16 weeks!

well, we had another visit with the doctor today...actually, we saw a new doctor today. there are two in the practice and we wanted to meet both so that it wasn't like having a stranger delivering our baby if our main dr wasn't on call when we went to the hospital. :)

anyway, we liked him. very calm and laid back. they both are. personable, and very patient through all my questions. :)

we got to hear the heartbeat again...it was in the 140s and sounded strong! it always makes it feel so much more real when we hear the little heartbeat ticking away. the doctor said everything checked out well, all looks good and normal.

we're really looking forward to thanksgiving this week...it will be great to be with family and have some great food.

speaking of food, i've been eating more of it lately. i'm hungry about every 2 hours, but there isn't much room in my stomach, so i don't eat much at a time. i guess that's probably pretty normal.

in other news, this website called diaperdecisions.com has a bi-annual event called 'the great diaper hunt'. they have all these sponsors that hide a little icon on their website and you have to hunt and find them. once you find a certain number of them, you get entered into different levels of a drawing for free cloth diapers and related products. there are several drawings, and i have 12 more icons to find, total. i've been a hunting fiend. it's over at the end of the month, but i hope to have found all the icons well before then. i also hope to win something, but even if i don't, i've now found a handful of great sites to visit when i need supplies and information.

oh, so here's what's going on with the baby right now, according to babycenter.com:
"At 4 1/2 inches long (head to bottom) and 3 1/2 ounces, your baby is about the size of an avocado. In the next three weeks, she'll go through a tremendous growth spurt, though, doubling her weight and adding inches to her length. Her lower limbs are much more developed now. Her head is more erect than it has been, and her eyes have moved toward the front of her head. Your baby's ears are close to their final position, too. Some of her more advanced body systems are working, including her circulatory system and urinary tract. Her heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, circulating her total blood volume through her body many times. (By the end of your pregnancy, this will increase to about 190 quarts.) The patterning of her scalp has begun, though her hair isn't recognizable yet. Although closed, her eyes are moving (slowly), and she's even started growing toenails."

14 weeks! 2nd trimester!

well, i'm a few days late posting...derek tried to post on saturday, but he couldn't figure out our password to our blogger account, so... :)

we're officially in the 2nd trimester! a third of the way there!! in six weeks, we'll be halfway there!

so this week, according to babycenter.com:

"Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb. Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active."

so for those of you who are interested, here's a picture of my burgeoning belly. for those who are a little squeamish for such things, look away!! ;)

the notes on the paper might be hard to make out, so the stats are:



mommy weight = -4 (that means four pounds less than when we found out i was pregnant)
baby weight = 1.5 ounces
baby length = 3.5 inches

enjoy!

13 weeks!

well, tomorrow is actually 13 weeks, but we have company this weekend, so i'm taking the opportunity to post now.

according to babycenter.com:

"Fingerprints have formed on the baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If it's a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. The baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce."

it's crazy to think the baby has fingerprints when it's only 3 inches long! internal organs are functioning, and at this point, the baby is really just a very tiny person. i wonder when the baby begins to have consciousness and experience time and things like that.

derek and i were talking last night about how amazing it will be at the next ultrasound, not only to find out the baby's gender, but to actually see him/her move around on screen. the ultrasounds we've had thus far were too early for the baby to be moving yet, so it will be incredible to see the baby moving.