19 weeks

Here is the cutest picture so far of Baby! You can see its shoulder, elbow, arm, and little fist and thumb. The rope thing is the umbilical cord and you can see a little of the baby's tummy. Baby would not move that arm for anything! We were trying to get a picture of the baby's face and after much jiggling and pushing around from the ultrasound wand we decided baby wasn't going to move that arm. I don't care, I still think it is a great picture!

At 19 weeks pregnant Baby is about ½ a foot long now and weighs close to 7 oz. Before Baby is born he or she will increase in size by more than 15 times. YIKES! Those first poops we will find in Baby’s diapers are starting to be produced now. It is called meconium and is the waste that the baby produces in utero. It is a greenish-black tarry substance. EWW! The baby's milk teeth are developing in the gums and so are the buds for permanent teeth. Baby girls have about 6 million eggs at this time, but by birth the count will be down to about 4 million eggs.
The nerves cells for each of the senses: hearing, smelling, tasting, seeing and touching are developing in their very own parts of the brain now.

My mom is coming to stay the week with me and she will get to meet my doctor at my next appointment on Thursday! We will have the anatomy ultrasound then also! Stay tuned!

BABY Stuff!

Last weekend we made a trip up to Corsicana to visit family and attend my cousin's graduation party in Waco. On Sunday we went over to my sister's to visit and pick up some "baby stuff"! I am pretty sure Joey was a little overwhelmed when he started loading everything in the back of the truck and then realized it all wouldn't fit! Yep, it's a lot of stuff and I am so thankful we can borrow all this from my sister. Some of the stuff included a large bag of maternity clothes, bag of neutral baby clothes, burpee rags, a car seat and stroller, 2 bouncy seats, a play pad thingy, a blue bimbo seat and bottles. I am also going to use the antique crib my grandfather slept in as a baby. Russell refinished the crib before Lucille was born. Lucy, Lily, and now Baby will get to use it. All this stuff in in our living room! Someone needs to start getting that nursery ready...
I go back to the baby doctor on June 3rd. My mom will be with me! I had to see a specialist this past week and we got a 3D/4D picture of baby! I will post it soon! Next week I see my cardiologist so they can check on my ticker and see if everything is A-OK! I feel fine so I am not worried! Then the end of June we will do an ultrasound on Baby's heart to check for defects. LOTS of doctor visits!!!!!

18 weeks

This week I'm 18 weeks! Almost halfway through! The baby weighs a little over 5 ounces and is 5 1/2 inches long. About the size of a sweet potato! I keep reading (and people keep asking) about the movements of baby. I haven't felt anything yet, but I really am trying to! Baby's ears are completely formed and facing forward, so baby can hear my unique heartbeat, the blood going through the umbilical cord, and voices now. This week is also the beginning of ossification, the hardening of baby's bones. The parts of the brain that receives and processes nerve signals are developing. Baby is also developing yawning and hiccuping skills and his own unique set of fingerprints and toe prints. If baby is a boy, his prostate gland is beginning to develop, and if a girl, the fallopian tubes are developing. Baby's taste buds are beginning to develop and can distinguish sweet from bitter. Grow baby grow!

17 weeks

Here is the update about what Baby is up to this week...toward the end of week 17 the baby's heart is pumping 25 quarts of blood per day. The baby is now 4.4 to 4.8 inches long and weighs about 3.5 ounces. This means I'm starting to show a bit and it doesn't really feel like bloated belly anymore, it feels like a tight, full belly. Also, white fatty material, called myelin, begins to enclose the nerve fibers of the spinal cord. Baby's lungs are beginning to "breathe" the amniotic fluid (although the placenta will still supply the necessary oxygen until he or she is born). The circulatory and urinary systems are working and the reflexes are quickly developing. These reflexes will allow my baby to swallow, suck, and blink. I also read my appetite will increase!! I don't know if that is possible... Gimme food!

Eat Sleep Poop

Eat Sleep Poop is a common sense guide to your baby's first year. The author is an award winning pediatrician and a dad, Scott W. Cohen MD. I am in love with this book! My mom bought it for me after she saw this author on tv talking about his book. It pretty much gives information to help parents through the first year using informed common sense. The book is about answering first time parent's questions and basically boils down that raising a child should be enjoyable and as stress-free as possible. When I finish the book, I plan on reading it again and this time highlighting and marking certain pages that I feel are most important. I would recommend this book to any expecting mothers. Thanks mom for buying it for me and baby!

4th Anniversary Cruise and Juicer!

We just got back yesterday from our Carnival Cruise to Cozumel! It was so much fun! We enjoyed the dance shows, casinos, water slides, white sandy beach, snorkeling, swimming, putt putt golf and lots of sun and relaxation! For our anniversary, Joey bought me a Juicer and we enjoyed fresh juice the morning we left! A great vacation!

16 Week Doctor appt

My appointment went good today. I got to meet with Dr. Reed and have more lab work! The most exciting part about today's visit was when they put a little ultrasound machine to my belly and we heard the baby's heartbeat. It was beating about 150 beats per minute. A really fast swooching noise! They also had me lay down and they measured my huge belly (not really huge) I thought was funny because really there wasn't much to measure...I should have told her to measure it after I ate dinner at the end of my day, then it really looks like I'm showing : )I've gained about 4 pounds and I should be gaining about a pound a week from now on. They didn't take as much blood as they did the first time, they are finishing up the sequence blood test for down syndrome, and they had to re check my thyroid. My thyroid came back abnormal from my first set of lab work. I checked a web site for updates about how my baby is doing, here's what I found..."Your baby's eyesight (and eyelashes!) is developing rapidly, but all you might be seeing in the mirror these days is a body that looks depressingly bulky." YES depressingly... my pants are getting tighter and nothing is comfy anymore. Gee, I'm glad this web site reminded me of my bulky body. Ok time for bed...getting ready to leave for MEXICO on Thursday : ) Happy 4th anniversary Joey!