Week 10

Update for week 10! We went to the doctor on Thursday for our second appointment, and we got to listen to our baby's heartbeat! How amazing... that little sound brought tears to both of our eyes. Our doctor says it's very strong for 10 weeks, nothing to worry about at this time. And all of my blood work and labs came back normal, so we are good to go for now : D

And to give you an idea of what baby is doing this week, here is my update from babycenter.com....

Though baby is barely the size of a kumquat- a little over an inch crown to bottom- and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby has now completed the most critical part of its development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissue and organs will rapidly 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 your pregnancy.

If you could peek inside your womb, 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.

Pregnancy is treating me pretty well at 10 weeks- still no morning sickness (yey!), but I am having some pretty bad back pain/sciatica. I told my doctor, so he did refer me to a physical therapist that works with pregnant women. I have to do exercises to strengthen my back everyday, and he has been working to rotate my hips/pelvis to where they belong to relieve some of the pain. Apparently sciatica is very common in pregnancy, due to your pelvis adjusting to make room for a growing uterus- a normal uterus is about the size of a pear, and at 10 weeks it's grown to the size of a grapefruit. So I'd imagine my body is adjusting to that change as well.

Not a whole lot else going on in our lives, aside from the pregnancy updates. Mike and I have both been working hard, and when we are both home on the weekends we have been trying to spruce up our yard a bit. Most of what we want to do will take some more supplies than what we can afford right now, so we have been enjoying (is that the right word?) our new weed-eater and trimming up a lot of the bushes and shrubs around the house. Our little vegetable and herb garden has kind of overgrown a bit, but we will be making it bigger and better when we have a little extra money! Right now, anything extra we have is going towards saving for the baby, and also to replace our A/C- it has acted up on us 4 or 5 times in the last month, and it's getting frustrating. It's much too hot here in Louisiana to be dealing with an unreliable A/C! But they are incredibly expensive to replace, so we are weighing our options at the moment, and trying to keep it running in the meantime.

That's it for now! It's off to the daily grind again for me!

Week 9

Update for week 9! And my pic for week 8 - apparently if you read my blog on blogger, but are not on facebook, you missed my pic last week of my growing belly. I am a bit baffled, I feel like my belly is bigger than it should be, considering I am only 9 weeks along, and baby is really not very big. I figure it can be one of several things- One is, I have tummy flab to begin with, so growing baby is just pushing that and my insides out further, making me look further along in the pregnancy than I am. Two, my abdomen muscles are not strong at all- every time I've had my problems with my back, they always tell me that my core is too weak, and I need to strengthen it to protect my back. And I read that if your abdomen muscles are weaker, you will tend to show earlier than someone with stronger ab muscles, because the muscles tend to hold everything in. Third, I am either further along in my pregnancy than the doctor says, or we have twins. LOL can you imagine? I don't think I am ready to think about two babies yet LOL.

Well here is a pic for week 8....

Sorry, I didn't get to a blog post that week. Baby was the size of a raspberry though : D

And as for week 9, courtesy of babycenter.com again.....

Your new resident is nearly an inch long- about the size of a grape, and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. Baby is starting to look more and more human. Essential body parts are accounted for, though they will go through plenty of fine tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound- your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and 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. 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 or producing hormones. Now that your baby's physiology is in place, its poised for rapid weight gain.

And here is the pic of the belly....

Bought maternity clothes last weekend, they make sitting at a desk all day much more bearable than the whole hair-tye around the button on my old jeans thing. I bought enough jeans and capris that they should last through my pregnancy, I think I will just need to buy some more shirts at some point- I am preferring the longer shirts that I own now, the shorter ones aren't doing it for me. But I do have a few shirts that I wore before I was pregnant that are working out well for me, like the one in this pic.

Well that's about it for now. Can't think of much else to say. I gotta go into work this Saturday, bleh.