November 23rd - 28 weeks and into the final trimester.  Everything’s going well and we now see our doctors every two weeks for observations.  I’m still feeling pretty good even with increased indigestion, a little swelling around my ankles, a little more fatigue and the task of finding something to wear everyday.  We start our childbirth class soon (Dec 1st) and I’m really looking forward to it.

Ultrasound taken Nov. 20th.  - Towards the top of the ultrasound image you can see a bean shaped blob with two dark areas inside. That’s the umbilical cord that contains only one artery (normally two) and one vein.

November 23rd - 28 weeks. Not much change in the last two weeks.

December 17th Ultrasound - 31 weeks 5 days.  Approx. 3lbs 10oz.  Ultrasound image of our son’s face looking right at us!

Dec.17th and we’ve just got back from the OB/GYN.  Everything’s going very well.  Our son is a great size for his age and his movements are getting stronger.  His head is still very far down, the combination of that with the fact that he’s nearly 4 pounds means that we don’t get great side profiles anymore. But at least he’s healthy. As for me, I get indigestion nearly every day now, parts of him now go into my ribs, and I wear my maternity support band which gives me more confidence when I’m out and about. From next week we’ll have two appointments per week - one for an ultrasound and the other for a non stress test so they’re keeping a close eye on him to make sure that he’s still growing well.

Jan 2nd 2009 - 34 weeks today. Well, we’ve certainly had an interesting week so far. Tuesday we had out normal non-stress test, part of it is to check any activity with my uterus. As it showed many contractions during the test, the doctor checked my cervix to find out that it was thinning out (i.e. pre-term labour) and sent me to the hospital. I was hooked up to a drip and machines that kept an eye on our baby and my uterus for around 24 hours and given some drugs to stop the contractions. Everything calmed down again and I was sent home again on Wednesday with the advice of been on bed rest from now on.  We had another doctors visit today and are encouraged by that fact that things seem to be stable. So even though I’m still having contractions they don’t seem to be changing anything that much.  Our doctors of course would be pleased if we can make it to 38 or more weeks but even if we make it to 36 they would be happy............ and so will we!  We’ll let you know if anything else happens.