25 Weeks

Head to toe the baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches and still weighs only about a pound and a half, but she's starting to fill in with 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.  The small blood vessels under her skin are also starting to fill with blood, so her skin is taking on a pink color.


She's also growing more hair, and if we could see it, we'd now be able to discern its color and texture!  Her adult tooth buds are also developing up above her baby teeth buds in her gums.  The baby’s nostrils (which until now have been plugged) begin to open this week. By today, blood vessels will have developed in the lungs.  After birth, these vessels will allow blood to flow through the lungs to intercept oxygen and circulate it to her tissues.  The amniotic fluid (all six gallons of it) is also being removed and replaced by my system EVERY THREE HOURS!  Yikes!


The baby continues to practice reflex movements, and by now, she has developed the startle reflex, meaning she might jump when she hears loud noises outside the womb.  Jeremy said he would be more careful from now on! :)

As for me, I am uncomfortable, but feeling good overall.  The kicking is getting harder and more frequent -- but Jeremy still cannot feel it! Every night, I put his hand on my stomach and keep saying over and over again, "THERE!  Did you feel THAT?" and he shakes his head. Soon enough, I guess.


Jeremy and I did some planning in the nursery today.  We had some high hopes that we might not be living in this city or this house when the baby came, but we got some good news the other day that Jeremy got another job at the Henry Ford Museum, so we will be here for a little while longer at least.  So, we started the process of changing the room next to ours from the workout/storage room into a nursery and talked about what we will have to do to make it work.


There are a few problems, like PANELING on the walls, which we probably can't paint pink because we are renting, and the fact that there is NO CLOSET.  However, there is an entry to a flight of stairs that leads to the attic, so I am going to buy two tension rods today -- one for baby clothes and one to go behind it with a white curtain to make a fake back wall of a closet.  Genius, right?  And, the room is actually ivory on the top half of the walls and lavender on the bottom half (because the homeowner was going for "neutral" ...?) so if I just do pink bedding and pink accents, I think it can work.  Anyway, I know we could have MUCH WORSE options for a room to put the baby in, and like Jeremy said today, it is not like we are putting her in our horrific "Silence of the Lambs" basement.  So, parents of the year, right? :)