McGrath Moments

I have yet to take my 6 mo. picture, but I can already see the pregnancy in my face, if you know what I mean! I have already gained 20lbs. My weight at this month's visit was 145lbs. I about fell over when I saw that! Generally, you are supposed to gain 20-25lbs for the entire pregnancy.

I had my final visit to the perinatologist today(25 weeks). The baby still looks great and is growing right on schedule, weighing 1 1/2lbs. Today he/she had a foot in or near his/her mouth. Too cute!! Just for simplicity, let's call the baby "him". Seeing him suck on his feet surely explains the amount of movement I feel. This baby is all over the place! He will kick or hit the top of my stomach and at the same time kick or hit me all the way "down there"!! I don't dare ever have a full bladder!

They measure my cervical length at each appt. This is one of the best predictors of preterm labor...or so I have read. The good news is my cervix measures very long and closed. I, of course, took the measurement they told me(4.82 cm) and looked up everything on the Internet about cervical length. At 24 weeks, a cervical length of 3.5-4.0 cm is average. I took my even longer measurement as a good sign, especially since I have been having contractions since just before Thanksgiving. I will do everything in my power to keep this baby inside me until at least 37 weeks!!

One funny story...I was doing an online gender prediction quiz, where they ask about how you're carrying the baby, how much morning sickness you had, what foods you're craving, etc. This particular quiz asked, "are your looks prettier or uglier since becoming pregnant?" I found this question very weird. Deep down, I would answer "uglier" but for some reason I had a really hard time clicking the computer mouse over that choice. Nobody wants to believe they are "ugly"! So what did I do? I asked Ed! The look on his face was priceless. He knew this was one of those questions where there was no right answer. Of course he said prettier. I decided that it was a stupid quiz and didn't finish it, but I still wonder which gender is related to looking prettier and which gender is related to looking uglier!?!