Too busy preparing for Christmas

12 weeks (LMP) 10 weeks (gestational)

weight: 104 pounds
waist: 27.5 inches

Your baby weighs between 0.3 and 0.5 ounce (8 to 14 g), and crown-to-rump length is almost 2.5 inches (61 mm). The baby's size has almost doubled in the past 3 weeks. Few, if any, structures in the baby are formed after this week in pregnancy. However, the structures already formed continue to grow and to develop. The skeletal system now has centers of bone formation (ossification) in most bones. Fingers and toes have separated, and nails are growing. Scattered rudiments of hair appear on the body. External genitalia are beginning to show distinct signs of male or female sex characteristics.

The digestive system (small intestine) is capable of producing contractions that push food through the bowels. It is also able to absorb glucose (sugar).

At the base of the baby's brain, the pituitary gland is beginning to make many hormones. Hormones are chemicals that are made in one part of the body, but their action is exerted on another part of the body.

Other things are also happening. The fetal nervous system has developed further. Your baby is moving inside your uterus. Stimulating the fetus in certain spots may cause it to squint, open its mouth and move its fingers or toes.

The amount of amniotic fluid is increasing. Total volume is now about 1.5 ounces (50 ml). At this time, the fluid is similar to maternal plasma (the noncellular portion of your blood), except it contains much less protein.

We are just too busy preparing for Christmas to think about much else. The baby is moving a lot these days. Its heartrate has recently slowed to about 168 bpm which is interesting. Jaida's stayed in the 180's until the moment she was born. The acne is totally out of control ... more info than you really needed, eh? Otherwise everything is going along swimmingly.

Jaida and I just returned from a two day trip to Brooklyn and NJ to visit with friends. It was a fun trip but has left me a bit exhausted.

My pregnancy calendar says that the bones begin to grow. Ribs and backbone are still soft but will harden later. The baby weighs 0.49 ounces and is about 2.13 inches long. By now the external sex organs have differentiated. The umbilical cord is well formed at this point. The placenta weighs about an ounce.

From Visembryo:

Week 12 - 13

Fetus begins to move around, though the mother cannot sense yet these movements.

Head

The head is about one-half of the crown-to-rump length and rests on the well-defined neck instead of shoulders.

Sucking muscles of mouth fill out cheeks, tooth buds continue to develop and salivary glands begin to function.

Scalp (hair) pattern is discernible.

Thorax

Heartbeat can be detected with external instruments.

Lungs develop further as the fetus inhales and exhales amniotic fluid, which is essential for air sacs within lungs to function properly.

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

Fully functional spleen will assume functions supervised by liver such as removal of old red blood cells and production of antibodies.

Pelvis

Fetus' sex can be detected as sexual organs (female or male) become clearly visible.

Limbs

Arms have almost reached final proportion and length, though legs are still quite short relative to fetus' body.

Hands, particularly the thumbs, become more functional.

Skin, Muscle, Glands

Muscles function more smoothly.

Fetus is more flexible and has advanced movements of head, mouth and lips, arms, wrists, hands, legs, foot, and toes.

Muscles and nervous system continue to advance.

Sweat glands appear and body hair begins to grow.