Week #12

12 weeks down, 28 to go! 

This is the time that most women finally come out of the pregnancy closet and annouce to everyone that they're expecting.  Having kept this a secret for several weeks now, it feels funny to just email someone up and say, "by the way, I'm 12 weeks pregnant"; but to leave most friends and family in the dark is not very nice either.  Sure, they could hear from other friends, but maybe the other friends assume that they knew too or they don't have someone to tell them.  So, I'm going to post this blog link on my Facebook profile. 

Now on to the baby!

The baby is now 5.4 cm and 14 grams (nearly 1/2 an ounce).  I was lucky enough to hear the heart rate yesterday (with a doppler - the recording is on the previous post), but if the baby is sitting funny - e.g. placenta lying across its tummy - it won't be possible.  The baby's skeleton is hardening into bone now, with the fingers and toes separating and growing nails.  Hair is even starting to grow on the body.  The digestive system is developing nicely and the baby's pituitary gland has started producing hormones.  By the end of this week, my uterus will be too big for my pelvis and I should be able to feel it above my pubic bone (AKA pubic symphysis).  I'm really hoping this will be the end of morning sickness; 6 weeks was enough, thank you very much.  A pigment change that I may or may not experience is the linea nigra, which is a dark line from the navel downwards.

How am I feeling?  Today?  Pretty good.  Yesterday I had the worst case of morning sickness that I've ever had and I just felt gross all day.  I find that when I'm moving around, I get really warm and my face will even turn red - and it's especially bad when I dance.  I felt super lazy all week so I only went to one class out of 4 (bad!) so I'm hoping next week I'll be more motivated to go.

Any weird food cravings?  No, I'm really hoping that I never get any weird ones either.  Since we're creeping up on Halloween, I've been having sugar cravings, but I'm almost thinking my morning sickness yesterday was caused by eating too much sugar the night before.  Lesson learned.

Mood swings?  Nope.

Any body changes?  My belly is bigger.  I'm thinking of buying a tape measure just to mark on the tape how big I was and where in the pregnancy I was at the time.  Then that way when I look back, I can see how huge I actually was!

Any baby purchases?  We bought a couple small items (a bib and wash cloths) the other day but since we don't know the sex yet it makes it difficult to really buy anything.  Most items are more obviously masculine or feminine with the unisex stuff looking kind of boring in comparison.

What about the nursery?  I went and bought some reflective stars the other day, which I think will look really cute in there, but again, without knowing the sex it makes it difficult to decorate.  Not that anything has been moved or anything.

Next Doctor's Appointment: November 4
Ultrasound Appointment: November 30