Week 19

Baby's development: This week the baby measures about 5 1/4 to 6 in. and weighs about 7 oz. The baby is about the size of a lobster tail. Vernix caseosa, a white greasy substance is being secreted by glands in the baby's skin to act as a waterproof barrier. This prevents the baby's skin from getting waterlogged in the amniotic fluid. Myelin, the fatty substance that coats nerves is beginning to develop at a faster rate. The baby's gut is also now producing gastric juices that help absorb amniotic fluid and pass it to the kidneys where it's filtered and excreted back into the amniotic sac.

We are heading to Costa Rica on Friday and we'll be spending four days on the beach. It will be weird to be in a bikini with a belly, especially since it's not really obvious that my belly actually contains a baby. Oh well. There should be some fun belly pics to chose from for next week.

I've been doing a lot of online searching for maternity pants, but haven't had the courage to order anything on the internet. I'm hoping I can convince Liza and Tracie to go on a quick trip to the maternity store at the mall in a couple of weeks to buy some pants that fit me. Somehow going shopping for maternity clothing alone seems a little intimidating.

Little Frida is getting big these days and really likes to lay on my stomach. You can see from this week's photo that she especially likes to put her head on my belly. I wonder if she can hear something that we can't. Ryan thinks it's just because my belly is probably really warm and she enjoys that. I'd like to think that she's already bonding with the baby.

Week 18

Baby's Development: This week the baby is about 5 to 5 1/2 in. in length and weighs a little over 5 oz. Inside the baby's lungs, tiny air sacs called alveoli begin to develop. The unique swirls and whorls of the baby's fingerprints also begin to appear. Meconium, which forms the baby's first bowel movement is accumulating, which it might pass shortly before birth!

This week was one of the first weeks that I really began to feel "pregnant." I can tell my body is changing quickly but I feel great. Any fatigue that I had in the first trimester is gone and my appetite is back. The only problem is that my stomach feels like it's been pushed up near my lungs, so I feel very full after eating only a littel. But, it feels great to crave food again, especially vegetables and meat! Meanwhile, I can feel my stomach muscles literally un-connecting. I'm having major problems with my core and find it hard to do things which involve using my stomach muscles.

Today at the doctor's office I got to hear the baby's heartbeat. There is nothing more comforting to hear that sound. My uterus also "tilted" forward, which made hearing the heartbeat easier. The doctor also taught me how to feel my uterus by pressing on my belly. I guess I had been feeling it for quite some time now, but I just didn't know what I was feeling.

One major drawback so far about developing a baby bump is that I find riding my bike extremely uncomfortable. I have to lean pretty forward on my mountain bike and every time I pedal, I feel like my bladder is pressed up hard again my uterus. I tried riding Sue's bike this morning (which is more upright), but quickly realized that the brakes were not attached. I almost fell into an ice patch trying to slow myself down! Biking in Colorado during the winter can be a little hazardous.

One piece of good news is that I have finally told everyone I work with that I am pregnant. Everyone has been great about it. I also found out that I can take up to 11 weeks of paid maternity leave and they will freeze my post doc appointment during this leave. This makes me feel so much better about taking time off! I love working for a government agency!

I think my belly looks big this week. I hope you all think so too!

baby kick?

I was sitting at work this morning and around 8:30 I felt a serious of jabs in my lower left abdomen. I kept sitting still and felt it again, like something was poking my organs. I've been trying to "feel" the baby for the last couple of days, and there were moments when I thought maybe I felt something. But, this time, it definitely felt like jab. Pretty cool.

Week 17

Baby's development: This week the baby is about the size of an avocado and weighs about 3/2 oz. Eye lashes and eye brows have started to grow longer and fingernails and toenails have begun to develop. This is a period of rapid growth for the baby, as it begins to deposit fat. The baby's little body can now pump about 24 liters of blood a day. The baby also has developed its hearing, so now it can begin to recognize sounds (like my voice!).

Something happened this week where I literally began bursting out of all my pants. Even the jeans that were huge on me during this summer (the ones I could pull down without unbuttoning them) are snug. Last week I was unbuttoning my pants while sitting down, but that led to many unfortunate instances where I found myself wandering the halls at work with my pants unbuttoned. I've now started wearing the Bella Band, which makes things slightly more comfortable. However, the feel of something tight about my midsection is also not the most comfortable thing. I'm holding out until I return from Costa Rica to buy any maternity clothes...I hope I don't start expanding too much in the next couple of weeks!

I got a call from the doctor's office yesterday with some good news. The results from the quad screen test was negative for any abnormalities. Yeah!

One really annoying thing so far the fact that my bladder has shrunken down to the size of a golf ball. I will go pee, brush my teeth and wash my face, and then have to pee again! I find myself planning my day around whether or not I'll be close to a bathroom.

Ryan finished painting the nursery the weekend. We probably won't start decorating for a while, but at least the hard part is done. I should probably say right now how awesome Ryan has been through all this. Sue, you did a great job raising one fine husband.

I hope you enjoy the belly pics this week. I know I don't look that big yet, but I have a feeling I'm going down a road where there's no looking back now. Stretchy pants, here I come.

Week 16, baby is 14 weeks old

Babies development: The bones have begun to get harder and ossifying and the joints are working. The baby's hearing mechanisms are also developing so that very small bones in the middle ear have begun to harden. However, its brain auditory centers haven't developed yet, so the baby won't be be able to make sense of the sounds. I think that is so interesting! The baby is now 4 1/3 to 4 2/3 inches long and weighs about 2 3/4 oz. It's about the size of an orange. The baby is very active right now, rolling over, and doing somersaults, but I probably won't feel more than a "flutter" since amniotic fluid cushions the baby's vigorous movements. Ultrasounds can now also determine the sex of the baby, but I won't have my appointment for about another month.

As you can see from the photo, I still don't look very pregnant to most people. To myself, however, I have definitely noticed a "pooch" that has developed. I read recently that a lot of first time mom's don't really start to show until week 20. A part of me wishes that I was showing more so that the pregnancy feels more real, but I'm beginning to be thankful that I don't have a huge belly yet. The baby isn't due until June 26th and I can't imagine having a huge stomach for six months.

I have my quad screening on Wednesday, which is a test that looks at certain hormones in the blood to "assess the risk" of down syndrome, cystic fibrosis and trisomy 18. The test sounds pretty inconclusive, since it seems like it only tells you the risk and I've read that a lot of women get false positives. Basically, they have to correctly date your pregnancy to make sure that certain hormone levels are within the normal range. If they are a week off dating the pregnancy, then they could think that one hormone level was too high, thus increasing your chances of carrying a baby with downs. I'm going to get the test done anyway, but if all things are normal (I hope!), this will be the last test that I have to take. It sounds like a lot of women don't even get it.

Ryan has started painting the nursery a gender neutral color - yellow. It's looking good so far!

Week 14, baby is 12 weeks old

Today was an exciting day at the doctor's office. I went in for my routine monthly checkup. So far, I've gained three extra pounds, about only 1 oz of that is actually the baby. My doctor, Christine, went to check on the baby's heartbeat using the doppler, but she couldn't hear anything. Turns out that my uterus is slightly tilted back (which is the main reason why I'm not really showing yet). She said that in a couple of weeks the uterus will start to tilt forward and then I can say goodbye to my old pants.

Side story: Christine said that about 40% of women's uteruses (uterii?) are tilted back and the old wives tale was that women who had tilted uteruses couldn't get pregnant. She said, "well, you showed them!"

So, since we couldn't hear anything on the doppler due to my tilted uterus, she did an ultrasound. I had an ultra sound done about 7 weeks ago and at that point, all we could see was a small white blob. This time, I got to see the baby's head and body pretty clearly. Most exciting was seeing the baby kick a bunch and then wave with its tiny little arms. It was so cool! I couldn't believe how active it was in there. The baby was laying on its head with its butt up in the air and its legs were so skinny (you could even see the foot!). Even though I couldn't feel any of those movements, it made me feel so good to see that I've got an active baby in there.

The next ultrasound will be around week 20 and then we can see the sex of the baby. Until then, I guess this little thing will continue kicking until it gets big enough for me to feel it. Any guesses on the sex? I don't know why, but my gut tells me that its a boy.

The picture on the bottom is a side preview. Not much of a bump, but if you squint you can see it. Basically, I don't look pregnant...I just feel fat because my pants are getting tight. The picture on the right is me looking down. It looks like I just ate a big meal. Frida is in the photo for scale.