Week 18

So, I'm now into my 18th week and super excited that I have begun to feel the baby move. It's not a feeling that is easily described, and at first I wasn't sure if it was the baby moving or not. After experiencing the feeling a few times, I realized that it was in fact, the baby dancing around in my belly!! What an awesome feeling!!!!

This week, I learned that our baby is about 5 1/2 inches in length (about the size of a bell pepper) and weighs around 7 oz. The baby is busy flexing the arms and legs - a movement that I will begin to feel more and more in the weeks and months to come (EWWWWW!!!!)

The blood vessels are visible through the baby's thin skin, and the ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his/her head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to develop around the baby's nerves, and this will continue for up to a year after birth. If the baby is a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place; if the bay is a boy, his little genitals are now noticeable, but he may hide the goods in an ultrasound (we'll see in two short weeks).

This is what the baby is looking like this week.

I'm now starting to be noticeably pregnant...several people in my office have commented on it in the past week, and I'm actually wearing a "real" maternity shirt today, hehe!! I'll start posting pictures of my belly soon.

That's all for this week's update! :-)