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At 32 weeks, Peanut now weighs upwards of four pounds, and Monica's blood volume has increased by as much as 50 per cent, meaning she has 50 per cent more blood and plasma in her body right now than she did before she was pregnant. This is due, of course, to the baby's increasing needs, but it also helps to offset blood loss during birth. He's now getting big enough that Monica's having a slightly harder time breathing (he's pushing on many organs, including her lungs) and sleeping (he's making her abdominal muscles stretch, and his growth is making movement in Monica's sleep more difficult). You can see in this illustration, courtesy of babycenter.com, that Peanut's big enough that he's more or less in one position (though he's DEFINITELY moving a LOT), but notice how, in this picture, the baby's little rump is pushing out towards the tummy--the last couple of days, we've really noticed how there's a little spot that's quite hard right in the center of Monica's belly, just above her belly button. This illustration is only a representation of an average, but that little hard spot we're feeling is his butt, methinks. Monica's gaining about a pound a week at this point in the pregnancy, and fully half of that weight gain is actually the baby's. He's also got most all of the hair he's going to have at birth, whether that's a full head of it or peach fuzz. One of the craziest things to me is that pregnancy hormones cause Monica's ligaments to loosen. This would seem--logically, I think??--to be for the sake of loosening her skeletal structure in order to push out the baby. The fact, however, that a hormone causes ligaments to loosen in order for a baby to be pushed out between bones blows my mind. We have doctor's appointment at 9:00 o'clock this morning...more after that.
Peanut is now gestationally ten weeks older than that little baby born at 21 weeks gestational age, who is going home from the hospital this week in Miami. When that wee little one arrived, she weighed less than a can of soda; she goes home this week weighing close to four pounds. Peanut, if he's in line with averages, already weighs more than three pounds, and he would now be considered premature only if he were to arrive between now and April 1 or so. Otherwise he'll be considered "preterm" all the way through May 6th or so. He's becoming extremely active. Last night he kicked and/or swatted in two different directions--up towards Monica's ribs, and down towards her left hip. That has got to feel odd. He got me in the back last night a couple of times--enough to wake me up, briefly. I wonder if it's an effort to prepare me for the waking hours of the night that are just around the corner...
By 30 weeks, the baby can open his eyes--he could do that several weeks ago--but now his eyes have developed enough that he is able to respond to light sources. Apparently, if we hold a flashlight or headlamp to Monica's belly, Peanut will now be able to track the light, though whether he will or not is more about his will than his ability. The baby's vision at birth will be, at best, about 20/400 or so, and for some time he'll keep his eyes closed much of the day while they continue to develop; when he does open them, he'll only be able to see things clearly within a few inches of his face. We've recently been reading a book written by an obstetrician that our friend Meg recommended to us. The doctor's convincing theory is that humans give birth at nine months because we aren't physiologically big enough to have a gestational period of 12 months, when many more of the body's systems are more well-developed and functional. She argues that many animals--foals, calves, various ungulates--are able to run and, to a certain extent, take care of themselves at birth. Humans, on the other hand, are born pretty much defenseless, relying on their parents to care for and protect them until their brains and bodies are developed sufficiently that they can take care of themselves. In the first three months after birth, another dizzying round of development takes place in the baby's organs, tissues, and brain, much of which could not occur in the womb, this doctor argues, because of the physiological limits of the human body. Ultimately, she's trying to provide a cogent sense of the baby's needs in the first three months of its life, what she calls the "fourth trimester." It's pretty convincing to me, but then, I don't have any experience yet. I'll let you know what I find out about the flashlight...
Here's a picture of some cool fabric that Monica is going to mess around with to see about making our own crib sheets and bumpers. Fun, huh? The design, called 2-D Zoo, was created by a guy named Alexander Henry. I believe he has an appropriately kiddish sense of fun in design.
The baby in the belly grows. He moves a lot, too. At 29 weeks, the baby began another rapid growth phase--he's gained more than 20% of his total body weight in the last 10 days, and now weighs approximately two-and-a-half pounds, and measures pretty close to 15 inches, head to heel. Among the craziest things this week is that had Peanut been, say, one of three triplets conceived through in vitro fertilization, the doctors would have already delivered the babies--they do so in the 27th week in such cases. Were our Peanut born this week, his chances of survival after premature birth would increase by 30% or more just from last week, largely due to the difference in lung development between the 25th and 27th-30th weeks. A truly dizzying array of developments takes place in this short period. His skeleton is hardening rapidly, as a result of 200+ milligrams of calcium being deposited in his bone tissue each day. You can tell it, too. Last night, Monica's belly had a bit of a torque in it, because the baby's body (we think head) was crammed into her right side. He kind of buldged out there, while her left side looked flat. All evening long, he punched, kicked, headbutted, swatted, and pushed on Monica's belly, making waves on her skin's surface. He could just as easily be called the "little earthquake" for how much seismic activity is occuring under the surface--but as much as it's a bit uncomfortable for Monica, they actually begin recording his movements now because he's supposed to be that active. On other baby fronts--yes, it really does seem like there's a second baby boom going on right now--Monica's cousin Dave and his wife Joleen learned yesterday that their first child, cute little Mitchell, will be welcoming a baby sister in June. Amy Oppio, colleague and friend from the NMA, and her husband, Jeff Erickson, will also be having a baby in July. Sugar Ray Hartsough and Caroline Emerson Branch both continue to glow at one month and four months of age, respectively, helping their older sisters learn to play well with others.
At 32 weeks, Peanut now weighs upwards of four pounds, and Monica's blood volume has increased by as much as 50 per cent, meaning she has 50 per cent more blood and plasma in her body right now than she did before she was pregnant. This is due, of course, to the baby's increasing needs, but it also helps to offset blood loss during birth. He's now getting big enough that Monica's having a slightly harder time breathing (he's pushing on many organs, including her lungs) and sleeping (he's making her abdominal muscles stretch, and his growth is making movement in Monica's sleep more difficult). You can see in this illustration, courtesy of babycenter.com, that Peanut's big enough that he's more or less in one position (though he's DEFINITELY moving a LOT), but notice how, in this picture, the baby's little rump is pushing out towards the tummy--the last couple of days, we've really noticed how there's a little spot that's quite hard right in the center of Monica's belly, just above her belly button. This illustration is only a representation of an average, but that little hard spot we're feeling is his butt, methinks. 
