12 week development

This past week's development:

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 and weighs half an ounce.

They say the baby's about the size of a lime right now, so here's a visual of about how big that is...

I'm in the last week of my first trimester since I'm now beginning my 13th week and I'll officially be 13 weeks on Sunday. I'm looking forward to the change of now being in the 2nd trimester.

Second ultrasound

We had our ultrasound Wed. at 12:30 and everything went well. The baby is doing fine. It's heart rate is at 164 beats per minute, which is where it should be at this point, so that's great news! We were also able to get some more pictures of our baby, which was very exciting since our baby actually looks like a baby now.

Above: Our baby is a little over an inch long. You can see the line across it's back - that's it's spinal cord forming.

Above is a picture of our baby's arms - see the little fingers!

We were also able to see our baby in 3-D AND she printed off some pictures for us. These are amazing!

2nd Dr.'s appointment

Yesterday we had our 2nd doctors appointment. The appointment was just to pretty much take blood and do other tests. I mentioned how with our first appointment they did an ultrasound and told us that the baby's heart rate was lower than they like to see it at that point - it was 94 beats/min. and they like it be at at least 100. I had been reading in one of my pregnancy books that sometimes they're able to use a Doppler to hear the baby's heartbeat at this point in the pregnancy, so I asked if that was a possibility. The lady said that really it's a little too early to find the heartbeat using Doppler, but she tried anyway. Unfortunately she couldn't find it, so they've scheduled us to have another ultrasound today at 12:30 just to make sure the heart rate is where it should be at this point. I'll keep you updated on what we find out.

Baby's Development at Week 10

I am now 10 weeks along, which means I just completed my 10th week (and will begin my 11th week tomorrow). Here is the description of how the baby developed this past week.

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.

Drew and I have our next doctor's appointment this coming Tuesday. We think they'll listen for the heartbeat using a Doppler device, so we're looking forward to that. Praise the Lord I've been feeling well throughout this whole pregnancy with only very minor morning sickness. I'm hoping I can make it the rest of the pregnancy (especially what's left of the first trimester) without any.

In other news, SCHOOLS OUT!!! Friday was our last day of school, and although it was sad to say goodbye to my students, I am excited about the break. This summer I am planning on working around the house, scrapbooking, and spending time with Drew, especially since his schedule's a little lighter right now too. We have 2 trips planned - 1 to CA to visit with Drew's family and 1 to Yellowstone National Park with just Drew and me. We're looking forward to both trips, although I'm especially hoping morning sickness doesn't hit me during those long flights. :)

I made a VERY long slideshow for my students that just shows pictures from throughout the year. It's about 23 minutes long. Also, Drew and I had trouble saving the slideshow as a movie (I used Windows Movie Maker) so he had to downsize the quality of the pictures so they're a little fuzzy. I'm going to try to upload it so you can view it if you'd like. Enjoy!

Baby's Development over the past week (Week 8)

Here's how much our baby developed this week (according to the book we're reading)...

"Your baby is growing up a storm, this week measuring about half an inch in length, or about the size of a large raspberry. And that sweet little raspberry of yours is looking less reptilian and more human, as his or her lips, nose, eyelids, legs, and back continue to take shape. And though it's still too early to hear from the outside, your baby's heart is beating at the incredible rate of 150 times per minute (that's twice as fast as your heart beats). Something else new this week: Your baby is making spontaneous movements (twitches of the trunk and limb buds too tiny for you to feel)."

Babycenter.com also says the following took place in regards to our baby's development this past week:

"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." This site suggests that the baby is about the size of a kidney bean. So here's a visual of about how big our baby is.

New Rocker and Pickles

Drew had a GREAT find at a recent garage sale. One of the items on our list to get before our baby arrives is a glider rocker. Well, he found one while garage saling during our neighborhood garage sales last week. It's in great condition, a nice neutral color, and was only $40 for the chair and ottoman. I decided to test it out with Bailey as my "baby".

I must have done a good job rocking him because Bailey fell asleep within minutes (although that's not unusual for him to do). :)

After trying out the rocker, Drew and I decided to play some games. While playing games, I thought pickles sounded like a good snack. I've always liked pickles so it's not a surprise that I wanted some, but I guess I ended up eating just about the entire jar - there were only 3 spears left from what was a brand new jar. Drew gets a kick out of it saying that it's my "first craving".

I'm nearing the end of my 8th week (Sunday), so I'll post an update of how the baby developed this week. :) So far I've been VERY blessed with (very) minimal morning sickness. Usually I just feel slightly nauseous in the mornings when I first wake up. I have a sleeve of saltine crackers on my bedside table so I just eat 1-2 and feel fine. Then sometimes I'll have another slight nauseous moment mid-morning, but once I eat a few saltines I'm fine. I pray it continues like this!

Baby's Development at Week 7

We thought we'd update you on what's developing with our baby based on a book we got called What to Expect When You're Expecting by Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel. Here's what it says about Week 7 (which is where I'm at now):

"Here's an amazing fact about your baby right now: He or she is 10,000 times bigger now than at conception - about the size of a blueberry. A lot of that growth is concentrated on the head (new brain cells are being generated at the rate of 100 cells per minute). Your baby's mouth and tongue are forming this week and so are his or her arm and leg buds, which are beginning to sprout into paddle-like appendages and to divide into hand, arm, and shoulder segments - and leg, knee, and foot segments. Also in place now are your baby's kidneys, and they're poised to begin their important work of waste management."