The Magical 24 Weeks

Today I am 24 weeks, 1 day pregnant with little Jaxon Adam Lester. Our little man has been growing like a weed in my belly! He has gained approximately 4 ounces since last week and measures anywhere from 10-12" long. They say he could gain up to 6 ounces this week alone! In development this week he is growing more and more blood vessels throughout his body and the bronchi in his lungs are branching off into the smaller branches called bronchioles. The air sacs (alveoli) at the end of his bronchioles are also secreting surfactant. To not get too complicated, it pretty much helps our lungs expand and makes it easier for us to breathe. Jaxon this week is mostly working on gaining fat and will continue to do so until the end of pregnancy.


So at the beginning of my pregnancy I had barely any symptoms and was coasting on through it week by week. Well within the past month I've developed some more symptoms that I can blame pregnancy for, such as heartburn! I made some homemade pizza last night for dinner and boy did my chest burn afterwards! Good thing I had some Tums in the house! I also get heart palpitations almost every single time I lay down. I don't think I'm supposed to be getting them this often, so I'll have to mention that in my next doctor visit. Another thing I'll have to mention at my next appointment are the Braxton Hick contractions I had last night! I only had two of them, but I'm pretty sure that's what they were. I just felt tight pressure on my belly and it was rock hard. It wasn't really painful, just uncomfortable.

With my ever-growing belly it's getting harder for me to get up from either a sitting or laying down position. It's funny when Jake helps to get me off the couch. I won't even talk about how hard it is to put pants on in the morning, bending down gets me winded!! But what makes this all worth it is feeling little Jaxon kick and punch me all day and all night.

I've discovered Jaxon really likes to hear music with chimes or bells in it. Yesterday I played him the instrumental version of "All I Want For Christmas Is You" and he went crazy in my belly!! But when I changed it to a song with someone actually singing he just sat there and didn't make a move. I think we've got a little musician on our hands.  :)

Jake and I went to Babies R Us and exchanged Jaxon's travel system for a totally different one. We also purchased a lot of the little odds and ends we'll need before he arrives. Pretty much the only thing left to buy for him is bottles and diapers and we'll be set! I know he's going to love everything you all have given him!

In other news, Jake and I are looking into becoming first-time home owners!! We went to the bank today to get pre-qualified for a home loan, we should hear back next week how much we qualify for. We're going to be moving up north to a city called Temecula. It has one of the top 10 school districts in ALL of California, plus it was voted to be one of the top 10 cities to live in in America! We're very excited to call this "home". It also doesn't hurt that we can get a house for "cheap" up there, at least compared to San Diego city limits. If we were to purchase a home similar to what we're looking at up in Temecula here in San Diego it would cost us about $500,000 or more! In Temecula we can get the same house for $225,000. I feel bad for the current home owners everywhere because when we look up to see what the homes used to sell for they were in the $400k range and the owners are just losing so much money in their houses selling now.... but Jake and I are willing to take advantage of that. We're looking at buying a 4 bed, 2 1/2-3 bath house. I'll fill you all in when we actually go look at the houses ourselves instead of just on the internet.

Well, Jake is calling me saying that dinner is ready. I'll update this later with pictures of my belly!


UPDATE SEPTEMBER 5:::
So last night I'm pretty sure I had some contractions. It was one of the most painful things ever. I was doing dishes after dinner and they happened for about 30-45 seconds a piece and were about 3 minutes apart. It was hard to breathe when they happened. I went to lay down on the couch and had another one, but they stopped all together after that. I know obviously they couldn't have been "true" labor contractions since they stopped, but I didn't think Braxton Hicks were supposed to hurt that badly. The ones I had a few nights ago didn't hurt at all. So I have no idea what it was that occurred last night. I just hope it doesn't happen again for another couple months, little Jaxon needs to stay in there as long as he can!!!

We love you all!!!
Mommy, Daddy and Jaxon

Close up of Jaxon's bedding

I've got a big ol' belly

Jaxon is getting SO big!!!