Week 9

Your baby is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain. [from www.babycenter.com]

The past few days I have experienced a lot of nausea. I am finding that the more I can snack throughout the day (especially on fruit and drinking lots of water) the better I feel. This week has been very exciting as we are telling more and more people. We are overwhelmed with the loving comments and prayers we are receiving from everyone.

Our Baby's First Pictures

My First Doctor's Appointment

Yesterday was my first doctor's appointment. It was at 2 p.m. and C met me there. We didn't have to wait too terribly long and were called back. Immediately I had a weight check, blood pressure check and took a urine sample. As we were waiting I asked C "I wonder if they will take a urine sample because I really need to go now?" I didn't care, I couldn't wait any longer so I went. About 10 minutes later I was called back and asked for a urine sample and I had to go again. Oh the joys of pregnancy. It's really bad now because even before I made very frequent trips to the restroom.

Then we went to an exam room and I undressed. The doctor came in, we chatted and she gave us the due date of August 30. She did an exam and then....The Ultrasound!!! C was so cute, and he seemed to really feel out of his element the whole time. He was reading a magazine in every room we went to (Although he did say he was not uncomfortable, but his face told a different story :)).

As soon as I saw something on the screen I gasped which startled the doctor and I told her I was just excited to see something. It was the cutest little blob I've ever seen. And the heartbeat was just-a-going. The doctor was pointing out different things about our baby. We both had the biggest smiles which could not have been scrapped off if you tried. The doctor said I was measuring a little small (probably because I ovulated later then we thought) and changed our due date to Sept. 8. Then she got another measurement and changed it yet again to Sept. 3. After the ultrasound we chatted some more and then I got dressed. Next, I had blood drawn - they took seven viles. It wasn't bad at all and went by very fast. Everyone kept checking to see if I felt okay (especially C) and I did feel fine. Then they talked me into drinking some orange juice which was really good. I think I'm going to the store today to buy some orange juice. After that we left.

Later that evening we had dinner with C's mom and we told her the good news. She was very excited - she didn't want to see the ultrasound but kept saying how excited she is and how happy she is for us. She could not believe we kept it to ourselves for 4 weeks and said I was a good actress. I do have to say I never lied about anything. Then we went to my dad's house and told him and my step mom. They were very excited as well, and shocked. I don't think they knew we had been trying to get pregnant. I showed them the ultrasound pictures and tried to point out everything which is hard to do because it doesn't look like much - except a bundle of cuteness. We then headed over to my mom's and showed her and my sister the pictures. Everyone is very excited.

Tonight we are going to tell C's brothers and their wives - and I cannot wait to tell them.

So today I am 8 weeks along.

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. [from www.babycenter.com]

7 Weeks??

This week the hands and feet are emerging from developing arms and legs — although they look more like paddles at this point than the tiny, pudgy extremities you're daydreaming about holding and tickling. Technically, your baby is still considered an embryo and has something of a small tail, which is an extension of her tailbone. The tail will disappear within a few weeks, but that's the only thing getting smaller. Your baby has doubled in size since last week and now measures half an inch long, about the size of a blueberry. Eyelid folds are partially covering her peepers, which already have some color, as well as the tip of her nose and tiny veins beneath parchment-thin skin. Both hemispheres of your baby's brain are growing, and her liver is churning out red blood cells until her bone marrow forms and takes over this role. She also has an appendix and a pancreas, which will eventually produce the hormone insulin to aid in digestion. A loop in your baby's growing intestines is bulging into her umbilical cord, which now has distinct blood vessels to carry oxygen and nutrients to and from her tiny body. [from www.babycenter.com]

This is so exciting to read. Today is the first day I have really "felt pregnant." I am feeling great most of the time. The only things I am experiencing are sore boobs, I feel bloated, I pee every 30 minutes, little spats of nausea and I am tired all the time. So far so good. I love being pregnant and cannot wait to go to my doctor's appointment next Wednesday. Yea!

Possibly Week 6

This week's major developments: The nose, mouth, and ears are beginning to take shape. The baby's eyes and nostrils are starting to form. His emerging ears are marked by small depressions on the sides of the head, and his arms and legs by protruding buds. His heart is beating about 100 to 160 times a minute — almost twice as fast as yours — and blood is beginning to course through his body. His intestines are developing, and the bud of tissue that will give rise to his lungs has appeared. His pituitary gland is forming, as are the rest of his brain, muscles, and bones. Right now, your baby is a quarter of an inch long, about the size of a lentil bean. [from www.babycenter.com]

I cannot wait to go to my doctor's appointment on January 21. Only 12 more days to go.