Heading into the 7th month

I just realized I am about to start my third trimester! I am totally amazed. This pregnancy seems to be going so quickly. This little baby moves so much. Day and night. Holly says everything is looking good, but she needed to up my insulin again. My numbers are mostly good, but my morning counts have been too high lately and there have been a few high ones here and there. She also said some babies have problems with the insulin, so she'll start doing weekly sonograms pretty soon to monitor the baby's growth and breathing.

While we were in the exam room, Jude hopped up on the table and asked Holly to check his baby. She took out her fetal heart doppler and listened to his tummy. Since he's so small and his heart is close to his tummy, she picked up his heartbeat quickly and he gasped and said, "you hear that?!"

Here's what American Baby has to say:

Things are a bit cramped inside your uterus, so your baby now has to assume the fetal position, with his legs bent onto his chest. Your baby can still move around, flex his limbs, and make grasping motions with his hands. He may seem more active at some times of the day than at others. As you lie in bed at night, you might see your whole stomach change shape as your baby shifts position.

At the start of this month your baby's eyelids slowly open. The pupils will grow larger or smaller in response to changes in brightness. On the eyelids, his lashes are starting to grow. his taste buds are well developed, and he could respond to sweet and sour tastes by changing the expression on his face. He has many more taste buds now than he'll need after delivery.

Your baby's skin is less wrinkled now, as fat begins to fill out his contours. Inside his skull, his brain is enlarging rapidly. The surface of the brain is becoming folded and wrinkled, which gives more space for nerves to grow, and its sections start to take on their distinct lifetime roles, such as controlling memory and speech.

The hair on his scalp is growing longer. Lanugo, in contrast, is starting to fade. If your baby is a boy, his testicles are starting to descend from the abdomen, where they developed, toward his scrotum.

Your doctor may perform an ultrasound examination to determine the baby's size and position. Not all mothers-to-be will have an ultrasound exam; those with a low-risk pregnancy don't need a routine ultrasound examination if no problems are suspected.

At the end of this month, your baby weighs about 3 pounds and is about 11 inches long.