24 Weeks -- Viability!

If our baby was born today, he would have a 25% chance of surviving. His odds get better every week he stays in utero. The good news is that my blood pressure is still normal and hasn't begun to rise yet, so there's no danger of an early delivery at this point. I'm crossing my fingers that it stays down for awhile longer!

Dr. P. did a thorough echo of the baby's heart as well. Everything looks totally normal. Her thought is that if he actually has inherited any sort of heart defect from me, it's very minor and won't be detectable until after birth. He definitely doesn't have anything as severe as my defect was as it would have been very obvious on the echo by this point. So that's great news!
 

He gained over half a pound over the last two weeks, which explains why I've been so tired lately. His growth is on target for his age and he's in the 51% percentile, which is great. If my blood pressure had started to be an issue, we'd  expect him to be below the 10% percentile.

Last week I overdid it a bit and had quite a few braxton hicks contractions and some brown spotting. I'm still getting contractions any time I stand for more than 20ish minutes. However, they aren't the painful kind and they go away if I lay down, so Dr. P isn't too concerned at this point. She advised me to continue limiting my activity since it's pretty clear that my body can't handle very much. :-/

I can now frequently see him moving my belly around. That is so weird! He's also starting to respond to loud noises -- Tracy whistled at my belly last night and he responded with a hard kick!

This week's stats:
Gestational Age: 24 weeks, 1 day
Baby's Weight: 1 lb 9 ounces
Heartrate: 145 bpm
Fruit comparison: Eggplant
My weight gain so far: 4 lbs

Ultrasound #12

Yesterday was ultrasound #12. This little guy has a huge array of pictures already, starting at 5 days post conception and then every other week (at least) until now. My sister made a beautiful baby shower signing board with some of the ultrasound photos. I can't wait to fill in the empty spot with a newborn shot in a few short months...

Everything continues to go well. Baby is growing normally and is as active as always. My blood pressure was at the lowest it's been yet, which made my nurse happy. I've had a few braxton hicks contractions, but those are perfectly normal and they are few and far between so far. Since I've gone 5 weeks without bleeding, I'm finally allowed to increase my activity level somewhat. Dr. P. said I can do light walking for 15 minutes, but then need to sit for 15 minutes. I'm pretty sure I can handle longer than that since a few of our recent shopping trips have been well over an hour (whoops).

Last weekend my mom, sister, grandmother, and aunt hosted a family baby shower for me. It went really well and I was really touched by how generous everyone was. Thank you all so much!!! Between the clothes my friends have given us and the baby shower gifts, this baby is going to be well-equipped. We squeezed as much stuff as we could into our soaker tub since it makes a great storage vessel now that I can't take hot baths. We have another pile of boxes along the wall in our bedroom. I'm looking forward to decorating the nursery in a couple of months. =)

This week's Stats:
Gestational Age: 22 weeks, 1 day
Fruit comparison: Papaya
Baby's Weight: 15 ounces
Heart Rate: 146 bpm
Kicking: Lots! Especially after I eat.
Cravings: Not too many. Gummy Bears are pretty tasty. =)
Aversions: Still chicken
Weight change: +2 pounds