24 Weeks!!!!!

Yes! I am 24 weeks. I am very excited about this actually. It's another milestone down. First I had to get past 6 weeks as I had never made it that far before. Then, past 12 weeks as I knew I would be "safe" then. Then it was 20 weeks, just cuz it's the halfway mark. And next up was 24 weeks. Because now Shrimp has half a chance of surviving should something go wrong. Chances are NOT good and I in no way want Shrimp coming now, but it just gives me a sense of extra security to know that if the "what if's" I always have in my head come true, all hope is not yet lost.

And so it's been another interesting week. Things you learn about traveling while pregnant. First off, I was highly surprised to find a lot of very polite and good mannered men on my flight out here. I must actually look somewhat pregnant (although that seems to depend on who you are asking, lol!) because men were jumping up and down to help me with my bag. One guy on the first leg of my flight put my bag up AND brought it back down from the overhead compartment for me! And he even stood aside to let me out of the seats first! I was very surprised. This happened regularly throughout the rest of my day, which just now became interesting.

We were delayed for take off from KC due to weather in Atlanta and were told to stay parked for about an hour after our scheduled take off time. We actually were able to push back earlier than we thought and were in the air 30-45 minutes after the scheduled take off time. Then the pilot gets on the intercom to tell us that not only are we late taking off but that they changed our flight pattern so our normal 1.5 hour flight will now take 2+. I'm thinking, great, I have an hour in between flights and this is going to cut it awfully close. Not only that, but I'm flying into Atlanta which has the worst airport for transferring flights on short connection times. So we land but are only 30 minutes late! We made good time in the air and they changed our pattern back to the 1.5 hour travel time. I had 20 minutes to make it to the next gate before my scheduled take off and to get 4 terminals away. I'm thinking this is going to be close, but I can do it. I was NOT going to run at 6 months pregnant through the airport. So I walked, fast, but I walked. I made it in 10. To get to the gate to find out that not only had they closed the doors already, but they gave away my seat. I'm thinking, uhhh hello? You knew my plane was late...you knew when it landed, you knew I'd have time to make it and yet you STILL gave away my seat and locked me off my plane? Customer service is not a strong suit of Delta, and the stewardess at the gate would hardly give me any thing other than "you have to go back to gate 24 and talk to them there." Thanks. Whatever. So I walk back to gate 24 to scan my pass to find out that the NEXT AVAILABLE flight leaves at 8 pm that night. It's 11 am. I knew there was a flight leaving at 12 something, so I go to wait in the line of people waiting to talk to the people behind the desk at this gate. Only to get told that they can't help me (they are only helping other people!?) and that I had to use the phones next to them to call the reservations line. So I do, to wait on hold for 20 minutes to find out that all other flights out that day, except for this one, are booked. I can try flying stand by, or go into alternate airports and rent a car to get to my final destination (about 100 miles away from the alternate airports). I'm thinking, if I have to rent a car anyway, I may as well rent one from Atlanta and drive, it's only 3.5 hours. Not only that but I have a meeting I needed to be there for by 3:30 and this was cutting it close. So I ditch my connection and drive from Atlanta to Huntsville. Everything was going well until this stretch of road in the middle of nowhere and Shrimp finds my bladder. HARD. And continuously. Shrimp was insistent that I needed to go NOW and was making sure I didn't forget it. But there was no where to go! I drove for 20 more miles looking for any safe place to stop and finally found an Arby's where I almost RAN into the bathroom. It hurt SOOO bad by then. My poor bladder was sore from being so full and being used as a soccer ball for the last 20 minutes.

Anyway, I made it on two wheels for my meeting and to my hotel room where after dinner I went straight to bed. I was exhausted.

Today I was thrown my first baby shower by my co-workers here. It was great and we had fun chatting and Shrimp is well set up for comfort so far. Got tons of clothes and some really cute sleepers. I finally have stuff to put in the drawers of Shrimp's dresser! I can't wait to go home and fill it up. I also got some great toys for the little one and a bear that is to help Shrimp sleep after the arrival. It's exciting to see things start to come together.

Anyway, I'm writing a book this time. I better tell you where Shrimp is at now:

Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts him at just over a pound. Since he's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), he cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but his body is filling out proportionally and he'll soon start to plump up. His brain is also growing quickly now and his taste buds are continuing to develop. His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world. His skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

Till next week!