30 Weeks Along (Friday, 12/12/08)

Most of this week was spent with Paul working on the mural while I cleaned the house, finally put up Christmas decorations, and wrapped Christmas presents. I am finally done shopping now. Usually I am done before Thanksgiving or at least by the weekend after but this pregnancy just doesn’t have me in the mood for a whole lot of walking around and shopping. It’s too tiring and too likely to make my feet swell so I have to do it in small increments. Over the weekend we finished putting on the third coat of blue and green and Paul drew and painted Pooh’s house on the left side of the mural wall. He spent hours shading the tree which I thought was crazy until I saw how it turned out. It is amazing! I would have just painted it plain brown and been done but he added highlights and lowlights of many different colors until it looked almost real. He then did another tree during the week in the right corner of the mural wall which extends partially onto the adjacent wall. This tree he shaded amazingly as well. Then he drew and began painting Pooh, Tigger, and Piglet but ran out of time to finish them as it was Friday already. The mural is nowhere near done like I wanted it to be for the shower but it looks so much better than I could ever imagine that I can hardly complain. I have been taking pictures of its progress and will post them when it is all done. Tomorrow is my first baby shower. I am excited.

News from the womb…
The baby’s brain has now begun to take on a wrinkled appearance because of its rapid growth. A wrinkled, or convoluted, brain contains more brain cells than a smooth brain and is potentially more powerful. By now the red blood cell production by the spleen has been taken over by the bone marrow. However, the spleen retains its potential for blood cell formation into adulthood. Myelinization of nerves continues which speeds nerve cell transmissions. Most of the lanugo (the downy hair that covered the baby’s body) has disappeared now except for patches on the back and shoulders. However, the white (as yet unpigmented) hair on the baby’s head is well developed. The baby’s crown to rump measurement is now about 11 inches and its weight is at least 2.75 pounds.