27 Weeks

From Baby Center:

This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with his legs extended. He's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing his eyes, and perhaps even sucking his fingers.

With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if he were to be born now.

Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother him, so just relax and enjoy the tickle.

The second trimester is drawing to a close, but as your body gears up for the final lap, you may start noticing some new symptoms. Along with an aching back, for example, you may find that your leg muscles cramp up now and then. They're carrying extra weight, after all, and your expanding uterus is putting pressure on the veins that return blood from your legs to your heart as well as on the nerves leading from your trunk to your legs. Unfortunately, the cramps may get worse as your pregnancy progresses. Leg cramps are more common at night but can also happen during the day. When a cramp strikes, stretching the calf muscle should give you some relief. Straighten your leg and then gently flex your toes back toward your shin. Walking for a few minutes or massaging your calf sometimes helps, too.

Note from Jen:

I feel like I am getting bigger and bigger each day. It is pretty undeniable that I am pregnant, but this weekend it made me laugh when an old friend of ours saw me and didn't even notice. Chadd isn't too observant I guess, but we still love him :)

My calves have been cramping up at night when I sleep, but it goes away if I stretch them out. My feet were also falling asleep this weekend then I was crouched down on the floor going through boxes. Overall, not that bad. I feel pretty good most of the time.

The last few nights the heating pad has been an addition to my night time routine. So far it seems to work every time at relaxing my back, saving me from hours of lying awake hoping my back would stop hurting.

The weekend we cleaned out the shed and took about 5 boxes of stuff to the Salvation Army (on top of the 4 bags of stuff we took last week!) We are trying to condense everything and make room for the kiddo and all of his stuff! I am definitely in clean-out mode and got rid of a ton more stuff than I normally would. Stuff from high school...gone! Painting & craft supplies... gone! Old electronics... gone! More than once Kenny had to ask to make sure I was really ok with getting rid of things he knew might hold sentimental value and my answer was always, yes, get rid of it!

We have a few things that we didn't want to just dump at Salvation Army and are going to try to sell on Craigslist or give to someone we know could use them. If any of you could use a couch, office desk, office chair, or end tables, let me know :)

Anyway, I go in for my doctor's appointment Friday and then I'll schedule my 3 hour glucose screening when I am there. Hopefully I can get it over with as soon as possible.

Only one more week and then I am in my 3rd trimester! Can you believe it?