I'm just getting over being sick with a sinus infection, bleh! For anyone who's counting (me!), that's three upper respiratory infections in 18wks. Before that, it had been well over a year since the last time I had cold or anything. I guess that's the toll of pregnancy on my immune system. Unfortunately I lost all the weight I had gained so far and then some, but otherwise, we seemed to have survived.
The update for this week:
Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and he weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
17wks- The Turnip
This week's update:
Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.
Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
2nd Trimester Screening for Birth Defects
I did the quad screen, aka 2nd trimester screening on Monday and got the results back today- negative. Which is good. There's a less than 1 in 10,000 chance the baby has Down Syndrome, neural tube defects, or trisomy 13 or 18. So that's the end of the screening tests for the baby. We'll have the big anatomy sono around 20wks (in which we will try not to see if it's a boy or a girl, but I will tell if I do see).
Monday, May 17, 2010
15wk 6days
I did some self-sonoing last Friday and I was actually able to get a few ok pics. I couldn't manage to get everything all in one shot though. One is a shot of the face looking straight on with the arm up by the head. The other is arms, legs and body.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
The Avocado
This week's update:
Get ready for a growth spurt. 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. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.
Get ready for a growth spurt. 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. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
An Organic Pregnancy?
Before I got pregnant I started noticing that pretty much every medical/nursing journal or magazine related to Women's Health that came across my desk reported on studies linking plastics, pesticides, and other common chemicals with infertility (not to mention cancer, diabetes, etc. etc,). Because of this, we started making small changes earlier this year, switching out our water bottles and Tupperware for BPA free version, trying to go organic with food as much as possible. Jeff was learning about organic foods as well as local, sustainable resources, so luckily we were on the same page with this. I kept coming across recommendations for a book called "The Complete Organic Pregnancy". Of course, I would never buy a pregnancy book before I was pregnant, so I added it to my wish list and waited.
As soon as I found out I was pregnant, this was the first pregnancy book I read. (Thanks again for getting me this book Uncle Steve!) Let me first say that I love this book. It is scary and somewhat overwhelming, but for every bad thing they tell you to avoid, they offer alternatives and resources. It's a huge amount of information to process and a lot of changes to make, but the book makes it feel do-able. I will say, however, that ignorance was bliss! But now that I know, there's no going back.
We decided to tackle this monster in three parts. The first part (since we'd already started this anyway) was what we eat. We joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) co-op, where we pay a set amount through out the year and we get a delivery of fresh organic fruits and veggies every week for 28wks. This has turned out to be even better than we expected. I love all the fresh fruits and veggies and Jeff loves the challenge of finding new recipes for all the different and sometimes unique stuff we get. I've been scouting out local farms and farmer's markets as well and supplement whatever else we need from Whole Foods. It's a big change, but I think we're getting the hang of it and this organic food thing is pretty much a habit now.
The next part is changing the things we put on our bodies, i.e. make-up, lotion, shampoo, etc. This has been harder. I was shocked to learn all the crap I was/am exposing myself to(and my baby). I really thought some of the products we use were on the safer side, but I'm sorry to say they are not. I couldn't bring myself to just throw everything out and start over, so the plan is to replace things with safer options as we run out. Unfortunately I buy a lot of this stuff in bulk, so it'll be a long while before everything gets replaced.
The third and probably hardest part is the stuff in our house. This is pretty much everything, furniture, dishes, cleaning products, etc. For the most part we've taken the same approach as above, we're not throwing anything out, but as things get used up or need replacing we'll make the change. One thing that I feel fortunate about in this area is that we're starting with a clean slate for the baby. We don't have or need anything yet, so we have plenty of time to research and decide exactly what we do and don't want for the baby. It's a lot of work, but again, starting from scratch seems less overwhelming than trying to replace so much stuff.
So, that's what's going on with the Dietz-Neal household and our quest to become organic (or as organic as possible)!
As soon as I found out I was pregnant, this was the first pregnancy book I read. (Thanks again for getting me this book Uncle Steve!) Let me first say that I love this book. It is scary and somewhat overwhelming, but for every bad thing they tell you to avoid, they offer alternatives and resources. It's a huge amount of information to process and a lot of changes to make, but the book makes it feel do-able. I will say, however, that ignorance was bliss! But now that I know, there's no going back.
We decided to tackle this monster in three parts. The first part (since we'd already started this anyway) was what we eat. We joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) co-op, where we pay a set amount through out the year and we get a delivery of fresh organic fruits and veggies every week for 28wks. This has turned out to be even better than we expected. I love all the fresh fruits and veggies and Jeff loves the challenge of finding new recipes for all the different and sometimes unique stuff we get. I've been scouting out local farms and farmer's markets as well and supplement whatever else we need from Whole Foods. It's a big change, but I think we're getting the hang of it and this organic food thing is pretty much a habit now.
The next part is changing the things we put on our bodies, i.e. make-up, lotion, shampoo, etc. This has been harder. I was shocked to learn all the crap I was/am exposing myself to(and my baby). I really thought some of the products we use were on the safer side, but I'm sorry to say they are not. I couldn't bring myself to just throw everything out and start over, so the plan is to replace things with safer options as we run out. Unfortunately I buy a lot of this stuff in bulk, so it'll be a long while before everything gets replaced.
The third and probably hardest part is the stuff in our house. This is pretty much everything, furniture, dishes, cleaning products, etc. For the most part we've taken the same approach as above, we're not throwing anything out, but as things get used up or need replacing we'll make the change. One thing that I feel fortunate about in this area is that we're starting with a clean slate for the baby. We don't have or need anything yet, so we have plenty of time to research and decide exactly what we do and don't want for the baby. It's a lot of work, but again, starting from scratch seems less overwhelming than trying to replace so much stuff.
So, that's what's going on with the Dietz-Neal household and our quest to become organic (or as organic as possible)!
Saturday, May 8, 2010
15wks- The Apple
The update for this week:
Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). 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. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste buds. Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or a girl! (Don't be too disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down your baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and on your baby's position. He or she may be modestly curled up or turned in such a way as to "hide the goods.")
Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). 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. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste buds. Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or a girl! (Don't be too disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down your baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and on your baby's position. He or she may be modestly curled up or turned in such a way as to "hide the goods.")
Saturday, May 1, 2010
14wks- The Lemon
It's official, official. No matter how you count it, I'm now in my second trimester. Yay! A third of the way through. I wish I could say it was flying by, but it's not. Not for me anyway. But, I'm enjoying it and so far it really has been a very easy pregnancy (knock on wood!!!), so no complaints here.
The update for this week:
This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.
In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.
The update for this week:
This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.
In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.
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