14 weeks

Your Baby
Think of it this way: You're a third of the way through and baby's a third of the way cooked. Now that the "big stuff" (like skeletal and organ development) is taken care of, your baby starts a period of rapid brain growth, fat buildup and detail work. Highlights this week include:

Your baby now has fingerprints! Book 'em, Danno! Believe it or not, he actually created them himself while swimming around in the amniotic fluid. As he moved his hands, the skin on the tips of his fingers formed unique ridges and folds. That's why no one on earth has the same fingerprints, not even identical twins! Cool, right? Baby's arms are now in proportion to his tiny body, but his legs are still on the short size in comparison.

Meconium, that tar-like, sticky first baby poop, is now loading up your baby's intestines, which means you might want to set aside a bottle of olive oil, one of the few things that will get the gooey poop off of baby's bottom.

Your baby continues to gain new and impressive skills such as practicing and controlling voluntary muscle movements (this will help him fling food across the room later in life). Your tiny dancer's movements are no longer the jerky, uncontrollable twitches of yore—he now moves with graceful control.

Your baby is now weighs about an ounce and is the length of a flip phone, or roughly 3.5 inches—he's tripled in size from a mere three weeks ago! Luckily, you haven't done the same.

Maternity Clothes

My friend Katherine lent me a whole bunch of her Maternity clothes - because she totally rocks. Also, Delaine took me shopping at the Gap for some clothes. I really don't need them yet, but I wanted to bring a few things on our cruise, since my belly "could" pop out in those two weeks. I just figures better safe then stuck on vacation with uncomfortable clothes.

Anyway - OH MY GOD - Maternity Clothes are SO comfortable. Seriously, I think the word would be a better place if everyone wore comfortable clothes, and I swear, going back to regular clothes is going to be a nightmare. I think that is a huge contribution to why people have trouble losing the baby weight. I swear, I would be perfectly happy wearing maternity clothes for the rest of my life!

Worse Day so far...

So - Wednesday was my worst day of pregnancy so far. It was gross. Now, I know I have been very lucky in my pregnancy - other than a few complaints of heartburn, and I don't mean to sound whiny, but I am trying to keep track of all this so be patient with me!

So on Wednesday, I had an ultrasound at 10. I woke up at nine and started drinking water for the required full bladder. I drank a full glass, then hopped in the shower, and then drank two more glasses before we left.

Donna, Grant, and I went in for the ultrasound. This is a very specialized test, where the measure the thickness of the neck of the baby to rule out the possibility of Down's. (More about the fun parts of the ultrasound later when the pics and video are ready...)

In any case, they had to get a specific measurement, and baby was just not getting in the right position. To make matters worse, I was supposed to have completed drinking all of that water an hour prior to the appointment - oops - so my bladder was not full.

After a while, the technician decided that I would need to come back later in the day.

In between that time, I had some oatmeal, and went to visit Grant' s Grandma. I still had this lingering, annoying headache (I happen to have one now - fantastic - ) Then I got home. I went to lay down for a bit to try to get rid of my headache.

But I had this funny feeling. Next thing I know, I am in the bathroom throwing up. I know - I KNOW - this should not be a news flash for a pregnant woman - but considering that I was 13 weeks and hadn't thrown up yet, and really haven't thrown up since I was a little kid, it was gross and nasty and not at all pleasant. (I think, in retrospect, it was drinking such a large amount of water in a short period of time on an empty stomach....)

Thirty minutes later, I am slowly trying to drink my way towards 32 ounces. I have a thermos that lists the ounces on the side and I slowly make my way through the first four. Then, I feel it again.... "Grant, pull over, I think I am going to throw up..." So I get out of the car and proceed to barf on the grass in front of Albertson's. Charming.

So now, I am in panic mode. I mean I just threw up water. How am I going to get a full bladder for the ultrasound? Do I need to eat? Should I avvoid eating? What is going on?

We go to Carl's and I slowly sip on a sprite. We go to Walmart and I munch on saltines while continuing to sip on sprite. I make it to three o'clock without puking again, and with a very full bladder - a very painful bladder.

Lucky for me, my bladder was a bit to full, so in the high light of my day, I was allowed to go pee for 12 seconds. Man did that make me feel better. We finally got the measurement and I headed home, to lay down some more to try to get rid of the headache.

Ah - the joys of pregnancy! But as the card says, "There is no more joyful reason then to feel like such crap..." or something like that!

more about heartburn

So, In the evening mostly, I just get all full and have this nasty taste in my mouth and feel like nothing is quite settling - a;; my food just sort of hovers in my upper belly - threatening to hop up my esophagus. I have started taking zantac, although I am trying to take smaller doses - you know, like a half a pill instead of a whole pill, once a day instead of twice. It is helping, but not fully improving the situation.

The thing that is irritating right now is I am tired and want to go to bed, but I can't lay down for a few hours after I eat (even then, I usually have to sit up and lay down over and over until my stomach finally settles.) The problem is, after waiting those few hours, I get hungry again! So now I want a snack, but if I eat, I'll have to do the whole  waiting for the stomach thing to settle.

Heartburn - not fun. 

13 weeks - Nickname for the week? Nutter Butter!

Your Baby
Your baby can make a fist and even suck his or her thumb this week—both skills that are über-cute during infancy ... and not so much at the age of 9. If you're really lucky, you might catch a glimpse of baby's thumb sucking on an ultrasound photo. That's a framer! Other exciting developments include:

Your baby's eyelids are fused shut to protect his eyes as they develop. His bones and skull are solidifying and soon itsy-bitsy ribs may appear. (Baby ribs! How cute is that?!) Baby's intestines are finally right where you want them—in his or her belly instead of poking out into the umbilical cord. Baby's tooth sockets are all loaded and ready to pop out baby teeth six or seven months after baby is born (causing baby a lot of pain and you a lot of lost sleep).

Who's that singing? Elton John? Could be your baby: His vocal cords and larynx are completed now. He won't be able to make any sound yet, however, because sound waves travel through air and baby is submerged in fluid.

Your baby-to-be now weighs about 20 grams and is nearly 3 inches long, or about the size of a Nutter Butter, covered in chocolate. OK, it doesn't have to be covered in chocolate, but isn't everything better that way?

 

Heart Burn

Sucks. Royally. The last few days have just been yucky.