28 Weeks

How your baby's growing: By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

How your life's changing: You're in the home stretch! The third and final trimester starts this week. If you're like most women, you'll gain about 11 pounds this trimester. At this point, you'll likely visit your doctor or midwife every two weeks. Then, at 36 weeks, you'll switch to weekly visits. Depending on your risk factors, your practitioner may recommend repeating blood tests for HIV and syphilis now, as well as doing cultures for chlamydia and gonorrhea, to be certain of your status before delivery. Also, if your glucose screening test result was high and you haven't yet had follow-up testing, you'll soon be given the 3-hour glucose tolerance test. And if the blood work done at your first prenatal visit showed that you're Rh negative, you'll get an injection of Rh immunoglobulin to prevent your body from developing antibodies that could attack your baby's blood. (If your baby is Rh positive, you'll receive another shot of Rh immunoglobulin after you give birth.) Around this time, some women feel an unpleasant "creepy-crawly" sensation in their lower legs and an irresistible urge to move them while trying to relax or sleep. If this sensation is at least temporarily relieved when you move, you may have what's known as restless legs syndrome (RLS). No one knows for sure what causes RLS, but it's relatively common among expectant mothers. Try stretching or massaging your legs, and cut down on caffeine, which can make the symptoms worse. Ask your caregiver if you should try iron supplements, which can sometimes relieve RLS.

How I'm doing: Still doing pretty good. I'm starting to feel a little tired at the end of the day and I think my body is starting to feel the effects of carrying extra weight (which is about 20 lbs at this point). I feel lucky that I can still sleep through the night and can sleep fairly well and comfortably in general. I have been waking up earlier than usual and haven't been able to get back to sleep. Perhaps my circadian rhythm is starting to adjust to an infant's schedule? I'm not a morning person so it's quite unusual for me to get up earlier than necessary, especially on a work day.

The baby is still kicking away. She's moving around for a lot of the day now. Usually she's just moving but sometimes she kicks hard. Scott has been able to feel her a lot now. She gets really active when I lay down in bed for the night, right before lunchtime and mid-afternoon pretty regularly. Sometimes I think she's telling me she's hungry but I don't know how true that is. My arms now touch the sides of my stomach when I type so she often kicks my arms--like right now. I think she may be head down already. I think I'm feeling the stronger kicks of her feet up near my ribs and smaller movements of her arms lower on my belly. The midwife may be able to confirm that in tomorrow's appointment.

Tomorrow I get to deal with many of the issues mentioned above. I'll get a RhoGam shot since I'm Rh negative and Scott is Rh positive. If I didn't get this shot I would risk forming antibodies to Rh positive blood which would attack any future fetuses who might be Rh positive. I will have at least one more shot right after the baby's born. Also, on the docket for tomorrow's appointment is my Glucose Tolerance Test. I'll start with the 1-hour test, which entails drinking a sugary orange drink and then having a blood test. This is to check to make sure I haven't developed Gestational Diabetes which would need to be treated with a low-sugar diet and possibly insulin shots. So let's hope I pass! If I don't pass, I'll have to take a 3-hour version of the test with more blood draws. So tomorrow's appointment should be longer and not very fun. At least we'll get to hear the baby's heartbeat.

The baby is now far enough along that she has an excellent survival rate even if born now. She has more than an 85% chance of survival and her lungs are developed enough that she can breathe air. So it's a very reassuring time point.

Our first birth class is this Thursday. We're very excited to start this preparation.