20 weeks – Ultrasound tomorrow! September 22, 2009

We’re at the halfway mark — YAY! Baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. Baby’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. (The way lil’ peanut is measured changes now.) Baby’s swallowing more these days, which is good practice for the digestive system. Baby’s also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion.

17 weeks! September 1, 2009

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

16 weeks August 25, 2009

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, baby will double in weight and in inches. Right now, baby’s about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. The legs are much more developed, the head is more erect than it has been, and the eyes have moved closer to the front of baby’s head. The ears are close to their final position, too.

12 weeks July 28, 2009

The most dramatic development this week: reflexes. Baby’s fingers will soon begin to open and close, the toes will curl, eye muscles will clench, and the mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if I prod my belly, baby will squirm in response, although I won’t be able to feel it. The intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into the abdominal cavity about now, and the kidneys will begin excreting urine into the bladder.

Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in baby’s brain, synapses are forming furiously. Baby’s face looks unquestionably human: the eyes have moved from the sides to the front of the head, and the ears are right where they should be. From crown to rump, baby is just over 2 inches long and weighs half an ounce.

10 weeks July 15, 2009

Sorry for the delay in posts.  I was planning on writing yesterday, but God had other plans.

Though baby’s barely the size of a kumquat — a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, baby has now completed the most critical portion of development. (Huge praise that this part it over before Malawi!!!)  This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in baby’s body rapidly grow and mature.

Baby is swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they’ll continue to develop throughout the pregnancy.

If you could take a peek at baby, you’d spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin.

Baby’s limbs can bend now. The hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over the heart, and the feet may be long enough to meet in front of baby’s body. The outline of the spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from the spinal cord. Baby’s forehead temporarily bulges with a developing brain and sits very high on baby’s head, which measures half the length of the body. From crown to rump, baby’s about 1 1/4 inches long. In the coming weeks, baby will again double in size — to nearly 3 inches.

9 weeks July 8, 2009

Our new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. Baby’s starting to look more and more human. The essential body parts are accounted for, though they’ll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: baby’s heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do the tiny teeth. The embryonic “tail” is completely gone. Baby’s organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won’t be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. The eyes are fully formed, but the eyelids are fused shut and won’t open until 27 weeks. Baby has tiny earlobes, and the mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that baby’s basic physiology is in place, baby is poised for rapid weight gain.

8 weeks June 30, 2009

Baby is now 5/8 of an inch long, about the size of a kidney bean. Webbed fingers and toes are poking out from baby’s hands and feet, eyelids practically cover the eyes, breathing tubes extend from the throat to the branches of developing lungs, and the “tail” is just about gone. Baby’s arms have lengthened, too, and the hands are now flexed at the wrist and meet over baby’s heart. The knee joints have formed, and feet may be long enough to meet in front of baby’s body. In the brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways.

7 weeks June 23, 2009

Hands and feet are emerging from developing arms and legs — although they look more like paddles at this point than the tiny, pudgy extremities . Technically, baby is still considered an embryo and has something of a small tail, which is an extension of it’s  tailbone. The tail will disappear within a few weeks, but that’s the only thing getting smaller.  Baby has doubled in size since last week and now measures half an inch long, about the size of a blueberry.

If you could see inside, you’d spot eyelid folds partially covering it’s peepers, which already have some color, as well as the tip of the nose and tiny veins beneath parchment-thin skin. Both hemispheres of  baby’s brain are growing, and the liver is churning out red blood cells until the bone marrow forms and takes over this role.  Baby also has an appendix and a pancreas, which will eventually produce the hormone insulin to aid in digestion. A loop in baby’s growing intestines is bulging into the umbilical cord, which now has distinct blood vessels to carry oxygen and nutrients to and from it’s tiny body.

6 weeks June 16, 2009

The nose, mouth, and ears that you’ll spend so much time kissing in eight months are beginning to take shape. If you could see, you’d find an oversize head and dark spots where the baby’s eyes and nostrils are starting to form. Baby’s emerging ears are marked by small depressions on the sides of the head, and the arms and legs by protruding buds. The heart is beating about 100 to 160 times a minute — almost twice as fast as mommy’s — and blood is beginning to course through baby’s body. The intestines are developing, and the bud of tissue that will give rise to the lungs has appeared. The pituitary gland is forming, as are the rest of the brain, muscles, and bones. Right now, baby is a quarter of an inch long, about the size of a lentil bean.

Sibling relationship May 14, 2009

This shows their relationship