19 Weeks

Week 19:Head-to-toe I grow-n-grow!

Fetal development in pregnancy week 19

~length
10 in | 25 cm

~weight
8.5 oz | 240 g

Your favorite womb-hijacker is suddenly huge, at 10 inches in length!

Pick your jaw off the floor mama. Yes, your wee baby IS bigger this week, but only because we're now able to measure their little legs which have straightened out enough to be measured accurately.

Just in case the random medical details weren't confusing enough already, it's standard practice to measure fetuses from head to toe in the second half of pregnancy, rather than from crown to rump as we did in the first half.

Week 20 is actually when most people transition the measurement over, but we thought you'd appreciate knowing a week early.

This week your lil' fetus will start digesting the extremely appetizing diet of amniotic fluid and baby wee, as they are now capable of swallowing, digesting, and passing the fluid as far as their tiny "large" intestines.

Fortunately for you, the solid waste by-products will build up slowly into a tarry lump of baby-poop and won't be coming out while they're still in your womb.

Some time shortly after your tiny poop factory is born, this fun lump will become the first in a verrrrry long production line of baby poops.

What finally comes out - commonly known as "meconium" to the science world, will be black and sticky. By the time you're done dealing with their tar poops, you'll be relieved to see that first sweet-smelling-but-runny breastmilk poop.

Happy Valentine's Day

Jacob and I headed up to "The Square" to take some Valentine's Day Pictures the other day! He was his typical "lover" self, but it was A COLD day so we weren't able to stay as long as I would've liked! This was also my first opportunity to use my new camera clicker I got for Christmas! We had a few hiccups with that, and it makes it a little more challenging to get your camera setup to get in front of it! Had a little trouble with sun and glare but here it is!

Notice the clicker in my right hand! :) I'll have to get better at hiding it!

Here's what's happening with Baby #2

I haven't started taking belly pictures yet because I really don't feel like am looking pregnant yet! But, I will start soon! I am still wearing all my normal clothes with no problem, but I am starting to notice my belling getting slightly bigger... Especially after dinner! So, far really no weight gain to speak of, and everything is looking perfect with Baby GIRL! (Blood pressure and everything is PERFECT so far! Hoping and Praying it stays that way!) I haven't felt much in the way of baby moving (the doctors have said my placenta is on the front of my belly and acts like a big pillow so it may be a little longer before I feel her) :( But, Today for the very first time, I felt her kick! I had the baby monitor on my belly listening to Jacob nap, and the baby KICKED the monitor! You could see the monitor MOVE! Sibling rivalry already! :)

Week 18:Covered in wax & nowhere to slip

Fetal development in pregnancy week 18

~length
5.6 in | 14 cm

~weight
6.7 oz | 190 g

WOOHOO! We have two more ounces of amazing baby this week!

Your super-cute uterus hi-jacker is smack in the middle of a growth spurt!

Oh and guess what? They're also all slathered in a greasy, waxy, cheese-like substance known as vernix caseosa.

Yeah, it sounds pretty nasty, but the mixture of fatty secretions covers your little swimmer from head to toe and protects their paper-thin skin from bruising, abrasions, and chapping caused by amniotic fluid exposure.

And then there's the birthing process, right? You know, where you have to push something the size of a watermelon out a hole the size of a grape.

Well, that adorable little greased piglet would have a lot harder time getting through the birth canal if they didn't have that greasy vernix caseosa slip-n-sliding them out of your hyper-extended birth canal.