Dark Lord Update

Getting closer and closer...! DL has kindly been trying to help me get ready for my upcoming schedule adjustments by refusing to let me sleep for more than an hour at a stretch. It's either that, or my ribs offend him somehow.

I am also swollen and beginning to resemble the marshmallow man from Ghostbusters.

However, it's all worth it now that I can feel his little butt and hands and feet. And I just realized a day or two ago that he recognizes B's voice. When he hears it, he turns and then is still as if he's listening intently.

• Amniotic fluid is at its highest level during your pregnancy.
• Your baby's head size has increased 3/8ths of an inch due to rapid brain growth.
• Neurons and synapses are developing in huge numbers -- forming connections in your baby's brain will give him the skills he needs to thrive as a newborn. This week, he may be able to coordinate sucking and swallowing with breathing.
• While most of his bones are hardening, his skull is quite pliable and not completely joined. The bones will be able to move slightly to make birthing easier.
• You baby takes intermittent deep breaths -- of water! That's okay, though since he gets oxygen from the placenta. This breathing exercises muscles and encourages her lung cells to produce more surfactant (a protein essential for healthy lung development).
• If your baby is a boy, his testicles will be descending from his abdomen into his scrotum. Sometimes one or both testicles won't move into position until after birth.
• Your infant is now 17.2 inches (43.7cm) long and weighs 4.23 pounds (1918gm).