23 weeks.

i am now 23 weeks... but baby is only 21 weeks old. baby measures about 6 inches from crown to rump, and weighs about 1 pound or more...

babys' body is becoming better proportioned each day and looking like a full term-baby, but bones and organs are still visible beneath the transparent skin.

babys' hearing is much more acute now, as the bones of the inner ear have hardened. baby can distinguish different noises from outside the uterus and from inside my body. you'd be surprised at how noisy your body really is, with the grugling of your tummy, the thump of your heartbeat, and the rushing of your blood around your body.

at birth, baby will reconize my voice by its pitch and cadences, so i should talk to baby as much as possible now. daddy's should talk to baby more too (both adam and i talk to baby alot, usually before we go to sleep, when it's quiet, and baby moves like crazy when adam talks...). research shows that deeper "male" voices are easier for baby to hear then high-pitched "female" voices. (good thing i have a deeper female voice... but it's cute. lol right ashley?) playing games such as patting my belly, and talking, may elict a kick in response and help neurological stimulation. amazing.

(i figured it out... when baby is small, like right now, when moving, or kicking... it can be compared to a twitch. kind of. it really is hard to explain.)

a look on motherhood. 1

in the last week, with my family being completely contageous, and sick... i've realized, even more so, that when you step into motherhood, you become stronger, all over. (kelley, you've going to be so grossed out!!) for example... last week, on sunday, i was feeling fine, i was driving with adam and brooke, running some errards. we had stopped at napa to get some light bulbs for adam's car, he was taking awhile so i let brooke hop into the passenger seat. remember now, she has the flu. adam comes back to the car, and is sitting in the back seat (apparently there is more room to sit behind me in the jetta while im driving, then to sit in the passenger seat when brooke is in the car... go figure?) we were just about to do the brooke-pass-over so she could get buckled back into her seat. that look came across her face... the im-going-to-get-sick-look. and out it came... i took my first reaction and formed a bowl with my hands and caught it...GROSS! i know, not in a million years i would ever thought i would do that. but i did, and it didn't bother me. i just opened the door, dumped my hands, got some wipes, and lots of that disinfectant gel, and was on my way... adam called me a true mom that day. i just had to smile.

so being a mom is more then what most would think. trust me.

22 weeks.

i am now... 22 weeks. :) baby is only 20 weeks old.

baby now has sweat glands and babys' skin is less transparent, although blood vessels can still be seen. fingernails are fully formed and continue to grow. (if baby is a boy, his testes have begun their descent from the pelvis to the scrotum. primitive sperm have already formed in the testes.)

babys' brain has begun to grow very rapidly now, especially in the germinal matrix, a structure in the certer of the brain that manufactures brain cells. the structure vanishes before birth but babys' brain will keep on expanding until the age of 5.

sick.

the past couple of days i have been overwhelmed with a sick family. first, brooke. she started with the flu late on saturday night. it was terrible. and poor thing was frightened everytime she threw up. i finally got her to bed, and keep down 3 ounces of pedi-lite. she slept... maybe 3-4 hours, then it started again. i was up from 2:30 til 6:30. she finally went back down... and held down another 3 ounces of pedi-lite. sunday wasn't as bad. adam and i monitored her liquids. her and i napped off and on all day sunday. decided to stay home on monday... brooke still wasn't eating very much, and had very bad diherrea. tuesday night... she went to bed fine, the whole family did, we were exhausted. i get up about 2:00, didn't feel right... now i've got the flu. im sure that night i puked everything except the baby!! it's terrible! adam gets up and ready for work, he's got such a head cold. tuesday im sick all day, trying to care for brooke during the day. it was tough. especially when all i wanted to do was sleep. when she napped, i napped!

im feeling better now, but decided to stay home one more day, make sure brooke is eating right, and she's feeling better, and i really needed an extra day to relax and catch up on alot of missed sleep. im just hoping that none of us get the head cold that adam is carrying around with him.

21 weeks

i will be 21 weeks tomorrow (tuesday). but baby is only 19 weeks old. baby measures about 7 an' a quater inches, and weighs about 10 an' a half ounces (i know this is approx, because last week on monday, my baby was already 11 ounces.)

babys' digestifve system is developed enough to absorb water from the amniotic fluid baby swallows. at full term, baby can swallow as much as 18 fl oz (500mL) of amniotic fluid in a 24-hour period. in the early stages, amniotic fluid is produced by the placenta. once babys' kidneys start functioning, around the fouth month, they take over this production. although babys' kidney's remove some waste product from the blood and make urine, there isn't much urine in the amniotic fluid. most waste products are conveyed through the placenta to my bloodstream and are then filtered by my kidneys (workin' overtime!!). baby also secrets body chemicals into the amniotic fluid, and a sample taken via an amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling can reveal important information about babys' health.

the senses baby will use to learn about the world are developing daily. taste buds have formed on the tongue, and the development os the brain and nerve endings are advanced enough to let baby sense touch.

adam and brooke can now feel baby move. especially at night when im relaxing, thats when baby gets most active. and the sound of my voice, and adam's voice must make baby do summersaults, or thats what it felt like last night. :)

curious set of quesitons.

this easter sunday, while spending quality time with the "in-law" side of the family, i was left speechless after i was asked such a simple, curious, innocent question. this question was asked by one of the nieces, katie. she just turned 3, but speaks very well. if you've seen any pictures i've sent, she's the one with the red hair, the only one? she does have an older brother, owen who turns 4 in december, and a younger sister, zoe, who turns 2 in august. with having said that, her mom tells her that i have a baby growing inside me. she turns to me and asks... can i see your baby? i was speechless, wasn't sure how to respond. finally simply said... in a couple months, after baby is born. still quite intrigued about the baby in my tummy, she then asks, can i hold your baby? again i simply say, when the baby is born. she was getting frustrated with me because i could not let her see, or hold the baby right that second like she wanted. i think she understood, but continued to ask me those questions throughout the night. it was cute, but strange.

it's amazing how little minds work... just so curious about everything. i can't wait until brooke starts asking questions. i shouldn't say that, because then when she stats, i'll want her to stop, im sure it gets overwhelming at times.

im just glad katie didn't ask me where babys' come from... hopefully she leaves that question for her mom and dad! :)

week 20

because my dates have changed i am now 20 weeks (i don't think anyone will ever know...) but baby is only 18 weeks.
baby measures about... 5.5 to 6.5 inches, and according to the ultrasound yesterday, baby weighs approx. 11 ounces.

baby has reached the halfway mark. baby's still tiny by growing rapidly. this is a crucial stage for the development of the senses - taste, smell, hearing, seeing, and touch. now baby can finally hear and recognize mine and adam's voice (he talks to baby when we have pillow talk before bed. and might even know brooke's little jibber jabber!) the nerve cells serving each of the senses are now developing into their particular areas of the brain. the increase in the number of nerve cells is slowing but the complex connections required for the development of memory and thinking functions are being formed.
if baby is a girl, she already has roughly 2 million eggs in her ovaries. however, by the time she's born, this number will have reduced to a mere million.
baby can also enjoy a good strech of limbs as nervous and muscular systems have developed sufficiently to allow this.

(brooke took the ultrasound very well, she wasn't too sure about the dimly lit room but as soon as she seen mommy. she was okay. she even asked me, "okay?" i reassured her i was. i think she may understand that mommy has a baby growing in her tummy, and soon she's going to be a big sister.)

ultrasound - april 9, 2007

first off... can i ask? what is with the weather?? ridiculous!!

anyways, the ultrasound, went very well. the ultrasound tech said that baby is very symetrical... meaning that all measurements measured the same at 19.6 weeks. my due date was originally set for september 1st. they have now moved it to august 28th. (which kind of contradicts with my pregnancy ticker at the top, i'll be changing that!) she also told me that i have a long cervix. all i could say to that was. "i don't hear that everyday, thanks!" she laughed. by the way, having a long cervix doesn't mean anything bad, you just don't want a short one. i was in the scanning room for quite awhile, she told me baby was challenging her, everytime she'd go to take a measurement, baby would move. as i've said before, adam and i didn't find out the sex, now you'll all have to wait, like the best of us!!

in the picture you can see the head in the bottom left. then, bviously, the body. next is... as much as adam wants it to be a penis, it's a leg. lol. they do have the 3D scans now, but at this stage, baby would look just like a skeleton. gross.

i'll be posting again really soon today, what is going on in week 20. (tuesdays are my new week beginings, according to technology.)

week 19

i am now 19 weeks, but baby is only 17 weeks old. baby measures about 5-6 inches from crown to rump and weighs about 7 oucnes.

a thick, white greasy substance called vernix caseosa is being secreted by glands in baby's skin. this acts as a waterproof barrier, to prevent baby's skin for getting waterlogged in the amniotic fluid.
throughout baby's body, nerves are being coated with a fatty substance called myelin, which insulates the nerves, allowing the smooth, rapid exchange of information neccessary for coordinated, skillful movement. the poorly coordinated movements of newborns - and particularyly premature infants - are for the most part due to their comparative lack of myelin.
baby's gut has begun to produce gastric juices that help absorb amniotic fluid and pass it through the kidneys where it's filtered and excreted back into the amniotic sac.

theres your biology lesson for this week. lol. (there will be another tomorrow, or really soon for my 20 week mark.)

i'll post a picture tomorrow, the ultrasound went very well. baby measures at 20 weeks and my weeks start on tuesdays.

times like these

it's times like these, that you wish they would stay small forever. but you know they won't. it hasn't been that long ago, she's only turning 2... but i can barely recall how tiny she was when she was born. how little she used to be. how she used to just roll around, and not move very far, and now i have to chase her around, and chances are that i get tired before she does. im not out of shape, she just has tonnes of energy. the time when i didn't have to worry about her playing on the stairs and having the chance of taking that last step and falling. or in the morning and after naps, i would have to retrieve her from her crib, now when she gets up, she gets out of bed, and finds where you are. when all you got back from talking to her was coos, now i get real words. which don't get me wrong is great and not so frustrating when she needs or wants something, but she says real words now. she's becoming such a little lady. and we love her! i just wish she didn't grow so fast. but i can honestly say... i didn't miss one moment of it! i was there for everything.

today's doctor appointment

went to see the doctor today, just a routine check-up, i go once a month. they weigh me, im keeping it a secret. i'll let you know in the end how much i gained. yikes. last pregnancy i gained 55 pounds. thank goodness for wonderful skin, good lotion, and nursing! he measures my tummy to see how much rounder i am, and the best part, i get to hear baby's heart beat. now, there is an old wives tale about a baby's heart beat. im not quite sure of the numbers, but if it's between certain numbers, they predict a boy, or girl. still not going to find out the sex, but baby's heart beat is at 160 beats per minute. thats fast. i found out why my groin area hurts after let's say... a day a doing laundry. because the muscle that is usually 2-3 inches in length, is being streched to maybe 5-6 inches in length, combined with the pressure of my growing uterus, makes for one sore groin area. lol. almost feels like it's bruised sometimes. other then that... im as healthy as can be. doc says i can keep running/walking. fantastic! the worst part is the end, when i go downstairs, and pee in a cup. i dislike it, and i have to do it everytime!!! the rounder you get, the more of a problem solver you become!

(ultrasound on monday, so excited!)