26

Well, the Bean is continually getting noticeably bigger. She is supposedly just under 2 pounds, but I swear she's got to be pushing 3 or 4 pounds! I've had to do a special diet for the last three days because my doctor wants to test me for diabetes. My initial glucose test came back as abnormal, so this is the second phase of testing. I could easily believe I have it with as big as I am, and diabetics often have larger babies. My mom got diabetes while she was pregnant with my brother and though he was born a month premature he still weighed 12.5 pounds!! Moving on, the Bean's sense of sound is becoming more fine-tuned--the nerve pathways in her ears are developing so her response to sounds is becoming more consistent. I can easily believe that because most nights before I got to bed, Adam puts his head next to my stomach and talks to the Bean. Lately it seems like she starts moving around and pushing up on my stomach when he does this. He swears he felt a foot or something the other night while talking to her. He was so amazed--he said, "I definitely felt something hard like a foot or hand push up against your stomach." He'll poke my stomach and wait for her to push back--it's like they're playing a game. Other news: the Bean's lungs are further developing and she is taking in little breaths of amniotic fluid. I read somewhere that the Bean is developed enough that she could now survive outside of the womb, but we want her to stay where she is for a while. :)

25 Weeks

Well, we only have a little over 3 months left until the Bean's big debut. She is about 13 1/2 inches long and weighs about a pound and a half. You can see that she is starting to pack on the weight. It took 5 1/2 months for her to reach the 1 pound mark, and in only 2 weeks she's added half that amount! Her wrinkly skin is starting to smooth out as she fattens up and she's starting to look more like a newborn. Her hair (assuming she has some) is recognizable now as far as texture and color goes, though that could change after she is born.

Blimey! The Bean is 24-weeks-old today!

The Bean is beginning to train for the the 2012 Summer Olympics in London (hence the use of the word "blimey" in the title; trust me, "blimey" is not part of my regular vocabulary). Do they even let 4-year-olds compete? Based upon her recent movements, she seems to be a strong contender for the floor exercises. Seriously though, I can literally see Tiffany's stomach moving as The Bean practices her routine. It's pretty amazing.

The Bean has probably gained a quarter of a pound and is about the size of decent-sized largemouth bass (about a foot). She'll soon start putting on that adorable baby fat that makes baby cheeks so hard to resist from squeezing. Acccording to Baby Center, "her lungs are developing 'branches' of the respiratory 'tree' and cells that produce surfactant, a substance that helps the air sacs inflate easily."

So that's it for this week. For all three of our readers, we'll be back next week!

Week 23

The Bean is a big girl now--she is just over 11 inches long and she finally weighs in at 1 pound!! She is also a very active girl--it feels like she's doing somersaults at times. She looks red and wrinkly and the big developmental happening of the week is that the blood vessels in her lungs are developing in preparation for breathing. I've been sick this week with a cold that Adam was kind enough to pass on to me, so the Bean has been getting bounced around with all of my coughing. Here is a picture of the Bean and I hanging out at Niagara Falls a couple of weeks ago--see, I told you she's a big girl.

Bean Counter!

It's a bonus post! Thanks to my (Adam) Aunt Beth, we were pointed to a site where you can actually set up a countdown for your Bean. While it does feature an eerily floating bean in a womb, it's still cool to see how many days until Bean Fest 2007 (The Bean's Birthday). It's over there on the right side of the blog.

Happy Week 22, Bean!

Don't worry, The Bean is still around and so is her blog. We have no excuse other than laziness for not updating the blog lately, but here we go again!

The Bean has now passed the state of being compared to various food products, and is, according to BabyCenter, beginning to look the miniature version of a full-grown newborn! She is probably about 10.9 inches long and weighs almost a pound. Her skin is wrinkled, but will fill out as she puts on more weight. The lanugo (fine hair) is now visible all over her body. Her eyes are fully developed, yet lack the pigment that determines her eye color (which is probably brown since both her parents have brown eyes).

The Mother of The Bean has felt her moving for some time now, but the Father of The Bean can also now feel her movements as well. It's really amazing to think that there is an active Bean inside the mother! Just a few more months until The Bean makes her earthly debut!

19 Weeks: The Small Zucchini

It's been a fun few days since discovering that the Bean is a she-Bean. Adam made a space in the closet for the Bean's clothes (still the one pair of feet pajamas). From my ultrasound, I got a better picture of the size of the Bean than from comparing it to a piece of produce. The Bean's head was positioned in my lower abdomen and a foot was somewhere slightly above my belly button. I've posted the pictures from the ultrasound. There is one footprint and a couple profiles of her head and upper torso. The one where her mouth is open makes us laugh. It's a little creepy because it is so skeletal and even looks like she has some jagged teeth, but we think it's funny--it's like she's grinning for the camera! We've decided it will have to be a blackmail picture. The Bean's legs and arms are now in their right proportions to each other and the rest of her body. The Bean is starting to sprout hair on her scalp and there is quite a bit of activity going on in her brain--it is starting to develop areas for all of her senses--smell, taste, sight, hearing, and touch. Another fun happening of the week is that I've finally started feeling the Bean move around. The Bean is usually active after I eat. It might not be possible, but I swear I saw my stomach move one time during one of these periods of activity. As for me, my clothes keep getting tighter as my belly expands. I foresee a necessary shopping trip on the horizon.