know it...if he's not too busy laughing.  :)

I'm loving this pregnancy.

My two loves.