The Bean - Week 24

This is another big week for your magical growing baby! Just take a look at the checklist for this week: 1) ears: done; 2) fingernails: done; 3) (if you have a boy) testicles: taking their 3-4 day trip from the abdominal wall to the scrotum; and 4) lungs walls: secreting “surfactant”. What’s that? Well, surfactant is sort of what it sounds like: a surface-activated fat whose main purpose is to assist the your baby's little lungs during inflation (as in, filling with air, not getting more expensive). Just in case you’re curious, your submerged baby is still breathing in amniotic fluid, preparing and rehearsing the lungs an oxygen-filled life outside the womb. By the end of this week, your child will be weighing around 2 lbs and 14 inches long. Your cutie-patootie may even be a little more plump, but isn't anywhere near their full baby-fatted cute-self. Most of the “filling out” is coming up in that long awaited (and slightly dreaded?) third trimester. Woo-hoo! Get ready!

In other baby news, I had a Dr. apt on Friday and everything seems right on track. I got my orange glucose solution that I'm supposed to drink 1 hour before my next appointment so they can draw blood for a glucose tolerance test or gestational diabetes test. Last pregnancy I was borderline for gestational diabetes and they have now changed the requirements. Based on the new limits, I would have had it last pregnancy. So, everyone keep their fingers crossed that I can pass. I must admit that I am a sweets addict this pregnancy. I've read online that the excess estrogen from having a girl in utero can cause sweets cravings. The Halloween candy I bought last week is almost gone already! Eek!