24 weeks! That means we've reached the milestone of viability!!! Yay! I'm so happy I wanted to shout it from the rooftops. While we've never had a baby threaten to arrive this early, reaching a stage of viablility means that if something terribly wrong should happen to make this baby come, it now has a fighting chance to live. And that makes me breathe so much easier!

How Far Along: Recapping week 24 (Picture taken at 24w 6d) Yay! My personal photographer is back!

How I'm Feeling This Week: Two words can basically sum up this week: hungry, and horomonal! Poor Nick! While this week was a hard week for us physically, mentally, and emotionally, we were able to take some time off to reconnect and now feel energized to get back to the daily grind. Too much going on for too long was not good for any of us here! But, despite the added stress giving me contractions for 4 days straight, the baby is doing well and growing healthy.

Braxton Hicks Contractions: Every day. They are my personal reminder to take life slower and put my feet up for a few minutes. I mean, after all, I am pregnant!

Aversions: None this week! 

Pregnancy Symptoms: 
•bleeding gums when I brush 
•vivid dreams 
•dark hair on my belly 
•brittle nails 
•darkened areola
•bigger breasts (not as fun as you'd think!)

Doctor/Midwife Appointment: None this week.

17P: Had my fifth 17P shot this week. They make me feel a little drowsy, then my arm hurts for 3 days, then comes a light itching feeling for the next 3 days. But, I'm hoping it gives us the result we want with a full term pregnancy.

Weight Gain So Far: I had a 24 hour period this week where I was so HUNGRY! It seemed like my appetite couldn't be satisfied. After Googling if this was normal at this time in pregnancy, I found out that between 24-28 weeks pregnant it is completely normal to be very hungry, and this next month is where most women gain the highest number of pounds in the pregnancy as the baby is doing some major growing. After week 28, my appetite and my weight gain should slow down a bit. 

I upped my calorie intake this week, since I'm at the end of the second trimester and should be consuming more calories to accomodate the speedy growth of our baby. I'm eating about 2,250 calories each day, and I'm using the My Fitness Pal app. to help me keep track of my eating habits. 

If you'd like to see my diet, you can look me up and I'll add you on my friends list. I'm listed as horseopeaceranch. 
For the second trimester I'm supposed to add only 300 extra calories to my regular diet each day, which translates to about one banana and a glass of milk. None of this "eating for two" business!

Starting Weight: 119 lbs. 
Last Week's Weight: 130 lbs. 
Today's Weight: 132 lbs. 
Goal Weight Range For This Pregnancy: High: 154 lbs. Low: 144 lbs.

Food Cravings: Protein, strawberries, and peanut butter were my cravings this week. Not all together, of course! I wanted a hamburger almost every day, peanut butter every day, and the strawberries were my treat for 4 days in a row until they were gone. Natural peanut butter and raw honey sandwiches on homemade wheat bread were a staple! 

And a wonderful treat I've been making for a few weeks to give me a healthy sweet snack, has been homemade low calorie chocolate pudding! At less than 70 calories per serving, I love eating the pudding frozen into pudding pops, or I had some with the strawberries I craved this week, and boy, was that good!

Regular or Maternity Clothes: It's all maternity or stretchy clothing from my waist down right now. With the warmer weather, I'm enjoying my skirts and dresses, and still wearing regular sized tops. I have one maternity t-shirt that fits me perfectly. I wish I had at least 5 more of them! Every other maternity shirt I've tried on is still too big. Probably won't stay that way for much longer. My belly is really starting to grow.

Starting to Show: Totally! On Mother's Day I had a stranger acknowledge the fact that I'm pregnant. That was the first for this pregnancy.

Boy or Girl: Nick knows, but I don't. He's being hammered by people wanting to know, and I get questions like, "You don't know yet?! Don't you want to know?" or strangers/friends blurting, "You need a girl!", or "I want you to have a girl."  Tell you what, when you begin to show, your pregnant belly sends out a signal to the general public that apparently you are open to every comment that comes to the top of their heads. 

Baby's Chance of Survival this Week: 40%-70%. Last week the statistics were only 10%-35%, so this is a huge improvement!

Baby Movement: Feeling the baby this week was really great. Being able to feel him/her pushing against my hand or Nick's hand is just amazing. His/her body is growing stronger and longer, we can tell. 

Size of Baby: No wonder I was so hungry this week! The baby gained about 4oz. since last week and now weighs around 1 1/3 pounds, and is almost 12" long, or close to the size of an ear of corn.

What I Did to Prepare for Baby's Arrival: Nothing this week. I've had thoughts about what I'd like to do, but haven't set aside the time to actually accomplish them.

Pregnancy Thoughts this Week: I'm starting to get excited about finding out whether this baby is a boy or a girl. Not that I want to find out before he/she is born, but just starting to know that it isn't much longer before we will get to meet him/her. Well, in 3 1/2 months. That may not be too close for you, but with all we have to do before this baby arrives, I know the weeks will fly by so fast! Being parents for the 4th time is so exciting for Nick and myself, and we know it will bring many changes to our family in the coming months.