12 weeks

How your baby's growing:

The most dramatic development this week: Reflexes. Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his toes will curl, his eye muscles will clench, and his mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, your baby will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. His intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into his abdominal cavity about now, and his kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder.

Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in your baby's brain, synapses are forming furiously. His face looks unquestionably human: His eyes have moved from the sides to the front of his head, and his ears are right where they should be. From crown to rump, your baby-to-be is just over two inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce.

fingernails... really?

Your Baby - 12 weeks
Baby's face is looking more human as his eyes have moved to the front of his head and his ears are in place. Hooray! Other amazing fetal highlights this week:

Your baby is able to swallow this week and practices on the amniotic fluid he or she floats in. (And you thought baby food was kind of nasty!) And in case you're wondering how your kid can breathe in all that fluid, here's your answer: Fetuses get oxygen from the blood pumped into their bodies by the placenta and don't breathe with their lungs. Mystery solved!

This is kind of gross, albeit fascinating, so feel free to skip ahead: Your baby's intestines are well under way, but they aren't all where you'd expect them to be. Instead of all being locked away in the body cavity, some are dangling on the outside, in the umbilical cord. Ewwww.

Don't forget to put a baby nail file on your registry—your little nugget's finger- and toenails are forming this week. The chin and nose are also becoming more defined.

Junior has doubled in size over the past two weeks and now weighs almost ½ ounce. He's also now around 2 ½ inches long, about the length of your pinky finger or a Vienna sausage, which, in a few months, will be indistinguishable from one another.

Dr.s Appt - July 22

Today was my first visit with Dr. Feldman. It was pretty easy and not a lot of new information. I've only gained a pound so far, based on my stated prepregnancy weight of 160 (I am about 157 at home, but the doctor is always 5 or 6 pounds more - at my first visit, it said I weighed 164, so I think I've actually lost 3 pounds. The discrepancy between home weight and dr. weight, of course, is that I always weigh myself first thing in the morning, buck naked, right after I pee. Well, you know, consistency helps when measuring these kinds of things!!!)

Took a little while to find baby to get it's heartbeat with the Doppler - the little peanut was hiding over on the right side of my belly, a little higher than I had anticipated. But the heart rate is strong - 161 bpm.

Dr. Feldman didn't measure my stomach - nothing really to measure yet - but he did feel around my belly.

All of my blood tests came back negative - so everything looks good there. I am O+ blood type, which I knew from all my past blood donations.

We talked about lifestyle stuff - he told me I need to exercise more regularly... I know I KNOW!!!! He said blue cheese and feta cheese is fine - they are always pasteurized - He said even on cruise ships it is fine. He said to just be cautious of the Mexican soft cheeses - check to be sure it is pasteurized.

He said jacuzzi is fine at 100 degrees but no more that 15 minutes.

He also signed my cruise ship paperwork stating that I will be at 15 weeks and ok to travel.

My next appointment with him is Aug. 15, just before I leave on my cruise. I also have another ultrasound on August 6, for an early screening for Down's Syndrome. It is a new test where they measure the thickness of the babies neck, and it rules out like 70% chance of downs syndrome - so I'll find out more about that in a week and a half!!!

Also - found out some good news about my insurance - my initial copay covers 15 prenatal visits and an ultrasound - so I don't have to pay my copay every time I visit! Huzzah! 

I also learned something interesting and completely unrelated - did you know that Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born on the same birthday in the same year? February 12, 1809, which is, interestingly enough, almost exactly 200 years before my due date (of Feb. 10, 2009).

11 weeks

Your Baby
All of your baby's vital organs are now formed and functioning, so the risk of defects decreases this week as your baby becomes less susceptible to outside influences. Phew! Other exciting developments include:

Baby's ears are assuming their proper place this week and the fingernail and toenail beds are beginning to form. Your little "pumpkin head" really lives up to his nickname as his head is nearly as big as the rest of his body.

While testes or ovaries are completely formed now, don't start decorating the nursery. You won't be able to see your baby's gender for a few more weeks yet.

Your baby is really on the move now. In an ultrasound you might be able to see your little acrobat flailing his or her arms and legs and doing somersaults worthy of Cirque du Soleil. You still won't be able to feel any movement, so if you feel something "kick" in there, it's probably gas.

In the next nine weeks, your baby will increase 30 times in weight and almost triple in length. You might feel like you're increasing 30 times in weight at this point, too, but we can assure you're not—because, honey, you ain't seen nothin' yet!

Your baby now weighs a third of an ounce, about the same as two small, Starbucks-sized packets of sugar, is about 2 inches long, the length of one of those sugar packets. Isn't that sweet?

10 weeks - my baby is a fetus now!!!!

How your baby's growing:

Though he's barely the size of a kumquat — a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby has now completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature.

He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy.

If you could take a peek inside your womb, you'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin.

In other developments: Your baby's limbs can bend now. His hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over his heart, and his feet may be long enough to meet in front of his body. The outline of his spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from his spinal cord. Your baby's forehead temporarily bulges with his developing brain and sits very high on his head, which measures half the length of his body. From crown to rump, he's about 1 1/4 inches long. In the coming weeks, your baby will again double in size — to nearly 3 inches.

exercise

I just did the first part of my pregnancy exercise video. I am pooped! And the video wasn't even hard! It is so weird! In one sense, I feel so good - very stretched and noodle-y, like when you get out of a steam room or jacuzzi or finish a rasul, but I also feel just wiped out! I could fall asleep right now and it is only noon!

 

Here is a video of my ultrasound:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJQ8sT2Skac

00:00 - 01:36 - Looking for a clear view and good angle of the baby.
01:48 - Zooming in on baby...The dark circle around it is the liquid sack that the baby lives in.
01:55 - 02:05 - The green arrow is pointing to a "fluttering," on the baby's chest - this is the baby's heart beating!
02:06 - 02:16 - Close up/time lapse of the heartbeat - 176 beats per minute - very healthy!
2:30 - First measure of baby's length.
2:35 - 2:46 My favorite part! Baby moving around and stretching all by itself! SO CUTE!
2:46 - 2:56 - Identify the head, arms, and legs of my little cutie
3:30 - 2nd measurement
3:45 - 3rd measurement - This gives baby a final measurement of 26mm, which means that on July 11, 2008, I am 9 weeks, 3 days pregnant. This means that the estimated die date is February 10, 2009.
4:30 - 6:20 This large chunk of video is zooming out and looking at the rest of my belly - the uterus, ovaries, etc. (The egg came from my right ovary...) She took measurements of everything for the doctor to make sure it was all the right size and stuff...
6:35 - Zoom in on baby again, and watch for the fluttering that shows the baby's heart beat...
8:25 - video ends - the rest is dead time... maybe I will edit it someday!

Our first Ultrasound! July 11, 2008 (Grant's birthday!)

So, yesterday, we had our first ultrasound! I was able to have an early one to get an accurate due date (since lord knows we can't rely on my wacky cycles!)

It was the coolest thing ever to see the teeny tiny little thing!

I went in with low expectations - meaning, that it would be so small we wouldn't get a lot of detail, but I was pleasantly surprised! We sould see the head, body, arms and legs!

The baby measured 26 mm, which meant that I was 9 weeks and 3 days pregnant. This gave me a due date of Feb. 10, 2009 - so I was pretty darn close! I also got to see the baby's heartbeat - 176 beats per minute! We learned that the egg came from my right fallopian tube!

My favorite part was this one time where she held the want still and the baby was wiggling and stretching - SO CUTE!

9 weeks

Lots of things are going on now with your baby-to-be. A human being has many double body parts and organs that originate at the same time and develop into a right and left counterpart. A beautiful symmetry. Every cell knows exactly where it has to be and what it has to develop into, without anyone telling it what to do. A 'little person' is almost complete, measuring about an inch in length and weighing some 2 grams, happily splashing around in its membrane filled with fluids.
Did you know that at 9 weeks, your baby already has a tiny anus and that little bones are beginning to be formed? From now on the baby will develop hips, shoulders, elbows, hands and fingers. The 'lower stumps' will get knees, ankles and feet and the fingers and toes will eventually lose their webbing. He can wiggle them, too! With small twitches, he squiggles with his little arms and legs. He can move his thumb to his mouth, which opens and has a tongue. Soon he will start sucking his thumb yet and develop a preference for his right or left hand which will last throughout his life. He even has a tiny little nose. In short, your baby is becoming a real miniscule human being with a face.

Tonight is so weird

I just feel so yuck. I feel yuckiest in the afternoon/evening. Tonight, I might actually call it "evening sickness." I didn't throw up, but while reading a menu for the disney cruise line online, I felt nauseous and started to cry. Just now, I started to cry - just randomly sob - for no freaking reason at all. I am laughing out loud at myself because it is just ridiculous that I am sitting here crying for no reason at all.

One more thing

So I get a voicemail yesterday, "Hi, this is so and so from Newport OBGYN. We wanted to talk to you about your test results - could you please give us a call?"

So, yeah - um panic much?

I call and they're all - "We found a little bacteria in your urine which might lead to a bladder infection so we just want to get rid of it - we're going to put you on an antibiotic (macrobid, my old friend) to clear it up...."

So my heart is pounding away, right, and I'm like, "O.K., is that all?"

And she says, "Yes,"

So I ask, "So everything else looks all right?"

"Yeah, everything looks fine, all your other tests are negative, Iron counts look good... looks good!"

Sigh. I am such a worrier. Is this real? Really real?

How I am feeling

The one major thing I notice is that if I eat what I would once consider a "normal" amount, like a Rubio's plate, or whatever, I feel really. really full and just yucky for a few hours - as if I have gorged myself at a Las Vegas Buffet, but worse.

Yesterday, I woke up with a sharp, painful sensation in my right nipple - almost like there was a needle in it. The boobs themselves don't hurt, but man, bump that nipple and I am in PAIN. I'm going to go to Walmart today to get a better fitting sports bra than the one I have - which I probably bought in high school.

Every once in a while I have days where I just fill blah - not quite nausea, but almost. I've been a little constipated, too.

The reason that I haven't blogged much about it, though, is that I really overall feel fine. I don't feel like i have much to report. I am feeling very fortunate in that so far, my pregnancy has been very kind! I sincerely hope it continues.

I am really excited for Friday, when I get to have my ultrasound - get my exact due date, and hear the heart beat. I am SO excited!

8 weeks

Your pregnancy: 8 weeks

See the big picture

How your baby's growing:

New this week: Webbed fingers and toes are poking out from your baby's hands and feet, his eyelids practically cover his eyes, breathing tubes extend from his throat to the branches of his developing lungs, and his "tail" is just about gone. In his brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways. You may be daydreaming about your baby as one sex or the other, but the external genitals still haven't developed enough to reveal whether you're having a boy or a girl. Either way, your baby — about the size of a kidney bean — is constantly moving and shifting, though you still can't feel it.

See what's going on in your uterus this week. (Or see what fraternal twins look like in the womb this week.)

 

weight and stuff...

8 weeks

160 pounds
Belly - 34 inches (Not really sure which part to measure....)

Blood Test

This morning, I went to get the blood test done for all of those prenatal tests they do. I'll find out the test results with Dr. Feldman on July 22.

Tuesday July 1st

I had my first prenatal appointment today. It was kind of disappointing. All they did was answer questions and do a routine exam - breast check, pap etc, and give me paperwork to go get some blood tests (which I am doing later today - Thursday). This appointment was with a nurse practitioner, Jessica Brownrigg.

The good news is that they have me scheduled for an ultrasound next Friday - so we should know then that everything is where it is supposed to be, and I should be able to hear the heart beat. I am so excited for that!

My next appointment with Dr. Feldman is on July 22.