Week 11

This past weekend was a big one - Friday night Lanson and I went to the hockey game. I went over and said hello to Merrick and her parents - her mom gets the award for being the first to talk baby at my belly!

Dad also checked me out on Sunday to see if I was starting to pop at all yet (still no).

Next week we go to the Doc; I can't wait to hear the heartbeat!

The nugget is now the size of a small plum and by next week it will be lime-sized. Guess I should have chosen fruit snack or some other fruit-related nickname...

• When you're 11 weeks pregnant, your baby is about 1 1/2 inches long, about the length of your thumb from the knuckle to the tip.
• From now until your halfway mark at 20 weeks of pregnancy, your baby will increase her weight by 30% and probably will triple in length.
• The blood vessels in your placenta grow larger to prepare for this time of accelerated growth in your baby.
• During the 11th week of your pregnancy, your baby's ears move to their permanent position.
• Your baby's reproductive organs are developing. But it's still a little early to find out whether it's a girl or boy - gender isn't clear on ultrasound until between the 16th and 20th weeks of pregnancy.

Week 10

The nugget is officially a fetus! Goodbye embryonic tail, hello baby. The baby (a girl at work refers to this as the Gummy Bear stage) is over an inch long (strawberry), head to butt and will be 3 inches (kiwi-sized) by the end of the first trimester - in just a couple weeks. After the first trimester, the baby's length will include limbs - for now it's just head to butt.

Crazy amount of change from this week to last. Take a look at the week 9 photo and then at this week's. Amazing. The baby already has fingerprints on individual fingers and toes! And the baby moves, not that I'll be able to feel it anytime soon. Crazy to think how small the nugget is, yet all the parts are there. This week is when the reproductive organs are becoming gender specific. (I'm rooting for a boy, although I'll take happy, healthy, and normal!) I'm so excited!! I know September is just around the corner, and it will come fast - even though it feels so far away.

• By the 10th week of pregnancy, your baby measures more than one inch, or roughly the length of a quarter. By the end of the 1st trimester, your baby will grow to be about 3 inches — around the length of a kiwi fruit. This measurement doesn't even take into account arms and legs. That's because in the 1st trimester, your baby is measured from the top of the head to the bottom of the rump.
• By the beginning of the 10th week of pregnancy, all of your baby's vital organs have formed.
• His embryonic tail, located at the bottom of his spinal cord, has disappeared.
• His bones continue to develop. On an ultrasound, your baby's bones appear white.
• At 10 weeks pregnant, his ears get close to their final form.
• His teeth buds emerge and his eyelids develop further.
• His testes start producing the male hormone testosterone around the 10th week of pregnancy.
• Tiny fingers and toes are fully separated (no more webbing).
• Plus, your baby's brain growth really takes off. Every minute, 250,000 new neurons (or first brain cells) are produced.

Week 9

Well, I've officially entered the last month of the first trimester. Couple more weeks and I'll have the easy (so I'm told) third done. I've been trying to sleep on my side (I prefer back) since that's on the no list after the first trimester - squishes my vena cava if I lay on my back too long...

It's crazy to think that this little nugget is only the size of a big grape yet by the end of this week will have a tiny little 4 chambered beating heart. Amazing. Can't wait till the 12 week ultrasound!!

During the 9th week of your pregnancy, your baby grows to about one inch, or about the length of an olive.

By your 9th week of pregnancy, your baby's skeleton begins to harden. Hardening of the bones (ossification) begins with the formation of cartilage.

Her fingers, toes, knees, and elbows develop.

Nipples and hair follicles form.

Her intestinal system — pancreas, bile ducts, gallbladder, and anus — forms. Her intestines elongate.

Your baby's reproductive organs begin to develop internally when you're 9 weeks pregnant.

Muscles develop and your baby may start to move — you may feel her movements in several more weeks.

Weigh In

We had the 8-week check up this week. Nothing exciting - pee in a cup, get weighed, check BP, talk with the doc. All's normal, on track. This visit was in their big, fancy new office, though.

Anyhow, I have been monitoring my weight to make sure I don't blow up any sooner/more than I'm supposed to. We have a digital scale at home; I've been weighing weekly to keep track. So far, so good. At home (naked, first thing in the morning) I've been 143.6-143.9. Normal weight for me.

At the initial appointment last month I stepped on the scale at the doc's office (also digital) and weighed a whopping 151!!! I was floored! Got off, let it zero out, and got on again - STILL 151. I had on clothes, but not shoes, giant belt or rocks in my pocket! Something was wrong with the scale and I knew it, but didn't say anything.

This week, at the second appointment, I weighed 147. Much better! 3 lbs of clothing.

I believe the scale at the old office was broken - and told the tech that when she weighed me this time. She didn't comment.

Week 8

Well, we had a nice weekend. Lant went kayaking on Saturday. I slept in. Actually, looking back I got 10+ hours of sleep each night. So, out of the 48 hours of this weekend I spent ~21 of it asleep!

I've become rather top-heavy...they nearly have a mind of their own. Supposedly, they should plateau then blow up (even more - great...) at the end.

I have my next appt on Weds - my pants still fit, and I weigh the same as I did last month so it should go well. :)

It's crazy to think that the nugget is only the size of a lima bean, but still has fingers and toes!

• At 8 weeks pregnant, your baby is more than a half an inch long — around the length of a lima bean.
• Your baby's tiny fingers and toes develop.
• His arms and legs grow longer.
• By the 8th week of your pregnancy, his wrists, elbows, and ankles are visible.
• His eyelids form and ears, upper lip, and nose tip become more defined.

Week 7

My flu is gone!! It was miserable. I lost 5 lbs, but the nugget is doing fine. I can eat again, and keep it in me! This bout of flu reminded me how thankful I am not to be experiencing any morning sickness *knock on wood*.

Pants are still fitting, although my pregnant girlfriends assure me I'll be popping the top button in the very near future. I'm looking forward to being able to see it on me. Hit that phase where people wonder if I'm pregnant or fat...

The nugget is starting to look like something! It's the size of a blueberry this week, double from last week. Eyes, arms, and legs - oh my!

• By the 7th week of pregnancy, she is 1/3 of an inch to half an inch long — barely the length of your pinky fingernail.
• Your baby's face becomes more defined when you're 7 weeks pregnant. Her mouth, nostrils, and ears begin to appear.
• When you're 7 weeks pregnant, the lenses in your baby's eyes begin to form and the iris color is visible.
• Her arms, shoulders, hands, legs, and feet begin to take shape by the 7th week of pregnancy, with the early formation of fingers and toes just another week away.
• Around the 7th and 8th week of your pregnancy, your baby's body elongates and her neck straightens.
• Your baby's brain becomes more complex during the 7th week of pregnancy. The skull that's growing to protect it is transparent and rounding.

Week 6

Well, aside the fact that I've got some sort of NASTY bug I've been doing really well. No morning sickness. The "Sistas" have been rather sensitive lately - definitely fall into the category of Look, Don't Touch. :)

Here's what the nugget is looking like this week:

During your 6th week of pregnancy, your baby grows at a phenomenal rate and his systems develop significantly. Here's what's happening at 6 weeks pregnant:

• Your baby, now called an embryo, is clearly visible on ultrasound. He is about 1/8 of an inch long, about the size of a grain of rice.
• When you're 6 weeks pregnant, his nervous system and all major body organs — heart, kidneys, liver, and lungs — are the first to form.
• Facial features — jaw, cheeks, chin, ear canals, nose, and eyes — begin to develop around the 6th week of pregnancy.
• You baby's heart beats about 80 times per minute and gets faster each day.

Week 5

WEEK 5

After weeks of rapid cell development, your baby takes on a more distinct form. During the fifth week of pregnancy, here's what's happening inside:

• Her heart and circulatory system take shape — a bulge indicates where your baby's heart is developing. By the end of the 5^th week of pregnancy, your baby's earliest blood vessels form.
• Around the 5^th week of pregnancy, your baby's heart begins to beat and may be visible on an ultrasound.
• The umbilical cord replaces the yolk sac. The umbilical cord works with the placenta to bring nutrition and oxygen to your baby and remove waste.
• At 5 weeks pregnant, your baby is the length of the tip of a pen, about 1/17 inches, and growing rapidly every day.

Our First Doctor Appointment

We had our first appointment with Dr. Lorenzo last Thursday. We both like him. Tall, skinny, shaved head, no facial hair, and fuzzy eyebrows (see left).

He was kind enough to start the exam off with a PAP smear - I was under the impression that you got to skip those while you're pregnant. Not so much... Poor Lant was in the room, too. NOT looking. I also had to pee twice and give up 6 vials of blood.

Friday we got an ultrasound done! We were both looking forward to it, but turns out that I'm not as far along as we counted. I distinctly remember the start of my period - the Monday before Thanksgiving while we were in Valdosta. Ginny took me to a grocery store where I was the only Caucasian, first time for everything. So, the egg must have dropped later in my cycle. Anyhow, turns out I'm 5 weeks and not the 6.5 that we counted. Thus my due date has been pushed to Sept. 13 and ultrasound images didn't show much; it was just a yolk sac with a white dot in it. There will be another one soon. And I'll get copies for sure!

Happy New Year!

When we have to get up and moving in the morning, I take the first shower, get my toothbrush going, then go wake him to get in the shower. When he isn't ready to wake up yet he whines at me to bring him his toothbrush in bed - which, me being SO nice, I generally do for him...

On New Year's Eve, I brought him this instead of his toothbrush. Don't worry, I didn't let him attempt to brush with it!

Looks like we're getting the year off to a big start!! :)

I tried to hold out until midnight, and when he kissed me, tell him to kiss our baby too. But I couldn't hold it. I knew on Dec 20th (like Mom said - you can just tell; I could feel it) but Aunt Flo wasn't due until Christmas Eve so I had to keep the secret through the holidays.

First appointment is this Thurs - can't wait to get a look at our nugget!

Added later:

Came across these recently and thought they were pretty interesting. Shows the shift of my internal organs to make room for the baby.

pre-pregnancy

7 weeks

12 weeks

20 weeks

28 weeks

36 weeks

40 weeks