Anyway, what’s baby doing, you ask? Well, other than running around like a ferret on my insides, baby is currently:
- still getting fat
- hearing a bit
- peeing
- growing hair on head and body
- making blood cells in bone marrow
- tasting
- feeling around with its little paws
- making surfactant (though only the med students will think that one is cool…)

Baby is BUSY.

Week Eighteen:

As the nerve endings from your baby’s brain “hook up” to the ears, your baby may hear your heart beating, your stomach rumbling or blood moving through the umbilical cord. He or she may even be startled by loud noises. Your baby can swallow this week, too.

Seriously. Guess I better go make a pie.

And now, for your reading pleasure…week fifteen:
Your baby’s skin starts out nearly transparent. Eyebrows and scalp hair may make an appearance. For babies destined to have dark hair, the hair follicles will begin producing pigment.
Your baby’s eyes and ears now have a baby-like appearance, and the ears have almost reached their final position.

Hey! It looks like a freakin’ BABY! Whoa.

Tomorrow marks the end of twelve weeks and the end of the first trimester (though I’m not sure exactly how that math all works out…12 isn’t exactly 1/3 of 40, but whatever). I cannot believe there is something three inches long just hanging out inside of me. Still seems like a hungry little thing though. Hope it likes pickles and ovaltine.

Eleven weeks:

From now until your 20th week of pregnancy — the halfway mark — your baby will increase his or her weight 30 times and will about triple in length. To make sure your baby gets enough nutrients, the blood vessels in your placenta are growing larger and multiplying.

Your baby is now officially described as a fetus. Your baby’s ears are moving up and to the side of the head this week. By the end of the week, your baby’s external genitalia will develop into a recognizable penis or clitoris and labia majora.

Twelve weeks:

Twelve weeks into your pregnancy, your baby is nearly 3 inches long and weighs about 4/5 of an ounce.

This week marks the arrival of fingernails and toenails. Your baby’s chin and nose will become more refined as well.

So now that there is a heartbeat and the doc has checked out the size of everything, it looks like there is very little chance of having a miscarriage or of me having something weird like a “mole” (you med school ladies know what I mean…). So, um…..yay!!

Sorry this is sort of a jumbled rush. I am kinda in a hurry–have to leave in a few minutes for a 10pm transplant surgery. Transplant seems to be a BIG deal by the way (duh).

Anyway, here is this week’s update for your reading pleasure (but the best part is the really the heartbeat we heard today!!). Rahul is very excited about the testosterone production coming up. Go figure.

By now, your baby’s vital organs have a solid foundation. The embryonic tail has disappeared completely, and your baby has fully separated fingers and toes. The bones of your baby’s skeleton begin to form.

This week, your baby’s brain will produce almost 250,000 new neurons every minute.

Your baby’s eyelids are no longer transparent. The outer ears are starting to assume their final form, and tooth buds are forming as well. If your baby is a boy, his testes will start producing the male hormone testosterone.

Your baby is now nearly 1 inch long and weighs a bit less than 1/8 of an ounce. The embryonic tail at the bottom of your baby’s spinal cord is shrinking, helping him or her look less like a tadpole and more like a developing person.

Your baby’s head — which is nearly half the size of his or her entire body — is now tucked down onto the chest. Nipples and hair follicles begin to form. Your baby’s pancreas, bile ducts, gallbladder and anus are in place. The internal reproductive organs, such as testes or ovaries, start to develop.

Your baby may begin moving this week, but you won’t be able to feel for it quite a while yet.

Your baby will develop webbed fingers and toes this week. Wrists, elbows and ankles are clearly visible, and your baby’s eyelids are beginning to form. The ears, upper lip and tip of the nose also become recognizable.

As your baby’s heart becomes more fully developed, it will pump at 150 beats a minute — about twice the usual adult rate.

Whoo-hoo! Two months! Now just seven more months and 25 more pounds to go (and 5 of those pounds I gain will just be in BLOOD). This week it looks like the baby will start getting cuter…well, cuter in an “Alien” sort of way, I guess. I think I’ll just have it now and put it in a Polly Pocket house.

Anyway, on to happier things! Here are the latest plot developments:

Seven weeks into your pregnancy, your baby is 1/3 of an inch long — a little bigger than the top of a pencil eraser. He or she weighs less than an aspirin tablet.

The umbilical cord — the link between your baby and the placenta — is now clearly visible. The cavities and passages needed to circulate spinal fluid in your baby’s brain have formed, but your baby’s skull is still transparent.

The arm bud that sprouted last week now resembles a tiny paddle. Your baby’s face takes on more definition this week, as a mouth perforation, tiny nostrils and ear indentations become visible.

Rahul says it looks like a good swimmer. I say we name it Flipper.

Basic facial features will begin to appear, including an opening for the mouth and passageways that will make up the inner ear. The digestive and respiratory systems begin to form as well.