Week 9

So many exciting things!

Week 9 - baby is officially a fetus instead of an embryo!  Woo-hoo baby!  Baby is the size of a green olive (mmmm...).Baby's growing a liver, speen, and gallbladder this week.


We had our first doctor appointment today, and after sharing that I'm a little anxious to get going and have an ultrasound the nurse offered to have it done today!  Excited does not begin to describe!!  


I know it doesn't look like much yet (although pretty cute, I must say), but we have a head, little arm and leg buds, and a really fast heart!  (The fast heart is normal - it was 170 bpm, which is "presto" according to my metronome.)  It was pretty cool seeing the heart pumping away and seeing blood moving in the umbilical cord.  We were able to hear the heart too, which was pretty amazing.  


Wonderful day!  Here's the little jellybean's first photograph!  (Head's on the top in this shot.)  

Week 8

It's the beginning of week 8 - and I know you're all wondering what's going on in my belly.

Baby is the size of a large raspberry this week (the fruit is getting more delicious as we move through the weeks!).  This week baby will be growing at about a millimeter per day!

What's growing on baby?  The tail is pretty much gone, so he/she is looking less like a reptile and more like a human.  (Although the fingers and toes are still webbed, so the verdict is still out on that...)  Lips, nose, eyelids, legs and back are taking shape.

Baby's heart is beating at 150 beats per minute!  To give you perspective, that's about twice as fast as mine (and yours).  

Baby is also starting to move this week, although I won't be able to feel it for many weeks.  The movements are kind of like spasms in the arms and legs, which is kind of neat to think about.  Of course this moving combined with high hormones could cause increased morning sickness.  Let's see if my good luck continues to hold this week!

I think I've been pretty lucky in the morning sickness department.  Most of the time I feel pretty good thanks to the suggestion of both Ma (Joanne) and Mum (...Mum) to munch absorbent things all day and try not to let the stomach get empty.  I brought pita chips Monday and Tuesday (delicious) and pretzels yesterday and today.  When I start to get that watery-mouth-omg-I-want-to-puke feeling I munch a little and it usually settles down.  Luckily I'm so busy at work it's kept me thinking of other things which helps a lot too.  I'm still liking most foods, although we bought a rotisserie chicken on our way home from the wedding and the smell in the car was really grossing me out.  The smell of the refrigerator in the teacher's room is grossing me out too so I hold my breath when I take stuff out of there.  I've also had a few times when my coffee has really turned me off and I've only had a few sips or half a cup.  (Not today though - I have a Dunks iced!)  

Oh, I'm also tired.  I reached a new low today and packed my make-up to put on in the bathroom because I needed extra sleep this morning.  (Not too tired to hit the BSO though - so excited to be going back to hear beautiful music tonight!)

How creepy is this picture... I hope my baby doesn't have shifty eyes like that. 

Week 7

Week 7 and baby is the size of a blueberry!

Dennis and I are gearing up for our first doctor's appointments.  

The first is on January 23 with a nurse practitioner.  The topic will be family history, blood tests and an internal exam (how fun!).  So, if there's any family history I should know about, please pass on the information before then!

The second appointment is on February 16 with Heidi, one of the doctors in the practice.  I'm assuming there's an ultrasound, but I'm not 100% sure... I'll have to call and double check, or possibly ask at the first appointment.

What's happening in week 7?  Baby is 10,000 times bigger than it was at conception, most of the growth being concentrated in the head.  (Thank god babys' proportions will even out by August!)  How cool is this - brain cells are being generated at 100 cells per minute!  

Baby's mouth and tongue are forming, arm and leg buds are sprouting (and dividing into segments for shoulders, arms, wrists, knees, etc), and kidneys are starting to kick into gear.  Did you know that in this short amount of time baby is on its third set of kidneys?  These are the final set, and by the end of the week baby will start producing urine.  This sounds gross - but baby excretes urine into the amniotic fluid, swallows it, processes it, and excretes it again in one continuous cycle.  Kind of disgusting but it's getting the organs to do their jobs, right?

Baby still looks a little like a blob, but less than last week, I think.  

   

Week 6

It's week 6 and baby is the size of a sweet pea! The spinal tube is closed and the heart is beating 80 times per minute.  


This week baby's face is starting to form - jaw, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose and ears.  The ears are little indents on the side of a thing that I guess resembles a face.  The pictures online all look like blobs to me.  Hopefully baby starts resembling a human soon.  


So I'm growing a face!  Also, kidneys, liver, and lungs!


Growing a lung is hard work, which explains my only "pregnancy symptom" (as described online) is feeling tired.  Although.  We did go to the Museum of Science yesterday and then to the North End for dinner and I wasn't really that wiped out.  Museum was fantastic (Pompeii exhibit was really amazing) and dinner was equally fantastic... a little place called "Pomodoro" across the street from Mike's Pastry.  There were only 10 tables in the place - wicked cute and delicious (although it was way hot... we discovered a space heater under Dennis' seat on full blast when we got up to leave!).  


Today's agenda is to visit two hospitals and try and decide which we want to go with.  I'm leaning a little more towards Elliot because they have a newer and more advanced maternity wing.  Private rooms kind of like a hotel and they even provide a bed for Dennis!  Great security, and they even have a Newborn Intensive Care Unit which is not so typical around here unless you're in Boston.  


Here's baby at week 6... blob, right?

You knew...

Hi Family!


Come on now.  You knew this was coming!  :)  The thought of writing about all this is too tempting to pass up!


As of now, only specific people are able to see "Kate's Cradle" - but I'll open it up for anyone to view sooner or later.  


How exciting - you can keep track of me in person and online!