Let's Celebrate! 29 Weeks!

Many reasons to celebrate this week little girl!  First, you are one more week along - 29 weeks!  And that means we are 29/39ths of the way through (since I am going to be induced by 39 weeks!).  That means we are 75% of the way through!  (Well, actually 74.4% - your Mommy's always been a wee bit of a math geek!).  Another fun thing this week - we can officially start a countdown - 10 weeks to go!  Woot woot!  And it's my birthday today - and the Lord has blessed me with the best husband and kids - and you! - that I could want!  My whole entire family actually just kind of rocks!  We don't have the girls tonight, which sucks...but your Daddy is taking us to a good steak place...so get ready for some good eats later tonight!

Here's your update:
This week marks an important milestone in your brain development: The brain has matured to the point where it can help regulate body temperature. Of course, you aren't ready to do it all on your own yet; you still need the warmth of my body to keep you toasty until birth. You also continue to develop nerve cells in your brain. By the time you are born, you'll have hundreds of billions of them. That seems like a lot, but you need to stock up, since you won't produce any more after birth. You are looking more like a full-term baby, too. Your plumping up nicely; the surface of your skin is smoother and paler because of the fat you are starting to gain. This fat will be an important factor in your ability to keep warm (and by what the tech said a couple weeks ago, you already have fat rolls on your legs, so you should be nice and toasty!). Despite the increase in fat, you are still pretty thin—only about 3 percent of your 3 pounds is made up of fat. If we stretched you out, you'd be more than 16 inches long.

I also think I felt you have hiccups last week...just a steady feel of kicks for about a minute.  "They" say that this is a good thing that shows you are learning to swallow and "breath" in there - that your lungs are doing their job!

You also seem to be "sitting" lower too.  Much of the time, I feel your movements really low and I feel more pressure "down there".  I know that you  "drop" naturally more towards the end, and can even have dropped now...so I'm going to ask the doctor about this in a week or so.  It seems that this shouldn't be concerning for you, even if you dropped early, it just means that you are getting ready for the big day!  I also have been getting some tightening in the past couple of weeks of my lower tummy area.  I believe this could be Braxton-Hicks contractions...not sure though, since this is my first rodeo.  From what I read, my body is preparing for birth, so this is probably just the BH contractions doing their thing, getting everything ready for the big day too!

Oh, and I have to give a HUGE shout out to my wonderful CDE (Certified Diabetes Edcucator) and pump guru, Val.  I have really struggled in the past couple of weeks with my blood sugars - again - all normal and healthy that this is happening, but MAJORLY frustrating for you Mama!  It's been a constant battle of increasing my insulin in various ways, which means adjusting pump settings every 3-4 days.  I had been hovering the mid-high 100's and trying to "trust" my pump's adjustments and not override it's suggestions (I've talked about my trust issues with my pump before, haven't I?)...but I finally got to the end of my rope and realized I need to adjust more with these corrections from the pump and started overriding again (sorry Val!). I just feel like you are fattening up immensely in there if I don't do something.  Well, finally I had some data from my CGM (continuous glucose monitor) that I sent Val and even though I had been making adjustments to my settings along the way....Val worked her magic last weekend and gave me a whole new slew of adjustments to change in my pump and I have been chugging along quite nicely ever since.  I know that this is all short-lived and I will have to readjust everything in a day or two (because that's just how life will go for the next 10 weeks!)...but it feels like a breakthrough to me (finally!) and I really need that!  Every time lately I have taken my blood sugar lately and it's been in the 90's....I say, "I love Val!".  I think your Daddy is getting a little jealous!  =)  And there have still been some high ones too (right now, my late afternoons are on my watch list!), but being able to have 90-100 readings through the whole night into the morning is amazing!  And so good for you!

One more thing I have experienced this week, more than before at least, is round ligament pain.  I had NEVER heard of this before pregnancy, but they are basically the muscles that attach to your uterus.  So the bigger the uterus gets, the more they stretch, hence the pain!

Anyway, I went for a walk earlier this week and less than ten minutes in I had some of this pain on my right side!  Whoa!  Literally stopped me dead in my tracks!  I almost called your Daddy to come and get me, but I'm a tough son-of-a-gun and I stopped for a while and it eventually lessened (but it seemed like forever!). It kind of worried me there for a minute, actually.  I think I try to still walk at my non-pregnant pace and that was a good lesson for me to slow down.  I had it the next day with walking again, but not nearly as bad.  When I felt it coming on, I eased up and it eventually was held at bay.

I forgot to do belly pictures last week, so here they are this week!  As your Daddy tells me, I'm really getting out there....so here you are!  =)

There you are at 29 weeks!

Oh and here's something I knit for you this week (the bow is courtesy of my cousin Erica!)...just thought I would share.  Your Daddy is teaching me to sew this week - so maybe I'll have more projects to share from that soon too!

Love you baby girl!  We keep talking each week about how we can't wait until you are in our arms!  We need some prayers for patience I think!  =)