Week 29: Butternut Squash

I'm in the middle of week 29 today and still feeling good - a little tired, but good! I had a monthly checkup today and everything is right on track. The doctor said the baby sure is growing, and I got to hear her heartbeat, steady at around 150 bpm. At this point I will start going to the doctor every two weeks, until around week 36 when I will go for weekly checkups.

On Monday we finished our five-week long childbirth class, with the last class focusing on what to expect right after the baby is born & infant care. Jan got to practice changing a diaper - I'm happy to say he is a natural! On Tuesday night we attended a breastfeeding class at Aspen Valley Hospital, after which we were able to get a private tour of the maternity wing. As we said in a previous post, AVH remodeled the maternity wing a few years ago, and we were really impressed with what we saw on the tour which included a peek at the nursery, a labor room and a post-partum room.

The highlight of the tour: as we went in to the labor room we could hear a woman in the room next door being encouraged to push. And a few minutes later - a baby crying! It was a little emotional, realizing we were a few feet away from a baby being born and the parents' lives being changed forever. And of course knowing that will be us in a couple of months!

And now, how your baby's growing at 29 weeks:
Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. Her muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and her head is growing bigger to make room for her developing brain. To meet her increasing nutritional demands, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because her bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby's hardening skeleton each day.