Week 14

A new baby and a new blog!  We hit the week 14 mark this past Thursday which takes us officially into second trimester.  Yahoo to that.  Although I really can't complain, so far this pregnancy has been even easier then with Perry.  I remember having serious spells of exhaustion and having to take mid-afternoon naps.  This go around there has certainly been times where I felt a bit low on energy but not nearly what it was last time.  Maybe not really having the option for naps plays a factor!  Or maybe it is the difference between being pregnant with a girl vs. a boy (if all the pink on this blog didn't give that away already).  We had genetic testing (Maternity 21) a few weeks back which came back with all normal results and told us the gender.  I am amazed that in such a short period of time that the landscape has changed so dramatically and that we can avoid a amniocentesis with a simple blood test, not to mention have results at 11 weeks instead of waiting until 17.  Truly astonishing.

Our due date is March 6th, which is the exact same due date we had for Perry.  We are on the same timeline but two years later for this one, wild.  Although I do believe that we should be able to avoid another birth on my (and now mostly Perry's) birthday.

I am planning on posting a few ultra sound pictures and also some bump shots from Chris and my recent vacation to France and Switzerland.  Not to mention keeping up with the weekly blog.  So some good stuff to come.  Stay tuned..

Week 14
This week's big developments: Baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck her thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, facial muscles are getting a workout as tiny features form one expression after another. The kidneys are producing urine, which is released into the amniotic fluid — a process that will remain up until birth. Baby can also grasp and suck her thumb.

In other news: Baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, she measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a orange — and she weighs 1 1/2 ounces. The body is growing faster than the head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of the body. (the legs still have some lengthening to do.) Baby is also starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over the body. Baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and the spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though tiny punches and kicks can't be felt yet, the hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.