Week 9

Our little one is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Our baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Her 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. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her 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 our baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain. (http://www.babycenter.com/)

Week 8

New this week: Webbed fingers and toes are poking out from our baby's hands and feet, her eyelids practically cover her eyes, breathing tubes extend from her throat to the branches of her developing lungs, and her "tail" is just about gone. In her brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways. It is exciting to know that our baby — about the size of a kidney bean — is constantly moving and shifting, though I still can't feel it. (www.babycenter.com)

Good News

It has been two and a half weeks since Zach and I found out the news! We are going to be parents! It is hard to believe that after only two years of marriage we are going to welcome a little one into our lives. I cannot say with certainty that we are ready for this change, but I do know that we are excited about it! We have no idea what to expect, but we feel very blessed to be entrusted with the joyous and difficult task of parenthood!


How I told Zach
I would love to tell you all a beautiful and creative story about how I shared the exciting news with Zach, but you’ll have to settle for this instead. I woke up, took a test, saw one dark pink line and one light pink line, grabbed the instructions to see what that meant, smiled hugely, waited a few minutes to make sure the lines didn’t disappear, ran into the living room where Zach was sleeping on our brand new couch, shook him, and showed him the test! He was so groggy he could barely even comprehend what was going on! lol. Of course we celebrated all morning as we packed our bags for a trip to Madison with a couple friends. We then spent the next two days trying to maintain our composure whenever children became the topic of conversation (since we had decided not to say a word until our trip to North Carolina)!

How I feel
I have heard my share of horror stories about the first trimester, so I keep wondering when the morning sickness is going to kick in. Thankfully, it hasn’t! I have noticed a few things though: I am exhausted all of the time and become increasingly worthless after eight o’clock pm. I can barely stand the smell of coffee brewing, nevertheless kiss Zach while he is enjoying a cup, and I get very warm at night. This has been kind of fun, because of the role reversal that has ensued. You see, our room is significantly cooler than the rest of the house so usually I drive Zach crazy trying to use him as a heat blanket. Now that I can get warm without him, he’s been begging to cuddle lol!

Upcoming Appointments
I am seven and a half weeks along, and my first appointment is scheduled during week nine (January 4th). At this appointment Zach and I will hopefully hear our baby’s hear beat! A few weeks later (January 25th), we will be able to see her (we think it’s a her :) via ultrasound!

Week 7

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

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

Week 6

 This week's major developments: The nose, mouth, and ears that we'll spend so much time kissing in eight months are beginning to take shape. If we could see into my uterus, we'd find an oversize head and dark spots where our baby's eyes and nostrils are starting to form. His emerging ears are marked by small depressions on the sides of the head, and his arms and legs by protruding buds. His heart is beating about 100 to 160 times a minute - almost twice as fast as mine - and blood is beginning to course through his body. His intestines are developing, and the bud of tissue that will give rise to his lungs has appeared. His pituitary gland is forming, as are the rest of his brain, muscles, and bones. Right now, our baby is a quarter of an inch long, about the size of a lentil bean. (www.babycenter.com/)