Week 29

Now that organ and nerve development is almost complete, your baby will start gaining weight very quickly this week — mostly in the form of body fat. This fat will provide insulation for Baby and will fill out most of the wrinkles in her skin, making her look like a plump, healthy baby.
In addition, Baby's brain continues its important developmental work this week. In fact, it is growing so quickly now, it may cause her flexible skull bones to swell slightly. The folds and fissures of the brain continue to develop, allowing room for important interconnections between nerve cells. During this week, brain wave patterns begin to look like those of a full-term baby.
By this time, your baby may weigh just under three pounds and is a bit less than 14 inches long.
Other important developments in the 29th week include:
* Baby will begin to produce prolactin, a hormone that will help your body produce colostrum. (Colostrum is the first breastmilk you’ll produce and is filled with nutrients and immunity-enhancers.)
* Insistent kicking action will occur as Baby's muscles develop. Later in this trimester, these movements will slow down as Baby gets bigger and the uterus gets more cramped.
* Baby's skeleton will continue to harden.
* Baby's lungs will continue to mature.
* Baby's downy lanugo hair will begin to shed into the amniotic fluid. She may still have some on her body at birth, but this will fall off in the first week or so.
* Toenails will continue to grow.
* Retinas will continue to develop. (verybestbaby.com)

He has been really busy in there lately! Wednesday and Thursday of last week he was particularly active. Ordinarily I love his movements but it was starting to get a little annoying - sort of like Chinese water torture - it just wouldn't stop and I was going crazy. Now he's back to his normal activity level. :) Sometimes I feel his kicks/punches on the top, left side of my belly and sometimes I feel them way down low. I've told him he needs to get situated before it he's too big and it gets too crowded. :) I had my blood glucose test today. I forgot what a long wait I'd have between drinking that stuff and getting my blood drawn. Lily was with me and she was a trooper. We were at the doctor's office an hour and a half and it was so boring for her but she did great. Now I'm nervously awaiting the results of the blood test. I really, really don't want gestational diabetes. I LOVE sugar!

Lily and I drove to Stevens Point on Friday to visit Mandi and Bryan. My friend Lisa went along and did a Pampered Chef party for Mandi's friends. It was a quick trip but a lot of fun. We stayed at a very icky hotel. There was a big event happening in Stevens Point and I had trouble finding a hotel with a vacancy. And now I know why our hotel had a vacancy! I'll spare you the details but trust me when I say it was gross. On a positive note, Lily and I slept together in the hotel bed and she did awesome! I can't believe how fast she's growing up. It was nice not to have to bring the pack 'n play. :)

On Sunday afternoon we went to a party for my cousin Chrissy. She took as much leave as she could to come back to Minnesota to see family and friends. She heads back to her base soon and leaves for training in either Washington State or New Jersey in July and then for Iraq in September. It was really fun to see her. She's turned into such a cool person and she's as funny as ever. When I asked her what her plans were she said she was just gonna go fight a little war. She's definitely concerned about going to Iraq but she's handling it so well. She was hand picked as one of only 13 people from her base to go. She's the only female. She can do 55 push-ups in a minute! She'll be back in November of '09 and then she goes to Turkey for a year. Anyway, it was great to see her. And a little sad since it'll be such a long time before we see her again. We'll be praying for her LOTS while she's gone.