MY STATS @ 28 WEEKS:

Weight Gain = 15 pounds (.5-2 pounds a week since week 10)

Belly Button = more or less flat, but it pokes out when I laugh, which Ryoji finds HILARIOUS! ^_^

Rings = same as always - no hand swelling (yet)

Movement = baby is so active after meals, before bedtime, and at other random points of the day. Main movements are 1) large rolling movements, 2) repetitive spasms which are probably hiccups, 3) scraping/dragging movements which seem to be an elbow or knee or something - these are most noticible on the bottom side when I first lay down in bed and flip to the side. Recently, Akapanchan has found a spot right up under my right rib and likes to make me a bit uncomfortable by wriggling around up there!

Food = No real aversions, but still not so keen on chicken. Went through a few weeks of craving salads for lunch on a daily basis, but must have overdone on that and now the flavor of the week is Chipotle Veggie Burritos! OMG yum!! Of course, always craving things like chocolate and french fries, but that's nothing new. Also, as always, love my fruit and eat a peach, plum, and grapes pretty much on a daily basis. Start to get a bit queezy and/or cranky if I let myself get too hungry, so

Prep = Crib is set up, but clothes and other donations from my sister are not yet washed or ready to go. I got HypnoBabies study guide on e-bay and have just started it. I'm hoping it'll help me learn how to fall asleep quicker at night, and have a super relaxed stress & pain-free (really??) birth. Our 6-weeks of birthing classes at the hospital start October 13.

Overall, I'm loving my big round belly!! I've always imagined what it must be like, and it's just as fun and cool as I ever thought! Feeling Akapanchan move around, seeing Ryoji's reactions when he feels or sees the movement, is just really really awesome!! Only have slight hip pain when flipping over in bed at night and getting up for the bathroom in the middle of the night. But during the day, feeling pretty darn good! A bit tired recently, but not so bad.

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like an eggplant or Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

Being in the third trimester means much of your and baby’s anatomy are ready to go -- she's prepping for breathing, and your breasts already have colostrum, which is what baby will eat the first few days until your milk comes in. You’ll also start feeling more Braxton Hicks contractions as your body gets ready for labor. Baby will keep getting bigger -- and smarter -- after week 28, and other than that, she just needs a few more finishing touches.

This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower or a rutabaga) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with her legs extended. She's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she 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 her, so just relax and enjoy the tickle.

The network of nerves in your baby's ears is better developed and more sensitive than before. He may now be able to hear both your voice and your partner's as you chat with each other. He's inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid, which is essential for the development of his lungs. These so-called breathing movements are also good practice for when he's born and takes that first gulp of air. His eyelashes are all there and he's continuing to put on baby fat. He now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches (a head of lettuce or an English hothouse cucumber) from head to heel. If you're having a boy, his testicles are beginning to descend into his scrotum — a trip that will take about two to three days.

So, Friday I ventured to a Polish neighborhood of Queens after work to pickup the bassinet attachment I found on Craigslist for our future Britax B-Agile Stroller. It's $150 new, she was asking $100, and I paid $50. It's in great shape, no stains, so I'm pretty psyched. Not an essential, but I thought it would be nice during the infant months so the baby can lie completely flat in the stroller and also face the stroller pusher (baby can only be facing forward in the regular stroller seat).

Then Saturday I had the dreaded glucose tolerance test!! The only lab for my insurance with weekend hours was located in Staten Island, but lucky for me there was a direct bus from Bay Ridge across the Verazzano Bridge to the lab!! Took 40 minutes, but was super easy. Not so easy was the fasting combined with the long bus ride. I was suuuuuuuuuper car sick by the time I arrived at the lab at 8:30. The tech took the 1st 2 tubes of blood - one to serve as my baseline fasting blood sugar level, and 1 for a CBC to check my iron level (many pregnant women get anemic apparently). Then I got the orange glucose drink and was instructed to get it down within 5 minutes. It consists of 75 grams of glucose!! I heard horror stories about it being sickeningly sweet that women threw up and had to go back several times to attempt the test! With this in mind I took my first tentative sip. My thoughts... TASTY! It was basically like flat and extra sweet orange fanta, which I love! Though, halfway through the bottle it was definitely feeling over the top sweet, but my body was craving any sort of calories at that point it was quite easy to get down. Fast forward about 20 minutes I was a wee bit queezy but not so bad and it soon passed. Had my 2nd blood draw EXACTLY 1 hour after I finished the drink (supposed to be only 1 tube but he could only get the tube half full because of bad suction or something and had to restart and fill up a new tube). Sat in the lobby another hour and had my final blood draw. 3 pokes in my elbows, I look like a junky! And this was the worst and roughest phlebologist I have ever had - at least he got each in on the first jab, but he jabbed HARD and the jab sight ached throughout each blood draw and for a good 10 minutes afterwards! I never did get the shakes or major nausea as I read many women get. Not sure if this is a good sign or bad sign on passing the test. Probably just a sign that my body is used to being bombarded with sugar? haha whooooops! Should hear from the midwives this week if I failed, otherwise, as usual, "no word is good word".

Post baseline blood draw, about to down the go-go-juice!

My poor track marked arms (2 in right, 1 in left)! But could have been worse!! one lady came in while I was waiting for one simple blood draw, but she got jabbed like 4 times before they could get a vein! yikes!!

Had my 25-week check in at the midwives today. Same old same old - pee in a cup, step on the scale, take my blood pressure (always 100-110 / 60-70), hear the baby's heart beat (the BEST part!!!). This time they finally measured my tummy - after about 20 weeks the length from the pubic bone to the top of the uterus should be about the same in centimeters as how many weeks along you are. Indeed, I measured spot on 25 centimeters, how cool is that?? Below is a photo of her measuring me. I also uploaded the heartbeat - you can hear 2 scratch kind of noises in the beginning when the baby kicked me twice - right on the spot where the doppler was! It was really funny! Apparently, the doppler machine sounds like a helicopter, so maybe the baby was like "what the hell is that??" and tried to swat it away? Then you can hear the midwife saying that she was just getting a "reflection" of the heartbeat, so she moved it and found the direct reading of the heartbeat, which gets a lot louder! Anyway, all is looking good!

Unfortunately I got the news that the hospital where I'll delivery REQUIRES the glucose tolerance test, which tests for gestational diabetes. Most women get the screening test, which is simply to drink the special sugary drink and get their blood taken 1 hour later. If they pass, they're done. If they fail, they have to go back and do a more extensive 3 hour test. WELL...not my hospital. They took a more conservative approach in their policies and REQUIRE all mommies to be to do the test before 28 weeks, and it's a 2 hour test with 3 blood draws (one before drinking the sugar solution, 1 1-hour after, and 1 2-hours after). YIKES! I found a lab in Staten Island that has Saturday hours. Otherwise, I’ll have to take a half day off from work, which is no good…

I also asked my midwife today about the odds of actually being able to use the birthing center. She said, a few years ago they had problems with lack of nurses limiting women being able to get in. They’ve since fixed that problem, and now the limitations are more based on timing (if you’re past 41 weeks) or health issues of mom or baby. So, she said I have a pretty good chance of getting in. That was good to hear!

Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but she's beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she'll start to look more and more like a newborn. She's also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you'd now be able to discern its color and texture. Also, she's enjoying her new sense of equilibrium -- she now knows which way is up and which is down.

Maybe you’re getting nervous about delivery, or maybe it’s your haywire hormones, but you might start to have trouble sleeping around week 25. This is a common complaint of many moms-to-be. Some people will tell you that’s just your body’s way of prepping you for sleepless nights with baby, but those comments won’t help you get the rest you need!

Your 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 (picture an ear of corn or a cantaloupe), 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.

In the past few weeks, the top of your uterus has risen above your belly button and is now about the size of a soccer ball. Most women have a glucose screening test (also called a glucose challenge test or GCT) between now and 28 weeks. This test checks for gestational diabetes, a pregnancy-related high-blood-sugar condition.

These days, some babies born as early as 24 weeks (or even a bit earlier) may survive thanks to advances in neonatal care, but these extremely preterm infants require significant medical interventions and long stays in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), and the survivors often have serious long-term problems.