Double Digits

After speaking with Dr. Straughn earlier in the week, there's a great likelihood that Franklin will arrive on November 6th (if not before). If November 6th is the day, then we are officially in DOUBLE DIGITS!! As of today, there are 99 days left until we meet our little boy. We've come a long way!

We have also reached another big milestone: Viability. What is viability you might ask? Well, viability is defined as "The age at which your baby has a chance of survival outside of the uterus. This is usually defined as 24 weeks gestation. Though a baby born at this point is severely premature." Others define viability as 25 weeks, and at 25 weeks the baby has a 50% survival rate outside the womb.

This week, Franklin is the size of a rutabaga:

Although my chunky monkey has typically been much larger than he's supposed to be at each scan, head to heels Franklin now measures about 13 1/2 inches. According to the growth charts, he would weigh about a pound and 1/2 now. However, I'm thinking he's probably closer to 2, as he's been packing on the ounces in the last few weeks (he was almost a pound 5 weeks ago). He's also growing hair!

This week was a neat week. I've been feeling Franklin move from the inside for a long time, about 10 weeks, and have been able to feel his movements on the outside of my belly for about the last month. He never seemed to behave when Frank went to feel him kicking though, until the past few weeks. This week everything changed, as Franklin's movements are now obvious from the outside! As in, he makes my entire belly move, and I can see where he's pushing out from the inside. Frank easily feels and sees the movements too. I love feeling him wiggle around in there, and seeing my clothes move when he pushes out - but I can't help thinking to myself, if he's doing this now, what will it be like in the next 99 days!! Time will tell.

Next week, Franklin will be about the length of a hothouse cucumber:

Artwork for the nursery is in, and we've made serious progress! Posting pictures of everything this weekend, stay tuned!