2nd Trimester

Well, I'll be starting my second trimester this week - that's week 14. So yeah, its been a while since our last post, guess we've been slackers. Despite what some may think, I am not showing yet. That means you have pet my gassy, bloated intestines, not my baby. Sorry to disappoint. The time for showing may be soon, though. I predict that by then end of May I'll have a legitimate "baby bump". Why then? Read on. Really, though, this blog is about our baby, so let's move on with how this little person is developing. Since my last visit, when I was at about 11 weeks, the baby has developed reflexes, fingerprints, if the baby is a girl her ovaries are already hard at work, s/he has developed facial expressions, and can pee! In addition to lots of other stuff, like tiny soft hairs covering the baby's entire body, s/he has grown from about 1 1/2 inches long to almost 3 1/2 inches long and from about a quarter ounce to an ounce and a half. So that's progress. In the next two to three weeks, the baby will be doubling in length and weight, and his/her heart will pump nearly 25 quarts of blood through his/her little body. So this huge growth spurt between weeks 15 and 16 is what leads me to believe it will be the end of May that I really start to "show". My next OB visit is also at the end of May. We'll be doing some blood work to determine the probability that our baby has certain developmental disabilities (primarily they'll screen for spina bifida and down's syndrome, among others). If insurance allows, maybe we'll do another ultrasound, but the "big one" will bit mid-to-late June - at which point we can decide to learn if we are having a boy or a girl. Sorry no pictures to post right now, but I'm always on the lookout for something cool.