17 Weeks
According to "Baby Gaga"...
"Don't be too shocked but... your baby is EVEN bigger than it was last week, not to mention getting cuter, and smarter every day! As you’ve come to expect, there’s no shortage of growth and development this week: your fantastic little bean stalk has added yet another half inch to their overall height-- making them nearly half a foot long! Their little limbs have reached (or are within one week of) their relative proportions, and will continue to grow evenly with the rest of the body after this week. Reactive listening has begun for your baby, even though their ears are not yet structurally complete or fully functional. Meanwhile, different parts of their astonishingly complex brain are developing to process your little one’s hearing and other senses, (you know, sight, smell, taste and touch). Mind boggling factoid of the week: if you’re having going to have a little girl, her ovaries have already produced millions of primordial egg cells, which, within a few weeks, will develop into actual eggs! Phew… just wait till she’s a teenager eh?"
As for me, I'm feeling a bit hot, tired, and ouchie as round ligament pain has been making itself known. But I have to say that pregnancy number two has not been as painful as round one was. The ligament pain is less prevalent and my hips only hurt at night.
I'm beginning to feel the first little flutters and kicks which is awesome because it makes everything seem more real. I also just had my triple marker test yesterday (which will give me an estimate of the odds of the baby having certain birth defects) but results take awhile. I should, however, have my results well before the ultrasound on 9/6 and I will be making my decision about whether or not to have an amnio partially based on those results.
I have another appointment with Marion on Tuesday and I'm hoping to get to hear the heartbeat again. By this time in the first pregnancy I had not even heard the heartbeat yet but I'd already had an ultraound (and one in which my baby did not resemble a gumwad).
You might also notice a little graphic down there on the right hand side that shows how much longer I have to wait until I get to meet this little one. Be forewarned, it is NOT an indicator that you should call me at the end of this pregnancy and point out that the counter has run down so where is the baby? I think we all remember how very patient I was while waiting for Dax. I was the very picture of restraint and didn't complain at all when he missed his due date. That's how you remember it, too, right?