29 Weeks

From Baby Center:

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.

His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. To meet his increasing nutritional demands, you’ll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because his 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.

Your baby’s very active now. Your practitioner may ask you to spend some time each day counting kicks and will give you specific instructions on how to do this. Let her know if you ever notice a decrease in activity. You may need a nonstress test or biophysical profile to check on your baby’s condition.

Some old friends — heartburn and poor digestion — may take center stage now. The pregnancy hormone progesterone relaxes smooth muscle tissue throughout your body, including your gastrointestinal tract. This relaxation, coupled with the crowding in your abdomen, slows digestion, which in turn can cause discomfort and heartburn — especially after a big meal.

Some women get something called “supine hypotensive syndrome” during pregnancy, where laying flat on your back causes a change in heart rate and blood pressure that makes you feel dizzy until you change position. You might note that you feel lightheaded if you stand up too quickly, too. To avoid “the spins” lie on your side rather than your back, and move slowly as you go from lying down to sitting and then standing.

Note from Jen:

About half of this week I slept wonderfully and the other half I hardly slept at all. It is kind of hit or miss and I am trying to figure out what helps on the nights I do sleep. A great friend who is one of Kenny’s students gave me a Bath & Body Works gift card when he found out I was pregnant. I used it to buy Lavender Vanilla Aromatherapy Oil- Sleep and it seems like when I use it I do end up sleeping better. Also since it has Sunflower Oil & Vitamin E, I can only hope that it helps with preventing stretch marks too 🙂 Anyway, since it does seem to help, I am going to try to use it all week this week and see if I can catch up on my sleep. If it works, I’ll have to go back and stock up!

I had a bit of heartburn again last night, but nothing too bad. So far I have been very lucky!

On Thursday I go in for my glucose tolerance test so yesterday I started adding those extra carbs to my diet. The good thing is that I really like having the toast and grape juice, so it isn’t a problem at all. However, I am dreading Thursday!

I am definitely getting bigger and bigger each day. I think all the weight that I didn’t gain in the first and second trimesters decided just to pack on all at once. So far I have gained about 15 pounds with most of that being just in the last month. By the end of the day it is more like 20 pounds since my feet end up swelling a bit sitting at work all day! Even with the extra weight, I still feel good and am able to take Pilot out for walks and pretty much be myself. Not waddling yet 🙂