19 Weeks!

Baby's now the size of a mango!

Vernix caseosa, a greasy white substance made of lanugo, oil, and dead skin cells (yum) now coats baby's skin, shielding it from the amniotic fluid. (Picture yourself after a nine-month bath, and the need for protection makes sense.) You might get to see the vernix at birth, especially if baby is premature.

And here I am:

My Lunch on Friday

Friday at lunch in the Teacher's Lounge, the Pepsi man was asking us if we would like Sierra Mist in the machine and what we would like to get rid of. We said the Diet Pepsi Caffeine wasn't used much and would like the Sierra Mist better.

Holier than Art Thou Nurse W happened to be in the room and say that she drinks that and let everyone know that she intended to get rid of all caffeine in the soda machine. She said caffeine was horrible, especially for pregnant women. One of our subs, who is a retired teacher that I love, happened to be in the room and asked me if I was drinking caffeine, joking around. I had a sweet tea with extra ice from McDonald's, so I said yes.

The Nurse then proceeded to tell me how bad it was for me, and asked if I even had a Doctor. I said my Doctor said it was fine and I was not going to sit here and be judged for having some tea.

She left and came back about 5 minutes later with pages printed out from the Internet and told me I should read through them. I obviously didn't have my information correct and perhaps I should be more honest with my Doctor. I then informed her that I was under the care of an OB who happened to be a High-risk specialist and was under the care of an RE before that who were fine with some caffeine. She told me I should bring these sheets in to the Dr. to make sure they knew the problems with caffeine. I told her, NO, I would not be doing that and turned away from her.

This is the same lady who would send vomiting children back to my room when I sent them to her after telling her that I was pregnant and the flu shot and H1N1 shot was not in effect yet.... Needless to say my blood pressure rose very high and my face was still red 30 minutes later. Great lunch hour! :)

It's a Girl!!

This past Monday we had our BIG u/s and it was wonderful! About halfway in, the Tech asked if we wanted to know the sex and we said yes. A few seconds later she told us we have a baby girl. The smile on Tyler's face was fantastic and it didn't leave him for a very long time. I think this little girl is going to be a Daddy's girl deluxe! She already has him wrapped around her little bitty finger.

Everything else in the Anatomy scan looked really good. 10 fingers and 10 toes. Things are going well and we are just about halfway there. Had to believe this is going so fast!

18 Weeks!

Baby's now the size of a sweet potato!
Baby's become amazingly mobile (compared to you, at least), passing the hours yawning, hiccupping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, sucking, and swallowing. And baby is finally big enough that you'll soon be able to feel her movements.


And here I am:

17 Weeks!

Baby's now the size of an onion!
Baby's skeleton is hardening, changing from rubbery cartilage to bone, and fat is finally accumulating around it. His umbilical cord is getting thicker and stronger, and those little fingers and toes now feature one-of-a-kind prints.

16 Weeks!

Baby's now the size of an avocado!
Watch what you say...tiny bones forming in baby's ears mean she can now pick up your voice. A few more minuscule changes: Eyebrows, lashes, and hair are starting to fill in, and taste buds are forming.


This week was our first meeting with our OB. He is wonderful. We were a bit worried about how comfortable we would be with a new Dr. after being so close to Dr. J, but Dr. S seems to be a good fit. We listened to Petri's hb and all was good. I talked to Dr. S about my concerns with pre-eclampsia and my Mom's history and he was glad I let him know, but reassured me that it does not mean that I will have a preemie or that I will be in danger. Before I did bring that up, he did say that we would see him more often because of being an IVF pregnancy. We were both ok with that and welcomed the hand-holding ;)

I was starting to feel more confident about this turning out well until today, when 2 people in my IF/pregnant community lost their babies. I am so sad for their losses and so don't know how to feel. This is such a delicate process and it makes you realize how insensitive life can be.