23 Weeks!

I was feeling bored with the same old black sensor boxes so I decided to spice up this weeks censored cartoon naked pregnant lady with orange "pasties." I'm feeling a little spunky this week :) I finally feel like I'm able to work out without passing out, which is nice and makes me feel like less of a fat cow. I've had horrible heartburn/indigestion and sciatic nerve pain, but aside from that I feel ok. Charley kept me up ALL night last night kicking the crap out of me. It's so nice to feel her and I smile every time, but in the middle of a sleepless night I was ready for her to settle down and let me get some sleep. I realize she's preparing me for all those sleepless nights to come once she's here, but she's got a while to cook before she's ready to come out and I'd prefer to sleep a bit in the meantime.How your baby's growing: Turn on the radio and sway to the music. With her sense of movement well developed by now, your baby can feel you dance. And now that she's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), you may be able to see her squirm underneath your clothes. Blood vessels in her lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that your baby's increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing her for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as your dog barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze her when she hears them outside the womb.Twenty-three weeks marks an important point for your unborn baby. Your baby-to-be is far enough along in her development that she could have a chance at survival outside the womb. According to the March of Dimes, of all babies born at 23 weeks, 25 to 35 percent survive. This number goes up considerably when you add just a couple weeks: babies born between 50 to 70 percent of all babies born at 24 to 25 weeks survive. And 90 percent of all babies born at 26 to 27 weeks survive. Although all of your baby-to-be's internal systems are in place, she needs more time for those intricate systems to mature.