Big movements

17 Weeks 0 Days (LMP) 15 Weeks 0 Days (gestational)

weight: 110 pounds
waist: 30 inches

The crown-to-rump length of your baby is 4.4 to 4.8 inches (110 to 120 mm). Fetal weight has doubled in 2 weeks and is 3.5 ounces (100 g). By this week, your baby is about the size of your hand spread wide open.

Fat begins to form this week and the weeks to follow. Also called adipose tissue, fat is important to the body's heat production and metabolism.

At 17 weeks of development, water makes up about 3 ounces (89 g) and fat 0.018 ounce (0.5 g) of your baby's body. In a baby at term, fat makes up about 5.25 pounds (2.4 kg) of the total average weight of 7.7 pounds (3.5 kg).

Really not much to report. I feel pretty darn good considering I am growing pretty fast. I started pre-natal yoga last weekend and am really enjoying it. Jaida and I also do yoga from DVD's in the evening at home while Joe works out. She loves it and it makes it much more fun for me ... although I am a tad jealous of her downward-facing dog. :)

The baby is making some HUGE movements these days. I can feel very definite flips and rolls and every now and again a little something poking out. Pretty fun! I can feel the baby very clearly from the outside although it moves quickly so it has been hard for Joe to feel the baby yet. Soon though, I am sure of it.

Midwife Appointment

16 weeks 0 days (lmp) 14 weeks 0 days (gestational)

The crown-to-rump length of your baby by this week is 4.3 to 4.6 inches and the weight is about 2.8 ounces.There is also about 7.5 ounces of amniotic fluid around the baby.

Fine lanugo hair covers your baby's head. The umbilical cord is attached to the abdomen; this attachment has moved lower on the body of the fetus.

Fingernails are well formed. The legs are longer than the arms. Arms and legs are moving and can now easily be felt.

I had my 16 week midwife appointment yesterday. Pretty uneventful really. My blood pressure was low (80 something over 40 something) as always. I gained 2-3 pounds in the last month. She could feel my uterus and said it was the size it should be. We heard the baby's heartbeat (in the 140's). All is good. I go back for another appointment in 5 weeks or so. I scheduled my 20 week anatomical ultrasound for February 13, 2006. We are looking forward to that.

I am suffering such food guilt right now. Mostly because I have no nausea any longer and therefore no real excuse to not eat healthy yet I am not eating all that healthy. The baby just won't let me. :) After inhaling two Krispy Kreme doughnuts and a couple of handfuls of fritos for dinner last night I decided enough is enough. I went out and bought a HUGE tub of fresh fruit already cut up and I am going to eat the entire thing in the next couple of days. I guess at this point I just need to make myself do it ... no excuses. I also planned a very healthy dinner menu for the next two weeks now I just need to get off my butt in the evening and cook the stuff. I am always so tired after work that is just hard to get motivated.

My pregnancy calendar says the baby weighs 3.53 ounces or 100 grams. Baby is 4.57 inches or 11.6 cm long. The rest of baby's face begins to form. The tail has disappeared and the head makes up about half of baby's size. The baby's ears and eyes have moved to their final positions look more "normal" by now.

From Visembryo:

Week 16 Post Fertilization...

Growth continues, but no new structures form after this point.

HEAD

Eyes are at final destination and face forward rather than to the sides and reflexes, such as blinking, develop. Ears move to final position and stand out from head.

ABDOMEN

Meconium begins to accumulate in the bowels. Meconium is the product of cell loss, digestive secretion and swallowed amniotic fluid.

LIMBS

Fingertips and toes develop the unique swirls and creases of fingerprints and toe prints.

NERVOUS

The nerves are being coated with a fatty substance system (myelin) to speed nerve cell transmission and insulate them for uninterrupted impulses.

BLOOD

Circulation is completely functional. The umbilical cord system continues to grow and thicken as blood travels with considerable force through the body to nurture the fetus. The placenta is now almost equal in size to the fetus.

Excessive Hunger

15 weeks 2 days (lmp) 13 weeks 2 days (gestational)

I spend much of each day daydreaming about my next meal. I just want food and lots of it. With Jaida I sort grazed all day on small meals. This time around it is different ... very very different. I want large quantities of food all at once and then I don't really want to eat again for quite a while. I am also CRAVING milk products. Normally I am not a big consumer of dairy products (other than cheese) but lately I just want milk ... cereal with milk, chai tea lattes, ice cream, lots of cheese and yogurt drinks. Also, with Jaida I really wanted salty foods and had no need for sweets. This time bring on the sugar ... the more the merrier. I am going to gain SO much weight! I need to fill out a 2 week eating diary for my midwife and I am honestly embarrassed to do so. I keep putting it off in hopes that my diet will suddenly become healthier. I have high hopes for this but baby is not cooperating with me.

We think baby had a HUGE growth spurt over the last few days. It spent much of that time burrowed down into my pelvis to the point of causing me much discomfort and difficulty peeing. Now suddenly all the kicks are up much higher ... just below my ribs and my lower abdomen feels very heavy. Also, we can put the doppler probe just about anywhere on my belly and find the heartbeat which is quite convienent.

Our cat Isis has taken up her standard pregnancy position which is to sleep draped over the top of my belly. She did this with Jaida and she is doing it again now. I swear as much as this cat adores Jaida I think this is some weird maternal cat bonding thing. She lays on my belly and purrs like crazy and baby just kicks up a storm from the inside. A uterus cozy of sorts. :)

I imagine my next update will be after my midwife appointment on Tuesday.

15 Weeks Pregnant

15 weeks 0 days (lmp) 13 weeks 0 days (gestational)

weight: 106 pounds
waist: 28.5 inches

The fetal crown-to-rump length by this week of pregnancy is 4.1 to 4.5 inches (93 to 103 mm). Your baby is about the size of a softball and weighs about 1.75 ounces (50 g).

Your baby's rapid growth continues. Its skin is thin. At this point in its development, you can see blood vessels through the skin. Fine hair called lanugo hair covers the baby's body.

By this time, your baby may be sucking its thumb. This has been seen with ultrasound examination. Eyes continue to move to the front of the face but are still widely separated.

Ears continue to develop externally and they now look more like normal ears. In fact, your baby looks more human with each passing day.

Bones that already formed are getting harder and retaining calcium (ossifying) rapidly. If an X-ray were performed at this time, the baby's skeleton would be visible.

The baby has finally raised up out of my pelvis a little bit. I am feeling movement much higher the last couple of days. People are starting to notice that I am pregnant ... kind of ... mostly they notice but are afraid to ask for fear that I am just getting fat. :) I just get the "are you pregnant" look a lot.

I am starting to think about the stuff I need to get for this baby. We are pretty okay for the most part. We still have everything that was Jaida's so we really just need to get a few little replacement items. Shouldn't be too bad really.

A couple of 15 week belly pictures ...

Get off my bladder already

14 weeks 5 days (LMP) 12 weeks 5 days (gestational)

This kid is seriously squashing my bladder. Up until this point I haven't had any of the early pregnancy bladder issues. Now is a whole different story though. The kid is so low in my pelvis right now that I think it is laying right on my bladder. I have that I am about to pee my pants feeling pretty much all day long. It isn't really fun and I will be a much happier person when this baby decides to scoot up a bit.

Starting to feel subtle movements again which is a relief. I wasn't really that worried with the sudden lack of movement but there is always that little bit of worry. Especially since the baby is normally VERY active.

Anyhow, I am tired and off to bed.

Very little movement

14 weeks 4 days (lmp) 12 weeks 4 days (gestational)

I can now sort of feel the weight of the baby in my lower abdomen. For some reason over the last few days the baby has really sunk down into my pelvis and hardly moves around (that I can feel) at all. It is very strange. I sort of wonder if maybe the baby is just resting because it is going through a big growth spurt or developmental jump or something. We keep checking the heartbeat and it is strong as ever so I assume all is alright. I have also been a tad stressed the last few days due to some family issues which likely isn't helping matters at all.

Anyhow, the baby bulge is getting to be pretty obvious. I went out and bought a few pairs of low rise maternity pants. Mostly cargos and all very cute. They are quite comfy. It is really very strange to be showing so much so early but I guess that is a second pregnancy for you.

Anyhow, all is well here.

The baby is growing

14 weeks (lmp) 12 weeks (gestational)

weight: 106 pounds
waist: 28.5 inches

The crown-to-rump length is 3.2 to 4.1 inches (80 to 93 mm). Your baby is about the size of your fist and weighs almost 1 ounce (25 g).

By this week the baby's ears have moved from the neck to the sides of the head. Eyes have been moving gradually to the front of the face from the side of the head. The neck continues to get longer, and the chin no longer rests on the chest.

Sexual development continues. It is becoming easier to determine male from female by looking at external genitalia, which are more developed.

From Visembryo:

14 Weeks Post Fertilization...

Fetus is more flexible with ability to move head, mouth, lips, arms, wrists, hands, legs, feet, and toes.

Head and neck are straighter and almost erect as muscles strengthen and additional bone texture forms in the back.

Eyes face more forward.

Ears are close to final position. Philtrum, the vertical groove on the surface of the upper lip, lowers into position.

THORAX

Heart pumps about twenty-five quarts of blood per day and increases to three hundred quarts per day by the time of delivery.

Respiratory and digestive system - breathing, swallowing and sucking - are more developed.

ABDOMEN

Torso grows rapidly, in increasing proportion to the head.

LIMBS

Limbs are well-developed and more defined with toenails beginning to grow from their nail beds.