24 Weeks

How our baby's growing:

Our baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts him at just over a pound. Since he's almost a foot long he cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but his body is filling out proportionally and he'll soon start to plump up. His brain is also growing quickly now, and his taste buds are continuing to develop. His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world. His skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

Another cool moment... Greg's birthday was yesterday (the big 27!), and this morning, right before I rolled out of bed, I could feel our little guy kicking like crazy, so I woke up Greg and told him to put his hand on my belly. He waited with his hand there for about a minute and just then our baby did a big kick and Greg finally got to feel him move for the first time!! Then he kicked about 3 more times for dad to feel before I had to get up for work. Greg had been trying to feel him move for about 3 weeks, and every time he would put his hand on my belly, he would stop kicking or just not kick hard enough to feel. So, it was a pretty cool wake up birthday present for Greg this morning!

In more great news: Next baby doc appointment, this Wednesday at 11:00am, and we get to have the 4-D ultrasound pictures! Stay tuned and I'll be posting the pics of our little man's face!! Let's hope he gives us some good shots!