- WEEK 29 -

ahniér's almost 17" long now, nearly as long as she'll be at birth, but her 2-3# weight [that she is right now] will likely more than double & may even come close to tripling by delivery time - her wrinkled skin's smoothing out as more fat's deposited under the skin surface - this fat, called white fat, is different from the earlier brown fat that she accumulated - brown fat's necessary for body temperature regulation, while white fat actually serves as an energy source - she now weighs as much as a butternut squash
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mama's been feeling butterflies moving around in her belly, it’s not just her run-of-the-mill pre-birth performance anxiety - no, it’s ahniér, the amazing baby with a case of the hiccups: a fairly common occurrence at this point resulting from practicing breathing for her big birthday
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space in ahniér's living quarters is now at a premium, so mama will be feeling jabs & pokes from elbows & knees mostly, but those kicks will be more vigorous than before [& also less erratic] because ahniér's stronger & excitedly responding to all sorts of stimuli [movement, sounds, light & that candy bar mama ate half an hour ago] - luckily, she doesn't have teeth yet that would need a brushing after that sugary treat, but it won't be long before she'll be getting that first baby toothbrush!
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back to those kicks, who's counting...actually, mama should be - now's a good time to start doing a kick count twice a day to make sure ahniér's doing just fine [plus, it's a good excuse for a rest] - lie down [preferably after a snack] & keep track of her movements - mama's looking for at least 10 movements in an hour's time [don't forget to count movements of any kind — kicks, flutters, swishes, rolls & so on] - ahniér's sensory organs are well developed & she can now open her eyes & will turn her head towards the source of any light - she's now beginning to regulate her own temperature & her bone marrow's completely in charge of production of the red blood cells now
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this little monkey's also been peeing into her amniotic sac for a little while now [this' why potty training takes a while] & if you didn’t know, actually swallows it along with the rest of the amniotic fluid - although the concept's nasty, her urine's sterile and as part of the amniotic fluid base, is replaced several times throughout the day - so if you didn’t know before, now you can tell people, that yes, you drank your own urine—you were still in the womb, but nonetheless, you’ve been there
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in addition, to getting a round of butterfly-like hiccups, ahniér's [aka the little swimmer], has arduously managed to accumulate enough baby fat to account for nearly 3.5% of her overall body weight - yeah, compared to us adults, it’s not a lot, but when they’re little like that—it’s certainly a healthy [& warming] accomplishment in its way - last but not least, her spleen's now in charge of hematopoiesis...the process involved in building up certain important blood components