15 weeks

How your baby's growing: At around 4 inches long, crown to rump, your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 ounces. He's busy inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid, which will help develop the air sacs in his lungs. His legs are growing longer than his arms now, and he can move all his joints and limbs. That means his hands are more functional, too. Sweat glands are appearing, and although his eyelids are fused shut, he can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, he's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but his taste buds are beginning to form. And if you have an ultrasound, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or girl! (Don't be disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down the sex depends somewhat on how clear the picture is and the position of your baby during the ultrasound; he may be curled or turned in such a way as to keep you in suspense.)

Today I had my 14 week checkup and all is well. I have to do a glucose test at my next appointment because I've had some blood sugar issues in the past. Dr. Pludre was doing the doppler to hear the heartbeat and we weren't having any luck. He was explaining to me that I shouldn't be dissappointed because it wasn't unusual to not be able to find it this early...then all of a sudden, there it was. A nice strong heartbeat! I have to admit I cried a little...how cool! I've been told by many that you could get a good guess of the sex by the heatbeat, but the Dr. said that's just a wives tale.

I forgot to mention in my last post what my due date was...July 20th! (Thanks Sara!)

Here's what is going on right now...
Head to bottom, your baby's 3 1/2 inches long — about the length of a lemon — and weighs about 1 1/2 ounces. Her body's growing faster than her head, which now sits upon a more well-defined neck. By the end of this week, her arms will have lengthened and will be in proportion to the rest of her body. (Her legs still have some growing to do, though.) She's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair all over her body (called lanugo). Her liver starts secreting bile this week, a sign that it's already functioning properly, and her spleen starts contributing to the production of red blood cells. She's also producing and discharging urine into the amniotic fluid, a normal process that she'll keep up until birth. You still can't feel your baby's movements, but her hands and feet (which are now half an inch long) are more flexible and active. Thanks to brain impulses, her little facial muscles are getting a workout as she squints, frowns, and grimaces. She can grasp now, too, and she may be able to suck her thumb.

First trimester

So my first trimester is over....wow that went super fast! From daily morning sickness to emotions that were off the charts I'm ready for the "honeymoon" stage, aka the second trimester. The first ultra sound was really cool. Not that the baby even looked like a baby, but more like a peanut. It was cool because we got to see the heart beat...how amazing! I think we've decided not to find out what we're having. Matt says all he cares about is that the baby is healthy...and that it's the one thing that we get to be surprised about. I have an appointment on tuesday so I'll put another post up after that...we're supposed to be able to hear the heartbeat at this one.