My How They Grow!

Wow, just in one week, the baby looks to me double the size and its flipped! That's right...our little Aquarius is swimming along in there! We have gone from just over an inch to about an inch and a half to two inches! Mom and Daddy are tall so I'm guessing 2 inches already! ;) Here is a little blurb of what's going on with the baby this week. Pretty amazing! Plus, as of last week we are "officially" a fetus too and no longer an embryo!

Your fig-sized baby is now fully formed — measuring 1 1/2 inches long and weighing in at a quarter of an ounce. His skin is still transparent, allowing many of his blood vessels to show through. Some of his bones are beginning to harden, and tiny toothbuds are starting to appear under his gums. His fingers and toes have separated, and he may soon be able to open and close his fists. He's already busy kicking and stretching, and his tiny movements are so fluid they look like water ballet. These movements will increase as his body grows and becomes more developed and functional. As his diaphragm develops, your tiny tenant may also start to get the hiccups. Because he's still so small, though, you won't feel any of his workouts or intrauterine gulps until sometime between weeks 16 and 20.

Today was also my last visit with the RE. At 12 weeks, I fully entrusted to my OB now. While I was sad to say good-bye, my nurse reminded me that "getting the boot" is a good thing! Me and baby are to the point where they feel we are okay on our own and without the weekly ultrasounds! (I may miss that most...I love seeing my little one every week!) So we had lots of hugs all around and they asked me to let them know the gender when we find out as well as bringing the baby by after he/she is born!

We are having the first of our pre-natal testing done this Saturday. Its called the Nuchal Translucency (click for more info) and it's an early scan for downs syndrome and some other chromosomal defects. While the results won't give us a yes or no, they will give us a ratio of odds for issues. We pray nothing is wrong, but the test will allow for us to educate ourselves and prepare if heaven forbid there was. One of the other advantages is the ultrasound is done on a very high resolution screen so we should get some good pics!! After that, I have my regular 12 week OB appointment on Aug 1st and then I am set for monthly appts for awhile.

So, I am only a few days left until 12 weeks and almost to my second trimester! I am relieved and excited!

And for what you are all waiting for...the picture! About a month or so more to go and we should be able to tell if this little one is a Hannah or a Zachary (that's what we are leaning towards now)!

Last but not least...please say an extra prayer for Ginny and Jeff tomorrow morning at 9:30am! They have 3 embryos that fertilized and have not heard anything from the doctor, so we are assuming all are develping just as they should. With that said, they will transfer 2 back into Ginny tomorrow morning where hopefully one (or two!!) will stick around for the next 9-10 months!!