weight: 103 pounds
waist: 27 inches
The crown-to-rump length of the growing baby is 0.08 to 0.16 inch (2 to 4 mm). Crown-to-rump is the sitting height or distance from the top of the baby's head to its rump or buttocks. This is the beginning of the embryonic period (from week 6 to week 10 of pregnancy, or from week 4 to week 8 of fetal development). This is a period of extremely important development in your baby! At this time, the embryo is most susceptible to factors that can interfere with its development. Most malformations originate during this critical period. The result of all this growth is a body form showing the head and tail area. Around this time, the neural groove closes and early brain chambers form. The eyes are also forming. Limb buds appear. The heart tubes fuse and heart contractions begin. This can be seen by ultrasound.
We have decided that what we need is some sort of meter that can measure the level of a woman's pregnant-icity (new word). Something that I can look at when the symptoms are on the go side of the come and go scale that would make me feel better about things.
I had a lot of symptoms and now I am on the fewer end of the scale. The nausea is really only if I wait too long to eat. Many women would tell me how lucky I am but quite honestly I find the nausea rather comforting and I feel a bit out of whack when I don't have it. I also feel pretty darn good ... in fact much better than I would expect to feel at this point. No cramping, pinching, body aches, weird twinges, nothing. I am a bit tired and definitely crash on the couch quite early in the evening but I wouldn't say that I am walking around exhausted or anything. I do have some mighty powerful smell aversions but that is really about it at this point. Hopefully, something like throwing up will happen soon to reassure me again. ;)
We met with our new birth doula/birth assistant yesterday afternoon. I found completely by accident on the Dona.org website. She literally lives down the street from me which is so amazingly convienent. She has done a bunch of work with my midwives so she already has a good working relationship in place with them. She got along great with our dogs and Jaida took to her immediately. Jaida had fun showing Gwen all of her pine cones and seed pods she has been collecting. Gwen is super nice and laid back and very knowledgeable so I think I will be quite happy having her with us when the baby comes.
My pregnancy calendar says that the early heart is beating now although it is so faint it is difficult to hear. Also that the inner ear is now forming. I am currently reading "What's Going on in There? How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life" again. Mostly because I just think it is a great book to read during pregnancy. Anyhow, I just finished the chapter on the vestibular system. This chapter is applicable to this current stage of development. The part of the inner ear that is forming is actually the vestibular organ rather than the hearing part. It is amazing that this early the embryo can already sense when I move and when it moves. The vestibular system is one of the earliest forming major systems of the embryo. It is also the most well developed system by the time the baby is actually born. I guess to some degree this explains why babies love to be rocked, bounced, swayed, vibrated, etc from day one of being outside the womb. It is pretty darn cool!
From Visembryo:
Twenty-one to Twenty-nine Somite Pairs, Caudal Neuropore Closes, Three to Four Pharyngeal Arches Appear, Upper Limb Buds Appear
3.0 - 5.0 mm
25 - 27 days post-ovulation
The embryo curves into a C shape. The arches that form the face and neck are now becoming evident under the enlarging forebrain. By the time the neural tube is closed, both the eye and ear will have begun to form. At this stage, the brain and spinal cord together are the largest and most compact tissue of the embryo.A blood system continues to develop. Blood cells follow the surface of yolk sac where they originate, move along the central nervous system, and move in the chorionic villi, the maternal blood system.
Valves and septa may appear in the heart in Stage 12.
The digestive epithelium layer begins to differentiate into the future locations of the liver, lung, stomach and pancreas. The beginning cells of the liver form before the rest of the digestive system.
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