17 Weeks!

can you believe it's been 17 weeks already?? I can't! it's starting to go by quickly now which is really kinda awesome!

just 12 more days until we find out the sex of the baby!

this week the baby is the size of....



an onion!! lol (insert "no wonder i cry so much!" joke here that i stole from the website but thought was hilarious)

yes, an onion! and that means that it is measuring about 5 inches (which is like BIG! - it's the length of your hand if you were to open it all the way, check it out) and it weighs between 5 and 6 ounces! whoa! That's between the weight of a pack of cards through to a hockey puck! (go flyers? lol)

anyway, this week the baby and me are doing the same thing: focusing on gaining weight. The baby is adding on fat right now and that fat will serve to keep it nice and cozy warm once it's born (and okay, it will make it look SUPER CUTE too).  Over the next four weeks the baby will gain SIX TIMES it's weight. Oh my lord (i wonder what the hell THAT fruit will look like lol i'm kinda scared)



The placenta is also growing rapidly right now as well and it is an amazing network of blood cells and other stuff like that. The placenta is developing right alongside the baby and by the time the baby is born, the placenta will weigh one pound!

Baby's umbilical cord is thickening and getting stronger which is awesome because that thing is pretty vital to the baby's survival. The baby's bones are getting thicker and stronger too and are calcifying more and more.

The baby can now move it's head, mouth, lips, arms, wrists, hands, legs, feet, and toes! How cute is that! I wish i had a video camera hooked up and could just watch the baby move around all day, that would be SO amazing!



ohh this just in: the baby's sweat glands are starting to develop too. and if the baby has Ryan's genes they will be in FULL effect all the time. (let's hope it has my influence on this one)

Baby's finger and toenails are starting to grow (this explains why they trim them right away when baby is born - that's a long time to go with out a mani-pedi).



As for me, my uterus has moved up and is now about 1.5 to 2 inches below my belly button.  I should have gained about 5 - 10 pounds by now (i'll check back with you on that one, i haven't weighed myself yet today) and I should be eating about 300 more calories per day.

I can feel the baby move now but it's normal if i don't feel it every single day at this stage which is good because I didn't feel it yesterday and got all paranoid.

I might notice that my gums or nose will bleed fairly often and this has been true for me. It's totally weird and it was disturbing until I found out that it's just due to increased pressure because there is more blood in my body now. I also might have some changes in my vision which is due to the pressure as well. The vision problems should correct themselves after the baby is born.

So yay there we go! baby at 17 weeks!