Saturday, July 18, 2009

24 Weeks!!


Okay, so yesterday got a little crammed and busy, so the 24 week update had to wait until today. Oh well!!

Before I get into all that, there are a few items that need to be addressed/announced. First off, my AFP (or "Quad Screen") results came back and everything is normal! Yay!! What a relief! Second, I'm moving to Hawaii with my mom and Mike. They want to help, and the best way they'll be able to do so is if I move to Oahu with them. At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to move, but after some thought I realized that this is really the best way. My mom is super excited that I'm coming--and so am I! So I'll be flying out there on September 14th (as long as the pregnancy is still going well and there are no high-risk factors). I'll be 32 weeks along by then--gah!!

Anyway, this week Gabriel is about 1 1/2 pounds and about 8 1/2 inches--about the size of a standard letter. His weekly weight gain is around 6 oz now! That weight is coming from body fat increase and growing organs, muscles, and bones. Gabe's face is almost fully formed--he has a full set of eyelashes and eyebrows and most likely some hair on his head. All of this hair, though, is white since there's no pigment in it yet. He is also starting to produce white blood cells--preparing to fight of the possible infections of the world.

Some interesting developments I've started noticing: he responds to the sound of my voice and even my touch (if I rest my hand or my arm on my belly)! It's awesome. If he's moving around and kicking a lot, I talk to him and he settles down! On the flip side, if I want to feel him move all I have to do (a good portion of the time) is just press my hand to my belly and he kicks to respond! The resources (pregnancy books and websites/articles) say that this is his way of communicating with me. Super neat, right?! He already knows me and I'm totally in love!

P.S. I've uploaded ultrasound and belly pics to their appropriate/corresponding blog posts. If you want to see, they are on May 21 (first ultrasound pic), June 9 (second ultrasound pic), July 4 (first belly pic), July 6 (the AWESOME ultrasound pics), and July 10 (23 week belly).

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