Your baby's probably moving more than ever before. Some pregnant women even have trouble sleeping because their babies' kicks and rolls keep them up at night. If you're having this problem, comfort yourself with the knowledge that your baby is active and healthy. You're also getting some practice for all the sleepless nights you'll endure as a new mom. If you haven't already, now is a good time to start monitoring your baby's activity level. Twice a day count your baby's movements. Ideally, you should feel at least ten kicks, rolls, or swishes in two hours. If you notice fewer than ten movements in two hours or a significant decrease in the frequency of your baby's movements, tell your midwife or doctor immediately.

At this point you may be quite eager for your pregnancy to end and your baby to be born. Aches and pains, along with feelings of anxiety, may increase at this time. Some women may become frightened by their own lack of maternal feelings. This is a common and natural emotion that many pregnant women experience. For some women, bonding won't occur until birth -- or even later. The final weeks may begin to drag.

Your baby's arms, legs, and body continue to fill out — and they are finally proportional in size to his head. He weighs about 3 1/4 pounds and looks more like a newborn. You can expect your baby to gain at least two more pounds before delivery.

Visually, your baby may track moving objects with the eyes. When he or she blinks, the eye's iris responds to light and dark. The lungs and digestive track are nearly mature, although the last few weeks in-utero are still important for lung development. Your baby is now around 14-1/2 inches head-to-toe, and weighs nearly three pounds, five ounces.

Pay attention to your baby's kicks and rolls now. Your perception of your baby's movements is an important tool in assessing your baby's well-being. Ideally, you should feel at least ten movements in two hours. If you notice a significant decrease in the frequency of the movements you've come to expect from your baby, you should tell your midwife or doctor immediately.

Your baby's organs are continuing to mature, and he is passing water from his bladder, good practice for the urinating he'll do after he's born. Soon you can wonder what your baby is wishing for — brain scans have shown fetuses have periods of dream sleep around month eight.

You've probably gained three to four pounds this month. Gaining a pound a week is quite normal during the last trimester — your baby has a final growth spurt before birth.

Christmas Eve marked exactly 9 weeks remaining until our due date arrives, while Christmas Day was the official mark of "7 months pregnant"... which my mind always wants to say means "I'm in the seventh month" but which doctors and pregnancy books & sites often actually mean "I'm entering into the 8th month." Go figure. ;)

I continue to grow. And even if the belly isn't growing by leaps and bounds - though it feels to me as if it is - the baby certainly is, and little JAM is constantly causing me aches and pains, being often up under my ribs or compressing my lungs. And, yet, it is all certainly worthwhile... for s/he constantly moving, that endless joy of knowing a child is growing inside me, and s/he is our wonderful, precious child and so soon will be here!

I'm certainly feeling very pregnant these days, often waddling my way about and having difficulty lowering and rising from even the bed or couch. I can't do much without tiring, or my abdomen or back muscles aching, but my baby is healthy and I am healthy and there are no complications, so that is a good thing.

I feel as if I have a ton to say and to add this time around, and yet I am feeling too tired to hunt for the words... and too emotional, perhaps, to put it all into words.

Suffice to say, I am deliriously happy, and eagerly anticipating the moment I can hold my baby in my arms for the first time. Soon... so soon now. 9 weeks and counting.