Week 30

Baby is the size of a cabbage!

Your baby's length is about 16 inches—about as long as a laptop computer—and she measures almost 11 inches from crown to rump. She weighs approximately 2 1/2 to 3 pounds.

From now until delivery, every baby will gain weight at a more individual rate. Your baby has doubled in height over the past six weeks, and from now until delivery, she'll gain only a few more inches in length. Don't worry if she's in a strange position (what your care provider might call a "transverse lie"). There's still plenty of time for her to get settled into the head-down (cephalic) position for birth.

She's floating in about 1 1/2 pints of amniotic fluid and has some room to move. Your baby's most important organ, her brain, continues to develop at a rapid pace. Her eyes are able to track light, and some researchers have theorized that exposing your belly to light may stimulate development. Try moving the beam of a flashlight slowly over your belly in a dim room, and see if she reacts.

This week baby girl and I tried tennis. Tried being the operative word. Thor is fairly excited though - he thinks that tennis scholarships could be in Sweet Pea's future. Of course, he has said the same of soccer and gymnastics. We can take a pretty good guess that she will be compact and strong but hopefully she doesn't take too many clumsy genes from me or it could be a uphill battle :).

My pregnancy hardship this week came in the form of the "Glucose Challenge Test". For those unfamiliar, the glucose challenge test is a screening for gestational diabetes. The mother has to consume a beverage containing 50

g of glucose and have her blood drawn and tested for glucose levels after one hour. Anything under 140 (don't ask me what that number represents) passes the screening and anything above needs a 2nd  3-hour screening to diagnose gestational diabetes. 

The glucose drink was disgusting. Imagine drinking jello liquid concentrate and you will have a fairly good idea. I was worried I wasn't going to keep the drink down but I got past that and ended up feeling OK, I drove to the lab to get my blood drawn. I have never been one who enjoyed having my blood drawn. In most cases I wind up feeling like the walls are closing in on me and everything gets dark. I have to lie down for 5-10 minutes and then can usually regain normal human function. Unfortunately, this screening was not the exception. I did make it out of the lab before I starting to feel faint, but then had to lie down on some chairs in the middle of the medical building. Im sure an 8 month pregnant lady lying across three chairs in a hallway was a sight to see. After lying for about 10 - 15 minutes I realized I might vomit soon. Now I was in a predicament, if I stood and tried to walk to find the bathrooms I would get more dizzy and potentially pass out. If I stayed on the bench I might start vomiting in the middle of a hallway. I chose to take my chances with walking and was able to hobble my way (walking while trying to keep head at heart level) to a bathroom that was mercifully close. I was sick but am happy to say that I felt much better afterwards and was even able to then drive home! Apparently my body just needed to get that glucose drink out of it! There it is folks, the glamour and sexiness of pregnancy! I felt fatigued and drained for the rest of the day and the following day, and was quite anxious that it might mean I had failed the glucose challenge. My friend who is a nurse (friends in high places folks) was able to look up my results in the hospital system and let me know early that I had passed with a 100! Woo hoo! Hopefully no more blood tests till D-day!

In less disgusting news, the Baby Shower count-down is on and I am so excited about the plans being made. It is shaping up to be a beautiful celebration of a young lady who is already so very very loved!!

Playing tennis while carrying two babies should be a new Olympics game.