Ever since I hit my pPROM milestone at 18 weeks I’ve been waiting for THESE weeks. 23 Weeks. The week that some hospitals will treat your baby as viable. And then of course 24 weeks the week that all hospitals will treat your baby as viable. For someone who’s water broke at 18 weeks this is HUGE. HUGE. I never want to rush my pregnancies. Ever. I love being pregnant. I love carrying life. But I want to keep that life and *for me* getting 24 makes it so that if my water broke again my baby would have a chance. Every day after that is a blessing. My baby has a chance! MY BABY MATTERS to more than just me, my family and friends. It feels good.
At about 10.5 to 11.8 inches and about 12.7 to 20.8 ounces, baby’s not just getting bigger, she’s getting even cuter. She’s forming little nipples (yeah, really!) Her face is fully formed now — she just needs a little extra fat to fill it out. She’s listening to your voice and your heartbeat — and even to loud sounds like cars honking and dogs barking.
Your 10.5-to-11.8-inch fetus weighs about 12.7 to 20.8 ounces and every week she gets closer and closer to being ready to survive (and thrive!) in the outside world. [Today marks the viability milestone, meaning your baby has a good chance of surviving even if she was born right this second]. Her see-through skin is gradually becoming more opaque and it’s got a new pink glow, thanks to the small capillaries that have recently formed.
I’m going to combine 23 & 24 weeks (see evidence of pregnancy brain)
How Far Along: 24 Weeks
Due Date: January 15th 2015
Boy or girl: Team Green!!
Currently craving: SALADS. I love salads. I could eat them three times a day!
Currently Avoiding: Not avoiding, just still not huge on meat.
Weight: Weight gain is holding steady at 6-7lbs thus far.
Belly button status: IN! This sucker is never coming out.
Sleep grade: I just need more of it. But I also need to just get to bed sooner. I don’t even want to tell you what time it is. You wouldn’t feel sorry for my tired pregnant butt!
Recent Crazy Dream: As I was working my way to 23 weeks I had a dream about my baby’s sex. I was driving in the car and I was in labor. B was with me as was a friend. As we were driving I gave birth. My friend took the baby after the baby was born and put it in the car seat. All of a sudden I was like “Oh HEY! What did we have?” and my friend said “A Boy”. I was like REALLY?! I could have sworn that we were having a girl. I was so shocked that I went ahead stopped the car, went to get my baby from the car seat, took the blankets off and sure enough VAGINA. I was like “I knew it”. My other pregnancy dream was similar in that it went from boy to girl. I’m not sure what this means. I usually dream the sex of my baby but these dreams are just darn right confusing.
The only thing I can think is that it is reflective of how I felt. At first I felt this baby was a boy. As time went on I was leaning more towards. Then I went to my ultrasound…
Evidence of pregnancy brain: I would have bet a lot of money that I only needed to plug in a picture for my 23 week update, searching my draft posts I realize that I never did this little quiz. I’m going with pregnancy brain combined with two births in about a 72 hour period right before I officially hit 23 weeks.
Symptoms?: Heartburn and being so darn exhausted after the births I attended. It felt like my body got hit by a train.
Health/Appointments: The births/lack of sleep left my immune system way low. I ended up getting sick and am still battling some crud. Mainly an ear infection. I’ve been using some natural remedies and the severe pain is gone but my ear is still clogged. Not cool.
At 22 weeks and a couple of days (so my 23rd week) I had two appointments, one with my midwife and one with my MFM. My cervix is still super long and closed (5.2) and they did a full blown anatomy scan where I got to see the baby! Here is a 3D picture.
I’ll be honest when I saw this picture I saw Mason and my first thought was “It’s a boy, this is a boy’s face”. I showed the ultrasound to B and he said “It’s a dude” so apparently we’re on the same page with that. BUT I’m still feeling conflicted.
Movement: Lots! This baby is especially active at night! B also got to feel this baby move for the first time on one of those active nights. Baby is bouncing around as I type!
Names: I started looking more into names but I’m feeling stumped for both male and female names. B seems to be stuck on this one boy name that I’m feeling so-so about for various reasons and I’m stuck on a boy name that he also feels so-so about. So like I said when I was pregnant with Kyla–We’re screwed!
Any baby related purchases? Yes! We bought baby his/her car seat. A Diono Radian RXT. It’s in Heather grey and should fit perfectly in the middle of Mason and Kyla’s Dionos.
Best thing to happen in the past week/ Worst: Best part was seeing my baby on the ultrasound and B feeling the baby kick. Worst part was just being pregnant and getting sick. It stinks to get sick. It stinks even more when you’re pregnant.
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