Science

Everytime I visit my Doctor I am amazed at the specific science of pregnancy. I'm always prepared with my list of questions to ask. I've usually listed new sympotoms or pains I'm having, ready to ask Dr. Samuels if they're normal. Before I even get to the questions, she'll come in and say, "How are you? Around this week you should be feeling..." And off she goes, giving me a very specific list of all 23 things I've got written on my paper, as if she'd read them.

I'm always impressed by how specific pregnancy symptoms are down to the week. I visited motherbliss.com this morning to read what it said Micah and I had been up to the last two weeks, and was confronted by the same amazement of my body working seemingly like clockwork according to some secret book of "pregnancy laws."

The last week I have not been able to supress my appetite. I've mentioned to Terry that I feel like it's my time of the month because I can't supress my hunger, and it seems I'm eating all day long. Well, according to Motherbliss.com this was the exact week that science says I'll begin needing an additional 300 calories a day.

How can we not believe in God, or be amazed by his greatest miracle—children—when all of these things seem to shout of a higher being. Somehow, my body knows exactly what to do and when to do it. The next miracle is the start of labor. From what I've read, the beginning of labor has to do with three factors- brain cells in the baby being stimulated and signaling the placenta that, well, he's ready to go. Then the placenta has to somehow spread the message to my own brain who begins to signal my uterus to contract. That, in turn signals a myriad of new activities in my body. Just about every organ I have will simultaneously begin to prepare for delivery.

All the while- I'll be oblivious to the goings on. Such a miracle!

Anyway- I'll be 36 weeks tommorrow, and as Emily recently put it, Micah is negative one month old! Here's what's happened to us in the last two weeks...

WEEK 35

ME
I will now need 300 extra calories a day in these last weeks.
I may begin to feel fed up about the entire affair of pregnancy and will be eager to deliver my baby.

MICAH
Tater is almost 18 inches long and should still be weighing in around 5.5 to 6.5 lbs.
His fingernails reach the tip of his fingers and he may even have scratch marks on his face when born.
Fat deposition continues.
Micah fills most of my uterus now and feels very cramped in his limited space.

WEEK 36

ME
My prenatal checks will now become weekly.
The top of my uterus reaches its highest point, just below the breastbone.
I may suffer from pain in my ribcage.

MICAH
Micah is about 18.3 inches long and weighs 6-6.5 pounds.
He may be ready to engage this week or next. (Yes, Micah- please drop soon and let me breathe again!)
His sweet little face has filled out and looks smooth and plump.
Skull is firm but not hard. (It won't be hard until weeks after birth.)
Nervous system continues to mature.
He continues to practice breathing, sucking and swallowing movements.

On a last note- congratulations to mom who had a surprise grandma shower thrown by her friends last night!