Week 12: Growing up so fast...

According to the weekly update you'll read below, the baby is the size of a lime this week. We cannot get over how big that seems! Just a few weeks ago it was the size of a sesame seed....next thing we know our little lime baby will be headed off to college... ;-)

Like last week, much of this week has been filled with unbuttoned jeans (reminder-- I work from home so it's cool!) to accommodate my ever thickening waistline. One day, though, I had to put on  professional clothes as I had an on-site meeting with one of our clients. I made the mistake of wearing a slightly fitted shirt that had to be tucked in and pants with a fairly defined waist. While I certainly looked fine, I was pretty uncomfortable most of the day and was very excited to get home and change into something a bit more forgiving. I'm not exactly at the stage where I need to be wearing maternity clothes, but this weekend I am going to head to the store and try some bigger sizes. I'm also going to look into picking up a "belly band" which is essentially a wide piece of stretchy fabric that you wear over unbuttoned pants. It helps conceal the fact that your pants are unbuttoned and it also helps hold your pants up (clearly you can't wear anything tucked in when you have it on, though).

On to the baby'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 2 inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce.


At this point the fetus is actually starting to look pretty baby-like. Check out this picture (note: this is an "inside the body" type of drawing, so don't click if that sort of thing bothers you): http://www.babycenter.com/fetal-development-images-12-weeks

Week 12 began on Valentine's Day! Here is the weekly photo:

Week 11: I Spy...

I spy... the teeny tiny beginnings of a bump! Get out your magnifying glass because you have to look really hard, but I am starting to get a little bit of a belly. Basically I look like I just ate a big meal, but I'm here to tell you that it's all baby (or pregnancy bloat at the least). Take a look (by the way-- hurray for daylight!):

It's a good thing I work from home because the button on my jeans has been undone while sitting most of the week. :-)  Overall, I'm still feeling pretty good. Sleeping at night continues to be an on again, off a gain challenge. Some nights I sleep fine, and other nights I'm up every few hours. I suppose it's good practice for when the baby comes, but frankly I'd rather sleep right now.

Lately I've been waking up extremely parched and will end up drinking a full bottle of water (about 20 ounces) between bedtime and morning. Apparently the thirst is because my body is producing more blood and because the placenta is starting to develop. It's also starting to get the slightest bit uncomfortable to lay on my stomach (I'm a stomach sleeper for the most part). I've read that when pregnant it's best to sleep on your left side because it increases blood flow to the baby and helps rid the body of toxins. One night this week I tried sleeping on my left side with a pillow behind me so I wouldn't roll over, but I ended up just feeling hot and squished so I tossed the pillow on the floor. I may try rolling up a blanket (long ways) so that it will encourage me to stay on my side while sleeping, but not take up so much room in the bed.

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Here's what's going down on the inside:


Your baby, just over 1 1/2 inches long and about the size of a fig, is now almost fully formed. Her hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under her gums, and some of her bones are beginning to harden.


She's already busy kicking and stretching, and her tiny movements are so effortless they look like water ballet. These movements will become more frequent as her body grows and becomes more developed and functional. You won't feel your baby's acrobatics for another month or two — nor will you notice the hiccupping that may be happening now that her diaphragm is forming.

Earlier this week I took dinner to my college friend and sorority sister, Niki, and her family as they recently had another baby. Charlie (the baby) was about two and a half weeks old and a little over seven pounds. He was SO tiny! I think he may be the littlest baby I've ever held. All his little noises and facial expressions were so amazing and made me really excited to meet our own little baby in about six and a half more months. I was busting at the seams wanting to tell Niki I am pregnant the whole time I was visiting, but we've got a few more weeks to go. It will be fun (and a relief!) to share our news with "the world" in about two more weeks!

Week 10: Surprise!

This week we shared our baby news with our parents and my grandmothers! It was a lot of fun to see and hear everyone's reaction (needless to say, "very excited" probably sums up the whole thing). Here's how we did it:

My Dad and Step-Mom (Bob and Nancy) live in New Hampshire, so unfortunately telling them in person was not an option. Instead, we were able to have a Skype chat (an online video phone call) with them one morning. We decided it might be fun to slip in the announcement, and it worked out great. The conversation went something like this:

Laura: We were thinking of coming up to New England later this year, but decided it might be more fun if we wait until next year when we can bring our baby.

Bob and Nancy: (blinking with mouths open for a second) Did you say what we think you said?!

It was great fun. My Nana (Elizabeth a.k.a. Zibby) recently had total knee replacement and is recovering at a rehab hospital in New Hampshire. Dad gave us the phone number to her room and suggested we call during lunchtime when they would be visiting her. We shared the news with Nana in the same sly way, and she was so excited that she got a little teary! This will be great-grandchild #2 on the Heinlein side as my cousin, Jessica, had a baby boy named Oliver earlier in January.

For my Mom (Joyce), Grammie (Ann), and Ben's parents (Ben Sr. and Peggy) we were able to share the news in person. I purchased some (tiny!) newborn sized onesies and wrote "Coming Soon!" on them with fabric paint. Here's what they look like:

Mom happened to be celebrating her birthday so we wrapped it up and had her open it as a birthday present. I think it was safe to assume that finding out she is going to be a grandmother trumped the Land's End gift card that was her "real" birthday gift! We went to visit Grammie later that afternoon and wanted to surprise her as well. I re-wrapped the onesie and we told Grammie that we thought she might enjoy seeing one of Mom's birthday gifts and asked her to open the present. I don't think I've ever seen her look so surprised in my life! She literally sat back in her chair with wide eyes, eyebrows up, and her mouth in an "O" shape.

Ben's parents also received a wrapped up onesie posed as an early Valentine's Day gift. I handed them the gift bag and said, "Here's a little early Valentine's Day gift. It's just a little something that we thought might be fun for everyone to play with in Hiawassee." Ben added, "You already have a couple of these...." as Peggy unwrapped the tissue paper. Lots of squealing, jumping, and tears ensued! Henry, the golden retriever, just raised an eyebrow.... takes a lot to get him going these days. ;-)

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I'm still feeling great and the only notable change is that my fingernails are awesome. Usually my nails are really weak and they split and peel, but now they actually have little white tips and aren't peeling off! Really, it's the little things in life. :-) Oh, one not so fun change has been three wake-ups between 3:00am and 4:00am over the past week. I'll have that queasy, but hungry feeling I've described before, and can't get back to sleep so I get up and eat some cereal which eases the queasiness and allows me to fall back asleep. Ben was able to figure out that is has only happened on evenings when I eat sugar. With that, I'm going to avoid eating anything sugary after mid-day. (But the baggie of dry Cheerios and bottle of water are going to continue to live on my nightstand just in case!)

Our little baby has graduated from embryo to fetus this 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.


Given that the baby is still so small, there isn't much to see in my weekly "belly photo" this week. When we were taking the photo on Tuesday we joked that I could almost keep re-posting the same picture because I look exactly the same! Here it is anyway:

Week 9: Officially Pregnant

This was an exciting week for us because we got to see the baby in an ultrasound! More on that in just a minute... first, I'm pleased to announce that I am officially pregnant as evidenced by this:

Polished it off in about a week! :-)  We continue to be blessed with an easy pregnancy and I'm still pretty much symptom free with the exception of a few minor things. Most nights I have lots of really vivid, weird dreams, and my usual "I'm hungry" feeling is more "I don't feel so good". It always feels a little counter-intuitive, but when I start to feel a little queasy I just have a snack and a few minutes later I'm good to go!

On Monday we had an appointment with the midwife who did a general physical exam, answered lots of questions, and we also got to have an ultrasound! I'm pleased to introduce Baby Lilly:

The end where you see the cursor hand is the baby's head. In the middle of the little mass you can see a small circle with a brighter white dot in the middle- that is the baby's heart! If you look straight down from the heart you can see two small nubs jutting out which are it's arms. The "hook" on the right side are the legs. The ultrasound technician said the baby is 2.3 centimeters long and its heartbeat is 178 beats per minute. Overall they said everything looks great and is right on track! It was so amazing to hear the heartbeat. We both felt a little overwhelmed (in a good way) and were smiling ear to ear the rest of the day. It's crazy to think that there is a little person inside me! 

Here are the details of what is going on in there:

Your new resident 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.

Now that we've heard the heartbeat, the chances of miscarriage are reduced. We're planning to share the news with our families very soon, but are going to hold off on telling friends and co-workers until Week 14 when we are fully "in the clear" and heading into the second trimester. So, about another month to go. As far as telling our families, we have some fun things up our sleeve that we'll look forward to sharing in next week's update. 

Before I sign off here's the weekly photo:

One of these days there will actually be something to see in these photos. :-)

Week 8: Smooth Sailing

Eight weeks in and we're still sailing along pretty much symptom free! I feel so fortunate that things continue to go smoothly with the pregnancy. On Monday we have the next midwife appointment and it includes an ultrasound! We'll get to see our little baby swimming around and they will also measure the embryo (won't be a fetus for a few more weeks) to determine the more precise due date. Right now it's estimated to be August 28.

Here's what's going on inside:

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.


While a potential teeny tiny change seems to be showing in the belly area, I'm thinking it's probably more of a "food baby" since this picture was taken shortly after dinner. :-)

See you next week! I'll be sure to post ultrasound pictures. :-)

Week 7: Feelin' Fine

We're well into week seven of the pregnancy and I'm feelin' fine.... seriously. I feel pretty much the exact same as my pre-pregnancy days! There are a few small things that have popped up that I've over-analyzed and decided might be pregnancy related:

• Sleeping hard and having vivid dreams (note: it rained almost every night this week which was a soothing backdrop to "slumber land" and therefore is probably not really a pregnancy symptom)
  
  
• I have developed a slight aversion to tomatoes....maybe. I made some soup earlier in the week and we both thought it was delicious (this recipe if you're interested: http://www.eatliverun.com/tortellini-and-heirloom-bean-soup/  I used kidney beans and spinach and left out the fennel because I don't care for the taste). The next day when I saw the tupperware of leftovers in the fridge it made my stomach turn. I tried to eat some anyway, and pretty much picked out the tortellini and dumped the rest down the drain. Every time I opened the fridge I tried to block it from view! Other tomato products like ketchup and tomato sauce have been fine so far.
  
  
• On a handful of occasions I've felt kind of queasy. Not really nauseous or feeling like I am going to be sick, just kind of "green around the gills" So far having a small, bland snack (simple cereal like shredded wheat or a banana) or a cup of peppermint tea has helped. I also try to focus on my work which helps a little, too.
  

I may not be feeling much, but our sweet little baby sure has been busy growing this week!

The big news this week: 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.

If you could see inside your womb, you'd spot eyelid folds 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.

All so amazing.... :-)  Here's what baby blueberry looks like from the outside:

Given that Ben and I are planners by nature, this weekend we are going to start putting together a high level plan for baby preparations. It will run the gamut from preparing the nursery to learning about infant care to purchasing baby gear and more. Preliminary research has been a little overwhelming, so hopefully we can go through this one "bucket" at a time and make our month by month plan of action items. 

What can I say? A couple that makes spreadsheets together, stays together. :-)

Week 6: The First Visit

This week has been particularly fun because it's the first time the pregnancy has been acknowledged by outsiders. I had my regular annual physical on Tuesday during which we discussed the pregnancy; and I was supposed to meet with an oral surgeon about getting my upper wisdom teeth out but it was cancelled because they can't do the surgery if I'm pregnant. I asked my doctor about the midwife practice I have been considering and she said they are fantastic and that most of her prenatal patients go to that practice. That endorsement "sealed the deal" and I called to schedule an appointment.

From what I had read online, most obstetrician's and midwives don't see you until the pregnancy is eight to ten weeks along so I anticipated it would be mid to late January before we went in. To my surprise we ended up scheduling a "confirmation of pregnancy" appointment for Friday! Ben was able to come to the appointment with me and it was fairly basic. The midwife did a bit of general health history, confirmed that I am indeed pregnant, and we actually got to do an ultrasound! The baby is still so small that we didn't get to see it yet (she gave us a head's up that we might not see anything). There was a small white spot that she pointed out as being the "yolk sac" which is what nourishes the baby until the placenta develops. Our next appointment is January 23 and they said we will definitely be able to see something at that ultrasound. I can't wait!

If you're interested in taking a look, here is the website with the bios of the midwives: http://www.npobgyn.com/midwives.php  We met with Elizabeth on Friday and our next appointment will be with Breia. Apparently we will see all three midwives throughout the pregnancy so we can all get to know each other (one of the midwives, Linda, no longer does prenatal care or deliveries). This is great because we will have a relationship with whomever is on call when the baby is ready to come into the world.

On to the baby--

According to a weekly email I receive, the baby is the size of a lentil this week! Here is the description from the email:

This week's major developments: The nose, mouth, and ears that you'll spend so much time kissing in eight months are beginning to take shape. If you could see into your uterus, you'd find an oversize head and dark spots where your 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.


Crazy, right? I can't believe there is a little person forming inside me that already has a heartbeat. I still don't have any pregnancy symptoms (to which most people keep saying, "Count your blessings!") so in some ways it still doesn't feel totally real.


Ben is going to take a picture of me each week so we can document the growth of my belly! My "week" ticks over on Tuesday's, so we'll try to stick to taking the picture that day (though I may not get to post it until the weekend). It's probably going to be a while before there is actually anything to see, but we figured we might as well start from the beginning. Until we start having longer days, the pictures probably won't be that great since we have to take them indoors with artificial light. 


Here is the photo for week six:

Like I said, not much to see. :-)