Category Archives: Pregnancy

Baby Gaga:

Your amazing little baby is now around 10 inches in length! If this seems a bit shocking, you’ll be relieved to know they’ve not actually grown over 3 inches, but that their little legs are now straight enough to be measured. This is when doctors begin measuring fetal growth from head to toe, (no longer “crown to rump” or CR). Lanugo (little hairs) covers their whole body now, trapping that charming cheese-like vernix caseosa (see week 18) to the surface to the skin. This week your lil’ fetus will start on an appetizing diet of amniotic fluid which they are now capable of swallowing, digesting, and passing the fluid as far as their tiny “large” intestines. Fortunately for you, this nice little lump of baby-poop won’t be coming out while they’re still in your womb. Some time shortly after they’re born, this fun lump will become the first in a long line of baby poops. (What finally comes out— commonly known as “meconium” to the science world, will be black and sticky, and you’ll be very glad it happens only once!)

WebMD:

Your baby measures about 5.2 to 6 inches from crown to rump and weighs about 7 ounces. The baby’s skin is developing and is transparent, appearing red because of the visible blood vessels. A creamy white protective coating, called vernix, is also developing. As your baby continues to grow, you may be feeling some mid-pregnancy aches and pains—lower abdominal achiness, dizziness, heartburn, constipation, leg cramps, mild swelling of ankles and feet, and a backache are all normal. Dilated blood vessels might cause tiny, temporary red marks (called spider nevi) on your face, shoulders and arms.

WebMD:

Your baby now measures about 4.3 to 4.6 inches from crown to rump and weighs about 2.8 ounces. Fingernails are well-formed and the fine hair, called lanugo, continues to grow on the head. Arms and legs are moving, the nervous system is functioning and muscles are responding to stimulation from your baby’s brain. You may be able to hear the baby’s heartbeat in the doctor’s office. Your uterus has grown significantly by now and weighs about 8.75 ounces. Within the next few weeks you may start to feel your baby move, called “quickening.” It’s often described as a gas bubble or subtle fluttering movement. As it happens more regularly, you’ll know it’s your baby. There are other physiological changes happening in your body. Increased blood volume to support your growing fetus may cause nosebleeds, and veins may become more apparent. Because your uterus is shifting, you may not have to urinate as much.

Baby Gaga:

Over the past three weeks your astounding growing baby has managed to stretch yet another 2 full inches (totaling about 4.5 inches) and weighs around 3.5 ounces. Yessireee, that’s some pretty serious growth… and with it comes several physical developments! For starters, their head to body ratio is finally starting to even out a bit as the rest of the body is actually growing faster than the head at this point. Yes, your little light bulb is not so top-heavy. Their adorable little limbs have lengthened, almost reaching their normal proportions which they will have at birth. Their eyes are still closed but moving and if you had an ultrasound, which many doctors recommend you have at about this time, you may even see your little one sucking on a thumb, not to mention the necessary signifiers to let you know whether you’ve got a wee lad or lassie.

WebMD:

Your fetus now measures about 4.1 to 4.5 inches from crown to rump and weighs about 1.75 ounces. Its body is covered by an ultrafine hair, called lanugo, which is usually shed by birth. Eyebrows and hair on the top of the head are beginning to grow and his bones are getting harder. He may even be sucking his thumb by now. Your uterus can probably be felt about three to four inches below your navel.

Baby Gaga:

Your nearly four-inch long gymnast is happily mobile inside your womb and if you’re really lucky, you’ll notice a point when your sneezing, coughing or laughing results in a little kick here or a poke there. Still, many women don’t feel anything until the 17th week or later. Although the poking and kicking isn’t very charming during sleeping hours, it’s a good sign as it means your baby is actually reacting to outside events. Yay! You’ve got yourself one active healthy baby! Their little elbows and knees are bending more freely this week and their little legs are finally growing longer than their arms and getting pumped up for prenatal Richard Simmons. Many of their major organ systems are increasing in capacity—particularly that amazing tiny heart and complex circulation system, which is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood per day, and will increase to a very impressive 200 quarts per day by the end of the pregnancy. As far as hair goes, we’ve got some new scalp patterns beginning to develop on the head, although actual head hair is not yet present.

WebMD:

Congratulations, Jen! You’re 13 weeks pregnant. Your fully formed fetus, now in about its 11th week of development, measures 2.6 to 3.1 inches from crown to rump and weighs between half an ounce and seven-tenths of an ounce—about the size of a peach. The head is still disproportionately bigger than the body, but the rest of the body is starting to catch up. In fact, your baby is growing rapidly these days. The face is starting to look more human, with eyes moving closer together. Toes and fingers are clearly separate, and ankles and wrists have formed. External genitalia are becoming visible. Intestines are shifting into their proper place, too. Your uterus is filling your pelvis now and starting to grow upward into your abdomen. It probably feels like a soft, smooth ball. If you haven’t put on weight yet because of morning sickness, you’ll begin to now as you start to feel better.

Baby-Gaga:

This is your final week in the first trimester and your little weed continues to grow and grow and grow. Of the three trimesters, this one has been the most important for your little one’s development. Assuming you’ve carefully adopted a healthy diet, continue to exercise and get ample rest, your little one is set up perfectly for even more growth and development in tri-two! Way to go! He or she now weighs about 2.5 ounces and is roughly 3.5 inches in length. Little hairs, known as lanugo, will start to cover their body this week, as their sense of taste and smell are further refined. Their cozy little amniotic sac is also increasing in size and mass as it continues to fill with more fluid.

From WebMD:

Your baby now measures about 2.5 inches from crown to rump and weighs between three-tenths of an ounce and half an ounce. It is fully formed, from tooth buds to toenails. Your baby’s job now is to continue to grow big and strong. With the most critical time in your baby’s development behind you, the chance of miscarriage drops considerably after this week. Nausea and energy start to improve but occasional headaches, dizziness and fatigue from hormone changes may be present. If it’s your first baby, you still could be wearing loose-fitting clothes, but if you’ve had other pregnancies, you most likely are back in maternity clothes. The typical weight gain by now is about three to five pounds. Fathers-to-be might also experience pregnancy symptoms, called couvade or “hatching,” during the third month and at delivery, including nausea, abdominal pain, appetite changes and weight gain.

From Baby-Gaga:

Even though your little Einstein’s body is still growing quite rapidly 2 inches long right now, the overall super-speedy growth of their amazing brain continues to leave the head proportionately larger than the body—and is actually slightly more than one third of their total body mass! The head and neck are still straightening at this point as can be seen by their little chin lifting off of the chest. Your baby is also actively rehearsing “breathing” by using amniotic fluid to prepare the lungs for future air respiration.

The big news: your little pooper is now officially going to need diapers! Although a majority of the waste produced is transferred to the mother’s system for discharge (to avoid having it linger in the amniotic sac), some urine is released to the amniotic fluid and your baby will actually breathe it in before it passing it on to your for discharge. Not to worry, urine—in this particular form, is completely harmless to your baby.

From WebMD:

Your fetus, about the size of a large lime, measures about 1.75 to 2.4 inches from crown to rump and weighs about three-tenths of an ounce. About now the rapid “swooshing” noises of the heartbeat may be heard using an electronic Doppler device. Fingernails and external genitalia are showing distinguishing characteristics, and the baby is swallowing and kicking, although you still won’t feel it. Your uterus is almost big enough to fill your pelvis and may be felt in your lower abdomen. You may also be seeing changes in your hair, skin, fingernails or toenails.

From Baby-Gaga (sometimes a little more humorous take, but not always):

Maybe you’ve noticed… your baby is a super-duper grower! Your lil’ fetus will be gaining a substantial amount of weight this week and has already achieved fruit-size-status comparable to a plum. What’s more, your little scientist is already starting to explore their body, focusing most intently on touching their head, and especially their face and mouth. Their mouth in particular will provide them with hours of entertainment. This happens not only because your baby is gaining coordination, and is therefore able to move a hand on command, but also because their palms have gained sensation and can actually “feel” what it touches.They’re also developing their swallow reflex this week. And lastly, your baby’s smelling and other olfactory senses will begin developing this week, which when combined with the maturing taste buds, will provide your baby with their first experiences of taste and smell.

So last night I had a dream that I was pregnant and that I gave birth…but it wasn’t a normal pregnancy or a normal birth.

I had no pregnancy belly and the birth was kind of like “Now you are pregnant and now you aren’t” and the next thing I knew, I was holding twins in my hands.

Yes, in my hands. They were about the size of weebles (yes, weebles, you remember them, of the “Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down?” fame?) and one was in red (the girl) and one was in blue (the boy). And they both fit in my cupped hands.

And one of my friends was also in the kitchen and she had also just given birth, and she was telling me how it was now time to put them in the oven. I agreed (it made perfect sense) and we went to the oven and there were other women there putting their babies in the oven, except they looked exactly like pre-baked loaves of bread. And one woman was saying how you had to watch them closely so they didn’t get too brown, and another woman was saying she liked to leave hers in a little longer so they got a nice coloring on them.

And that was it, then I woke up. Tom wonders what I’m eating to give me dreams like this. :p

So I needed a new thermometer so I can check my temp every morning.

So off I went to Walgreens and bought a store-branded one that said “QUICK 10 SECOND READING!” and yes, it took 10 seconds, but first my temp was 94, a moment later it was 96, and the very next moment was was 97. What is the point of a 10-second read if it’s not in your mouth long enough to be correct (apparently)?

So I took it back.

This time I got a real basal thermometer, and let me tell you it’s strange to see your temperature to TWO decimal points. The yucky thing is this one takes up to THREE MINUTES for a reading. Yep, yuck. And even then, my temperature varied widely—and not even in an increasing manner like before—it was like 97.28 then 96.45 then 98.23.

What gives?

I have to assume this temperature variation is somewhat normal…but it just seems very odd that the first thermometer kept increasing (like it never got a good read) and the second one is all over the place—with temps taken one immediately after the other.

I guess I am just afraid that if the thermometer gives such (to me) skewed results now, what good is it going to be in detecting the temperature increase I’m looking for?

I guess I need to go googling.

So this past month, let’s just say we both had a serious gut feeling that I was pregnant. It was a little early to take a pregnancy test—and I know I should have just left well enough alone—but my curiosity got the better of me (of course). So I took the test and it was negative. I decided it was no big deal—as I said, it was a little early to be taking a test (I wasn’t officially late) so maybe it was just too early.

And then I started my period around lunchtime. 🙁

So much for our intuition—apparently NEITHER of us has any!

My cycle has never really been normal, but even so, I was still a few days later than normal. (My overall average is like 25 days, but it’s been as early as 21 or as late as 30.) So, I thought “What the hell!?” and decided to take a pregnancy test. I mean, I bought a two-pack 11 months ago in preparation…I might as well get some use out of them! So I peed on the stick and….???

Let’s just say this particular brand has some markings that are considered “inconclusive” — if one of the boxes doesn’t have any marks, if the marks are going the wrong way, etc. So, where I was supposed to have a plus, the vertical line was definite, but the horizonal line was SOOOOO faint as to almost be invisible. The directions said if there was any line at all it meant pregnant, but I was not wholly convinced, since it was really very very faint. Just the vertical line is inconclusive.

So, I read it as inconclusive and decided to wait a few more days. I decided to buy a Clearblue Easy test—with a digital readout that says “pregnant” or “not pregnant.” Stay tuned.