38 Week Update

How far along? 38 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: No weight gain since last week! Still b/t 32-37 pounds (as of 7/31).
Stretch marks? Not yet!
Sleep: Increasingly uncomfortable and choppy. It doesn't help that the cat thinks that anytime between 2-4 a.m. is a good time for eating and playing.
Best moment this week: My mom delivered the chiffarobe that she refinished and it looks great in the nursery.
Movement: She has been knocking on the door to get out.
Food cravings: None.
Gender: Still a girl!
Labor Signs: Almost 1 cm, 50% effaced, 0 station.
Belly Button in or out? Still looks like a Cheerio.
What I miss: A good night's sleep.
What I am looking forward to: Having an "outside baby".
Weekly Wisdom: Be aware of the signs of PPD and make sure you have a good support network in place.
Milestones: Organs are said to be fully developed! She's putting on fat and building brain smarts every day that she's still inside :)

22W5D Update

Dear Mungee,

You are now about 11 inches long from head to toes and weigh in at one pound. Your lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and you're even developing tiny tooth buds beneath your gums. Your eyes have formed, but your irises still lack pigment - will you have my greenish-blue eyes or daddy's brown eyes?

You have fine hair called lanugo covering your body, as well as deep wrinkles. You need to fill those in with fat. Your pancreas is developing steadily.

I am feeling you move more often throughout the day, not just mostly at night. Daddy felt you move yesterday, finally! I put his hand on my belly and as soon as you kicked, he went "Oh, whoa!" So I knew that he really felt you that time and wasn't just saying that he did to make me feel better.

I seem to be eating a lot more these days and I have put on a total of 15 pounds. About 9 of those pounds apparently were gained in just 4 weeks. My midwife said I was doing okay and that she wasn't worried about my weight gain, but that I should probably switch from whole to 2% milk. I can handle that.

At my last appointment, they measured fundal height for the first time. The fundus is the top of the uterus and this week, I think it's about 1-2 inches above my belly button. Typical height corresponds to the number of weeks of pregnancy and I was on track. 22 centimeters for 22 weeks.

At the next appointment (25w, 2d) I will have the glucose tolerance screening. I drink a sugary drink and then wait an hour and my finger is pricked to draw blood. If I fail that test, it could mean I am at risk for gestational diabetes. I hope that isn't the case!

I cannot believe I have completed more weeks of pregnancy than I have left. We have a lot to get done around the house in anticipation of your arrival. Your room is primed and the chair rail and wainscoting are up. They need to be finished off and then we'll paint (well, Daddy will paint and Mommy will supervise). I need to clean our junk out of your closet and make it truly yours. We will also have to pick out a crib and changing table for you. We had a crib but we found out that it had been recalled so we're going to get a voucher from the company and buy you a new one.

We love you and are very much looking forward to meeting you in 17-18 weeks!

21W1D Update

Dear Mungee,

You are now approximately 10.5 inches long from crown to feet - about the length of a carrot! Your eyebrows and eyelids are now present. Your blood circulation is completely functional and your umbilical cord system continues to grow and thicken as blood travels with considerable force through the body to nurture you. The placenta is now almost equal in size to you. Your fetal digestive system is functioning and you can swallow amniotic fluid. Your taste buds are being formed this week.

I have noticed that my wedding band is getting tighter so I must have some swelling in my fingers. I definitely need to get my belly button ring taken out soon. My belly button is stretching wider. I do not think it will pop out.

It is so hard to sleep through the night. I am concerned about sleeping on my back since I am not supposed to, but that's the most comfortable way for me to sleep. I am up several times throughout the night. It can be hard to fall back asleep when your daddy is snoring. He says that I have started to snore, but I am not sure that I believe him.

I am feeling you move more during the day now. I bet I will be seeing your kicks from the outside soon!

20W6D

Well, I certainly feel like I've been a bad mommy. I guess neglecting this blog now is just practice for when Mungee is really here.

I am past the 20 week mark and I am feeling Mungee move every day now. She's most active at night as I am trying to fall asleep and in the morning when I lay quietly after waking up. Within the last week, I have had two people survey my baby bump and tentatively ask, "Are you expecting?" Looks like Mungee has made her presence known!

Today I bought Mungee a couple cute sleep gowns and a jumper. She received a cute outfit from her Great-Grandmother L. Mungee's travel system from my parents, Bebe and Papa J, arrived today. Bebe also purchased a highchair she found through Craigslist, but we won't need to use that for a while.

Tomorrow I will be 21 weeks along. I won't backtrack here on the developmental progress Mungee has already made by growing so big. I will update her 21 week average stats soon.

Daddy and I love Mungee so very much and we cannot wait to meet her!

16W5D Update

Uterus is still moving up. It has definitely helped to create my "baby bump". The bump is smaller in the morning, but gets bigger throughout the day. I really haven't had any problems with constipation (:::keeps fingers crossed!:::)

I'm still not sure if I have felt the baby move. Our big ultrasound is in 10 days! I cannot believe it's almost here. I have been worried because we didn't have a boy name picked out, but the other day, I thought of a first name and told DH and he likes it. So we have names whether it's a boy or girl and for that, I am relieved.

In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. His heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day .

15W5D Update

I can feel that my uterus has grown and is moving up slowly into my abdominal cavity. It's pushing everything else up and gives me a big bloat that makes it look like I'm a lot further along than I really am. We have our BIG ULTRASOUND scheduled for March 11th!

Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces. She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste buds.

14W4D Update

I am over morning sickness for the most part, though strong foul smells still cause me to wretch. I still haven't experienced the dreaded constipation. I think I may have felt some baby movement in the form of bubbles/flutters, but it could have been hunger pangs or gas.

Our baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his/her thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his/her facial muscles are getting a workout as his/her tiny features form one expression after another. His/her kidneys are producing urine, which s/he releases into the amniotic fluid around him/her — a process s/he'll keep up until birth.

Our baby is now stretching out and from head to bottom, s/he measures 3 1/2 inches. and weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His/her body's growing faster than his/her head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his/her arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his/her body. (The legs still have some lengthening to do.) S/He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his/her body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his/her spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells.

12 and 13 week update

I cannot believe I forgot to do a 12 week update! Now I feel like a bad mommy :(

I'm definitely feeling better, when it comes to the morning sickness. I am not sleeping well though and I have been getting headaches. I guess I need to drink more water. I've been spending a lot of time adding "the essential" items to our baby registry - I'm going by what I have seen on friends' registries and using the checklist from Babies R Us. I have a feeling that most experienced moms would say that you don't need EVERYTHING the BRU checklist says that you need. A lot of it does seem redundant.

In the last couple weeks this is how the baby has been developing:

Week 12

Your baby's crown-to-rump length is almost 2.5 inches and she now weighs between 8 and 14 grams! In just three weeks, your baby's size has more than doubled and begins to look a lot more human. Even though you won't be able to feel your baby moving at this time, you can stimulate him and he will squint, open his mouth and move his fingers or toes.

Your baby develops reflexes and the skin is very sensitive. The brain is fully formed, and the child can feel pain :( The baby may even suck his thumb. The eyelids now cover the eyes, and will remain shut until the seventh month to protect the delicate optical nerve fibers.



Week 13

This is the last week of your first trimester and your baby weighs 14 to 20 grams. The crown-to-rump length of your growing baby is 2.6 to 3.1 inches.

There is a milky membrane that surrounds your baby. It is pierced by the umbilical cord and is made up of two layers, which are fused together. Your placenta provides most of the nutrients and oxygen that your baby needs. By this week, the placenta is well formed and ready to take over hormone manufacture from your ovaries. The placenta will produce progesterone and estriol. These hormones will be crucial in the maintenance of your pregnancy. Tissue that will form your baby's bones is being laid down, especially around the head and limbs. The nose and chin are becoming more prominent. Your baby's eyelids meet and fuse together and they will not open again for nearly four months. The eyes started out on the side of your baby's head and they are now moving closer together on the face. The ears come to lie in their normal position on the sides of the head.

The sockets for all twenty teeth are formed in the gums, and vocal cords are beginning to form.

11W5D Update

Mungee is now about the size of a large lime (from crown to rump)! I am feeling better and have an increased appetite, though I am still throwing up a bit. I feel better after actually throwing up than just feeling like I need to throw up.

This is the last week of the embryonic period. From now on, your baby will be called a fetus. Your baby's fingernails appear this week! External genitalia are beginning to show distinguishing features and the development of male or female will be complete in three weeks. The placenta's blood vessels increase to provide your baby with the nutrients and oxygen he needs for continued growth. Your baby's ears are gradually moving from the neck towards the sides of his head. Inside of your baby's abdomen, the intestines are developing. Because the intestines are so large, some of them project into the umbilical cord and they will return to the abdomen within the next week or two.

At the size of a plumb, your baby is now able to swallow. The urinary system functions. The baby swallows and urinates the amniotic fluid and the fluid is continually replaced. The baby is kicking but the mother cannot feel it yet. All vital organs are formed and, for the most part, function normally. From now on, they will grow in size and efficiency.

10W4D Update

The crown-to-rump length of your developing baby is 1.25 to 1.68 inches. It is now easier to tell how much the baby weighs since he is beginning to put on some weight. Your baby weighs approximately 5 grams and is the size of a small plum! The fingers and toes have separated and the tail has disappeared now. Your baby's tiny feet are fully formed and shaped and could stand on an adult's fingernail. Your baby has taste and tooth buds at this point, which will continue to develop. The brain will continue to grow at an amazing rate and nearly a quarter of a million new neurons are produced every minute! The embryonic heart is completely developed. External genitalia are not apparent until next week, but a male's testes will already be producing testosterone.

The baby's eyelids are fused now and the irises are developing. Your baby will begin to get baby teeth, fingernails, toenails and hair follicles this week, too.

I seem to be regaining my appetite, though I have a hard time identifying what I want to eat. The other night we went out to dinner and I couldn't stand my former favorite food - French fries! The more full I stay, the less nauseous I get, but it's hard to do.

I think I can feel my uterus just above the top of my pubic bone. It feels hard to the touch under the skin. It's encouraging to feel and see changes in my body because it helps me to think things are progressing along properly.

I started a baby registry today. I'm not really sure of everything I need to add to it, but for now, I put some things I think we will need, as well as some really cute sleep sacks! I also learned of a site where you can create one registry and add items from many different websites. This way, you don't have to create a registry for one or two things on ten different sites. It's called www.myregistry.com

On Monday we will see the midwife and, G-d Willing, hear our  baby's heartbeat for the first time! I am so excited for this day. I wish we could get another ultrasound so we can see what Mungee looks like, but I think we have to wait until 18 weeks.

Being able to count in the double digits and say I was 10 weeks pregnant this week has been awesome!

9W4D Update

I'm still feeling nauseous most of the time and having major food aversions. I cannot wait until I get my appetite back! I'm worried that I'm not getting the right nutrition for fueling Mungee's  growth :( I still have bloated pooch and have started wearing maternity jeans because they are much more comfortable than regular jeans. I'm also starting to feel more fatigued.

Mungee is growing rapidly. S/he is now the size of a medium green olive. S/he is officially moving on from embryo to fetus this week!

The head has straightened out and is more fully developed, the ears are much more prominent, and some new organs (the liver, spleen, and gallbladder) are forming. Your fetus is also making spontaneous movements of his or her arms and legs now that minuscule muscles are beginning to develop. Your baby's heart is developed enough — and grown large enough — so that its beats can be heard with a Doppler, a handheld ultrasound device that amplifies the lub-dub sound the heart makes - we should be able to hear the heartbeat at my next appointment, when I will be almost 11 weeks along!

Your baby's back is straightening out and the tail is shrinking. In proportion to the rest of his body, the head is large and remains curved forwards onto the chest. The head is erect and the neck is developing well. Even though your baby's eyes are well developed, they are covered by a membrane lid. The eyes will not begin to open and close for quite some time still. Your baby will begin to make tiny movements as the muscles start to develop. The arms and hands are progressing faster than the legs and feet at this point. By this time of your baby's development, the hands have defined finger ridges and the tissue between them will die off to leave separate fingers. It is impossible to distinguish a male from a female at this time because external genitalia look very similar at this point.

8W3D Update

At a length of about half an inch right now, your baby has graduated from blueberry-sized to raspberry-sized. But weekly growth is getting a bit hard to estimate, and here's why: Growth occurs at about the rate of one millimeter each day, but that growth isn't necessarily just in height. Spurts can occur in the arms, legs, back, and other parts of your baby's body. So, big changes will be occurring every which way in the coming months.

A close-up view of your little embryo would reveal a more baby-like appearance. You'd see an upper lip forming, the protruding tip of that cute button nose, and tiny (and very thin) eyelids. And check out those hands and feet! Your baby's webbed fingers and toes are differentiating now.

His or her heart is beating at the incredible rate of 150 times per minute. (That's twice as fast as your heart beats.) Your baby's digs are growing, too. Amniotic fluid increases at a rate of about two tablespoons per week to accommodate your womb's growing tenant.

7W2D Update

Mungee is developing rapidly this week!

Your baby is now about the size of a blueberry (and about 10,000 times bigger than he was at conception).

Most of that growth is concentrated in the head as new brain cells are generated at the rate of 100 per minute. Your baby's mouth and tongue are forming as arm and leg buds sprout, and those little kidneys are getting ready to do their job.

At the beginning of this week, your baby is approximately 4 to 5 mm and by the end of the week it has more than doubled to 11 to 13 mm! Your baby weights approximately 0.03 ounces.

Your baby's leg and arm buds are longer now and they have divided into segments where the hands and feet will be. The hands and feet also have an area where the fingers and toes will begin to form.

At this point of your pregnancy, the heart is bulging from the body and it has divided into right and left chambers. The brain's hemispheres are continuing to grow and the air passages into the lungs are visible.

Your baby's eyes are beginning to get pigment. The nose is developing and the beginning of the face can be seen.

The baby's abdomen is developing quickly and the appendix and pancreas are already present. Your baby's digestive tract is beginning to form and the hindgut is present. The shape of the tail can still be seen, but it will fade in 3 or 4 weeks.

What's happening this week? 6W1D

Growing like crazy, baby is starting to sprout eyes, ears, nose, cheeks and chin. Those little hands and feet- still webbed like paddles- might wiggle by week's end, the heart is beating (almost twice as fast as mine!), and blood is starting to circulate.

Your baby's jaw, cheeks, chin, eyes, ears, and nose are beginning to form what will eventually become one adorable face. In addition, her kidneys, liver, and lungs are developing, and her heart is now beating 80 times a minute (and getting faster every day). All this and she's still no bigger than the length of a nail head (about a quarter of an inch) from crown to rump!

5W1D

It honestly feels like a million years ago that I saw those two beautiful lines show up on the pregnancy test! It still doesn't feel real. My breasts are huge and sore, and I can see bright blue veins. How much I pee really depends on how much water I drink. I'm very gassy and bloated. Sometimes I look at my profile and I think, "Wow, am I showing already?!", but I realize it's probably just bloat. My sense of smell is still very heightened. I really haven't had any morning sickness yet. I don't know what to think about that. I should be happy that I don't have m/s, but at the same time, I think if I did have it, it would make my pregnancy feel more real. About two nights ago, I did start to feel dizzy when I was laying down and then sat up. It passed pretty quickly. Most nights, I've been going to bed a little early, though I stayed up until around 10:30 last night.

So how is the baby developing this week:

Your baby now resembles a teeny tadpole (about the size of an orange seed) as his heart starts to form; you may even be able to see it beating on an early ultrasound. The circulatory system is the first to be operational and the neural tube, which will eventually become your baby's brain and spinal cord, is under construction as well.

The little "appleseed"

So what's happening in there?

The fertilized egg has made its seven- to ten-day trip to the uterus, where it implants cozily into the endometrial surface. It is now called a blastocyst and it has divided into two parts. While you are reading this, the first part is forming the placenta and the second part will become the embryo. The two layers that make up the amniotic bag of waters are newly formed, and the very beginning of the connecting stalk -- which will become the umbilical cord -- has appeared. Until your placenta is fully functioning, the yolk sac, now present, will feed your baby. Basically, the "home" for your little one is under rapid construction!

By the end of your fourth week your baby is an embryo. This group of embryonic cells is growing at a very rapid pace, each cell dividing daily. By the fourth week of pregnancy your developing baby is about 1mm in length and looks like a tiny tadpole, safely attached to your uterine wall and sending hormones to you body. The placenta is beginning to form and many wonderful and exciting changes are about to take place.

Despite its extremely tiny size — no longer than one millimeter and no bigger than a poppy seed — your little embryo is busy setting up house. The amniotic sac that boards your baby (also called the bag of waters) is forming, as is the yolk sac, which will later be incorporated into your baby's developing digestive tract.

The little "poppyseed"