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!