Baby Update

The most dramatic development this week: reflexes. Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his toes will curl, his eye muscles will clench, and his mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, your baby will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. His intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into his abdominal cavity about now, and his kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder.

Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in your baby's brain, synapses are forming furiously. His face looks unquestionably human: His eyes have moved from the sides to the front of his head, and his ears are right where they should be. From crown to rump, your baby-to-be is just over 2 inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce.

I love getting these updates! I am nearing the end of week twelve and to be honest, this has been the easiest pregnancy so far. I think that is God's mercy because I don't know how I would survive otherwise. That is not to say that I don't have extremely sick days where I can't get off the couch and I am dry heaving all day, but those days only come about once a week. At night when I am doing the dishes I usually have to have Cody scrape food off plates and put left overs in Tupperware, because that makes me run for the toilet. Cody has been incredibly helpful and I love him for it!

I had another U/S done at my last appointment because the midwife could not hear the heart beat. I wasn't surprised because they usually can't hear my babies until about week thirteen, but she did an U/S just for the heck of it. I loved seeing the little peanut and those tiny arms and legs! Devin was with me and was horrible- trying to climb all over me and crying because I wasn't holding him the way he thought he should be held. Maybe he senses a disturbance in the Force. He knows something is coming in a few months that will turn his world upside down and he is not happy.

But the other kids now know about this baby and they are so excited. Hailey wants another brother, Ethan wants a brother, and Lauren wants a sister. "I never had a baby sister!" she says. The baby's heart BPM was all the way at 180 which is fairly high, so maybe she will get her wish. But according to the Chinese Gender Chart (which by the way has been right with all four babies) it is a boy. So maybe Cody, Ethan, and Hailey will get their wish. We will find out on November 17th!