Week 24 of Pregnancy

What changes are occurring with your body?
You can now feel the top of your uterus around 2 inches from your belly button. The skin on your abdomen and breasts are stretching, which can cause these areas to feel itchy. Many times the itchy skin can be caused by dry skin. If you are having itchy and/or dry skin, use a good moisturizer or lotion. Your eyes may also be sensitive and dry during your pregnancy. You can alleviate some of the discomfort by using artificial tears to keep your eyes moist.*

How big is your baby?
Your baby is over 12 ½ inches long ( approximately 12.60 inches CHL) and weighs 1¼ to 1½ pounds.*

What is happening with your baby?
Your baby's brain is growing rapidly at this time. Taste buds are also developing, and the lungs are becoming more developed and complex. The branches of the main lung are beginning to form as well as special cells that will produce surfactant. Surfactant is necessary for the air sacs to inflate easily. Babies who are born prematurely often have trouble breathing because these cells have not had enough time to develop or are not producing the necessary amounts of surfactant.*

Can you believe the baby has gained nearly 1/2 a pound in one week? Seriously it took 23 weeks for him to get up to 1 pound and now he's doubled that in a week. From here on out there is going to be serious baby weight gain. Which also means I'm going to be moving a lot slower than I already am, I think. I can already tell you that in the last two weeks it has gotten harder for me to get up from a laying position and rolling over is not as easy either. IF you haven't seen the belly recently well it has sprang up out of no where. I woke up one day and there was this huge baby bump. Steven and I are going to take some baby bumpage pictures soon and post them for you guys to see. Plus my family is begging to see how big I am now. Officially anyone who wants to feel the baby moving and kicking can, as long as you don't mind rubbing the belly. You may have to wait until midnight or four in the morning to feel him, but you can. Those are generally the times when he's awake. However if I drink a little soda first thing in the morning it gets him all riled up about 30 minutes later.