Week 23: Our Little Spaghetti Squash

They say that time speeds up once you have children, and I already believe it.  This past weekend, Archimedes entered the 23rd week of his or her expected 40-week gestational period.  We're now more than halfway through our pregnancy, and the pregnancy books finally seem to agree:  as of this week, we have a bona fide baby in the womb, not just some fast-growing doppelganger looking "more and more baby-like each day".

Week 23 marks a few important milestones for Baby.  For one thing (pardon me just a second while I knock on wood), Baby now has at least a small chance of survival outside the womb.  And that chance is, thankfully, only the beginning.  Each week over the next month or so we can look forward to dramatic increases in statistical preemie survival rates.   In fact, in early May, we'll be looking at rates of 90% and counting.  That's certainly one reason to celebrate the quick passage of time!

This week also marks the beginning of Baby's race to reach weight.  Although Archimedes's growth up to this point has been almost bafflingly rapid in terms of pure percentages, most of that growth has been easy to overlook from our macroscopic perspective.  Now at about one pound in weight and 8 inches crown-to-rump (baby's legs aren't usually included in their measurements since they tend to be tucked under while in the womb--but BabyCenter claims that overall Baby's now about the size of a spaghetti squash), Archimedes's growth spurts are about to become apparent in a major way.  By the end of this month, Archie will actually have doubled his or her current weight, mostly by building up baby fat.  That means Mom is going to be packing on the pounds, too--though hopefully at a rate not quite so proportionally extreme!

The reality of this baby is setting in (as evidence that this pregnancy is not just a big misapprehension continues to pile up).  I suppose that means it's time to start earnestly attacking our to-do list to prepare for baby's arrival; time is a-tickin'.

On the other hand, maybe it means I ought to just steal a little a few moments to savor what Archimedes and I have for now.  My little baby's growing up so quickly, but for the time being at least, we've got each other wrapped in an embrace that neither of us is quite ready to escape.