34 weeks

34 weeks according to babycenter.com:

The baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (actual weight from Friday's sonogram: 5lbs, 4 oz) (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

Here is the baby's face with its hand in front of it:

The week of many doctor's appointments

I think this week marks my personal record for doctor's visits ... I'll have 4 to 3 different doctors.








Tuesday: OB & Sonogram


This was a regularly scheduled sonogram with an emergency visit to my OB. I felt like I was going to pass out, and so I saw I had my blood pressure taken and blood drawn and saw Dr. Picco. I've had some rapid pulse episodes that have made me feel really sick the last 2 weeks. She recommended I see a cardiologist and also visit my dermatologist about the rash on my legs.








Wednesday: Dermatologist


I felt like my legs were on FIRE! Dr. Gottleib didn't think they were that bad and told me none of the usual oral medications would be OK with the pregnancy. So, instead I have some perscription creams. They're not really doing much. Seriously, do these legs look not that bad?






I think they're disgusting. Thanks to modern technology, we have documented the crazy rash and I can come back to it when I start my litany of problemos, "When I was pregnant with you, do you know what I went through?"








Thursday: Cardiologist
On Thursday, I saw the award-winning Cardiologist Susan Bennett. I had an EKG, and everything looks OK, I just had a rapid pulse and she heard my heart murmur. She's not too worried, it might just be the effects of being pregnant and in the heat. I'm going back for some more tests and monitoring, but I probably just need to "rest more and take it easy."

Friday: Sonogram #2
This week starts 2 sonograms per week. I'll be going back for my second sonogram tomorrow.

33 Week Ultrasound

Today we had an ultrasound. The baby weighs 5 pounds and had a heart rate of 141 beats per minute. The baby was making a face with its mouth that made it look like it was talking. Still in breech position, playing with its feet.

Here is a close-up look at the baby's nose and lips.

33 weeks

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

The baby was very active today! I had some Oreos and the baby went nuts rolling, punching and kicking around. I'll have to remember that for my next ultrasound.

Mommy's friends held a baby shower this past weekend. We got lots of things the baby needs, and I saw some of my friends get really competitive about baby shower bingo!

The CRV was filled to the brim, now it's time to finally finish baby's room ... as soon as the air conditioning gets turned on ... it's hot in here!

50 days to go!

Only 50 more days until our due date! Next week starts bi-weekly sonograms and weekly doctor's appointments.

32 Weeks

Here I am at 32 weeks.

Here's what's going on with baby at 32 weeks, according to babycenter.com:

How your baby's growing:By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) (actual weight of baby Ladewig according to sonorgram: 4lbs, 1 oz.) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

Baby Ladewig is still in the Frank Breech position. In addition to not being an ideal position for birth, this means his head and feet are banging into my right rib cage. During this week's sonogram, the baby was sucking on its fingers.

This is a big week of baby activities: Mommy's first breastfeeding class, picking up some baby stuff from friends, and of course, the baby shower!

31 weeks

It's been a busy week!

According to babycenter.com, this week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. He weighs about 3.3 pounds (actual weight according to sonogram: 3.75 pounds) and is heading into a growth spurt.He can turn his head from side to side, and his arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath his skin. He's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy.

Oh, boy is our baby on the move! This week, I felt the baby almost sit up, when it moved from the transverse position into the Frank Breech position. I can feel the head directly under my right ribcage.

Frank Breech means that the baby keeps its feet in front of its face.

This week I also went to meet baby's pediatrician. They had an orientation for expectant parents. Jon had class, so it was me and 4 couples. The pediatrician's office is really nice, they have 7 doctors, 16 RNs and LPNs, 3 pediatric phlebotomists, and a lactation consultant. It's also right in between my gym, the library, and a park. We prepared a list of questions beforehand, and

Exercising during pregnancy

Exercise during pregnancy has been quite a challenge. First, I was too tired. Then I was on doctor's orders to take it easy while the baby calmed itself down. Then, once I was cleared to exercise, I had already lost significant tone and endurance. I turned to the series by personal trainer Sue Flemming whose workouts I used before. Her book for pregnancy titled Buff Moms to Be. I also liked carrying it around the gym during the in-between stage, wh

en strangers couldn't tell if I was pregnant or just chubby. That's one of the benefits of working out during pregnancy that they don't tell you in the pregnancy books -- dragging yourself to the gym will not only make you feel good about yourself, it will also make you feel better than everyone else there. Hey, I'm only lifting a 5lb dumbell, but I'm carrying a baby, too! As I've progressed, I am using less weight, because it truly feels like I am carrying a solid weight on my belly. Pregnancy workout wardrobe is something that doesn't get talked about in the pregnancy books either. So far, I've been just wearing my biggest pants and pulling them down a little lower than usual and topping them off with one of the grande-size t-shirts that I just had to have a million of during college. Seriously, why are all my college tees size Large? What was I thinking? Why didn't anybody make me order a more fitted size? Another wardrobing issue that needed to be addressed was the sports bra. Even though I'm not near my pre-pregnancy exertion levels, my pre-pregnancy sports bras are now more useful as headbands than bras. So, I picked up a couple in the largest size that the sporting goods store carried and they fit great!

Baby Ladewig at 30 weeks

Today we had another ultrasound and biophysical profile of the baby. The baby weighs 3 lbs and 8 oz. So, it gained 3/4 of a pound this week. Let's remember there are 10 more t0 go! Jon came with me to this ultrasound. He asked if the sonographer would put some jelly on his belly and look around there, because he's gained some weight, although not as much as Mommy.

The OB's office has a new 4D sonogram machine so we could see the baby's face a little bit. Baby opened its mouth, picked its nose, then before we could get a good shot of the face, proceeded to stick its hands and feet in front of its face so we couldn't get a good shot.

Baby passed its biophysical profile with flying colors, so that's good news.