Week 20

How your baby's growing:
Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. She's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against her torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of her head to her bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, she's measured from head to toe.)

She's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for her digestive system. She's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in her bowels, and you'll see it in her first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).

Monthly Doctor Appointment

We had our monthly doctor appointment with the OB/GYN. The appointment went well. I am off of "rest" but need to continue to take it easy when I can. I guess it's a good thing I'm out of work because that is easy enough to do.
We found out that the doctor's office will be changing locations right around the time that our baby is due (if the construction stays on schedule). They will be moving closer to another hospital, but that hospital is not capable of handling their volume of deliveries yet. Therefore depending on if they are in the new office, what the volume patients are at the time I need to go to the hospital and the timing of when I when I go into labor will depend on which hospital I deliver at. We will know for sure as we get closer to the due date along with the status of the construction. The good news is that either hospital looks good to us so we are open.

We hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Week 19

We have an appointment with the OBGYN this coming week. We are looking forward in hearing another update as to how our baby girl is doing.

How your baby's growing:
Your baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.

Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.

Week 18

How your baby's growing:
Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and she weighs almost 7 ounces. She's busy flexing her arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. Her blood vessels are visible through her thin skin, and her ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from her head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around her nerves, a process that will continue for a year after she's born. You're baby girl has her uterus and fallopian tubes formed and they are in place.

It's a Girl!!!

We had our doctor appointment with the genetic counselor today. They were able to determine the sex with 90%+ accuracy. Tom waited outside the room during the ultrasound because I wanted to tell him the sex of the baby myself. Since he has enjoyed the ultrasound appointments as much as I have we recorded the session on DVD so that he can watch it later. So after the appointment I went out and bought some baby items. It's looks like those who voted for a girl were right - It's a Girl!!!! So I bought her her first doll, an outfit that says "Daddy's little girl", a 6 pack of bibs which I bought because one of them says "I'm not a boy" and some scrapbook pages (ok that one is more for me) but it is for the baby album.

She weighs about 7 ounces now and is in good health. Her skeleton looks good, has good blood flow and appears to be doing well, she even agreed by providing us with a "thumbs up" shot.






















Our regular OB/GYN appointment is in about 2 weeks so we will have another update at that time. Our next appointment with the genetic counselor is next month. In the meantime I hope you enjoy the pictures from today's visit.

Week 17

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween. We had a great time taking Logan and Gwen (a friends kid who I babysit for two nights a week) trick-or-treating.

Nothing much to say about this week. I have not really felt the baby since last week. Still not eating to much and therefore have lost another pound. On the plus side - no news is good news.

























How your baby's growing:
Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.