25 Weeks!

Head to heels, Baby Bradbury now measures about 13 1/2 inches. His weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga (another strange vegetable), but he's beginning to exchange his long, lean look for some baby fat. As he does, his wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and he'll start to look more and more like a newborn. He's also growing more hair — and if we could see it, we'd now be able to discern its color and texture.

24 Weeks - take two!

First, I know this is late...we have had a busy week on the farm. Second, I started a post yesterday and it got deleted...I was too frustrated to redo it!

So here is last week's update: Baby Bradbury'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 (imagine an ear of corn), 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.

I went to the doctor last Thursday. All is going well. Baby Bradbury's heartbeat was great. My blood pressure was wonderful and I passed my glucose test! Next month we will have another ultrasound! Have a wonderful day!

23 Weeks!

If I was much of a dancer, I could turn on the radio and sway to the music. With his sense of movement well developed by now, Baby Bradbury COULD feel me dance. That is if I was doing any dancing :)! And now that he's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), I have been able to feel him move, which is amazing! Blood vessels in his lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that Baby Bradbury's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing him for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner (cows mooing and mommy and daddy snoring!)— probably won't faze him when he hears them outside the womb.

Baby Update - 22 Weeks!

As summer gets on the way, here is this week's baby update.

The grow must go on! Baby Bradbury now weighs nearly a pound and measures nearly a foot in length. (He is about the length of a spaghetti squash.) He is starting to look like a miniature newborn. His perfect little pancreas is now further developed and he's also started producing his own hormones! (Already!?) Baby Bradbury's future in the circus as a world-famous tight-rope-walker is secure: his inner ear is now developed to the point that he had his own sense of balance. Lucky for our little explorer, balance also promotes physical dexterity, which has him actively feeling out his surroundings where skin, body parts, and the resident umbilical cord are the big sensory experiences. Baby Bradbury is looking a bit like an oversized raisin right now as more and more wrinkles are showing up each week. Not to worry, all that excessive wrinkling is just his skin’s way of planning ahead for the time when they’ll start piling on that irresistible baby chub.

Baby Update - 21 Weeks

Baby Bradbury now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long (Based on the average, but I think that he is a little larger.) — the length of a carrot. His eyebrows and eyelids are fully developed. For now, books are pleased to report the addition of rapid eye movement (REM) a key component to any healthy baby’s sleep schedule. And I can certainly feel him move. He's oblivious to my schedule, though, so I try not to be surprised if he starts working out just when I’m settling down for the night. (That might explain the frequent trips to the restroom…some nights it is too numerous too count. J) While in the dermatology department: his thin soft skin is very red, rather translucent, and a bit wrinkled. Not to worry, it’s not a premature aging disease. It's just his clever little body setting him up with extra space that will smooth out once our little one starts packing on the baby-fat. That won’t be for a few more weeks, though. So for the time being, our munchkin is still a little lean mean growing machine! The beginnings of what is commonly called “brown fat” is just starting to fill in to help Baby Bradbury retain some body heat, which is crucial as he’s not yet capable of regulating his own body temperature.

Continuing to be blessed!

Information borrowed from the following websites: thebabycenter.com and baby-gaga.com

Welcome to the Bradbury Bulletin

With school quickly coming to an end, I thought it would be easier to manage baby updates via a blog. So let's see if this works!