29 weeks

How your baby's growing: Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. To meet his increasing nutritional demands, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby's hardening skeleton each day.

How your life's changing: Your baby's very active now. Your practitioner may ask you to spend some time each day counting kicks and will give you specific instructions on how to do this. Let her know if you ever notice a decrease in activity. You may need a nonstress test or biophysical profile to check on your baby's condition.

Some old friends — heartburn and constipation — may take center stage now. The pregnancy hormone progesterone relaxes smooth muscle tissue throughout your body, including your gastrointestinal tract. This relaxation, coupled with the crowding in your abdomen, slows digestion, which in turn can cause gas and heartburn — especially after a big meal — and contribute to constipation as well.

Your growing uterus may also be contributing to hemorrhoids. These swollen blood vessels in your rectal area are common during pregnancy and usually clear up in the weeks after giving birth. If they're itchy or painful, try soaking in a sitz bath or applying cold compresses medicated with witch hazel to the affected area. Also avoid sitting or standing for long stretches. Talk with your practitioner before using any over-the counter remedies during pregnancy, and let her know if you have any rectal bleeding. To prevent constipation, eat a high-fiber diet, drink plenty of water, and get some regular exercise.

Some women get something called "supine hypotensive syndrome" during pregnancy, where laying flat on your back causes a change in heart rate and blood pressure that makes you feel dizzy until you change position. You might note that you feel lightheaded if you stand up too quickly, too. To avoid "the spins" lie on your side rather than your back, and move slowly as you go from lying down to sitting and then standing.

How I'm doing: I'm starting to feel the effects of the third trimester. My stomach is getting bigger and I notice that if I do a lot without taking a break I get a pain in my stomach. I'm doing well keeping up with exercising. I only make it to yoga once a week now since our birth class is at the same time on Thursday evenings. But I'm also keeping up with swimming and the stationary bike.

We started our birthing class last Thursday. We have this Thursday off for Valentine's Day. So far we both like it and we hope to learn a lot. We will also be touring our hospital this coming week. Despite its original opening date of sometime in 2004, the new UCLA hospital looks like it won't be opening until this summer. So we'll be checking out where we'll have this baby. Which is conveniently located across the street from Scott's lab.

My baby shower is also this weekend in Redding. My mom and my sister, Kellie, are throwing it for Melody and I. I'm pretty excited to see some family and friends for the long weekend. We did have a mishap with at least one invitation (it was returned to my mom without an envelope) so if you didn't get an invitation it may have been yours. It only made it back to my mom because the address of the party was on the inside of the card so the post office delivered it to her. It's possible this happened to more than one invitation. If you're reading this, you're invited to the shower, which is this Saturday at 3 PM at my parents house. If you're coming and please RSVP to my mom, or if you don't have her contact information you can call or email me.

The baby is doing well. She's very active. She moves around a lot and I can tell she's getting stronger and stronger. We're getting very excited to meet her very soon. We're basically at 7 months now, so only 2 1/2 more to go (did you know pregnancy isn't really 9 months long?).

I think I've made it to the nesting phase. I cleaned out my half of the closet to make more room for baby's stuff. We also added a little bit to the nursery corner. We added some vinyl jungle animals to the walls. We think it looks pretty cute. You'll also see that my yellow baby blanket is in the crib. We'll use that with this baby since it's still in great shape.


We think it looks pretty cute.