Thursday, May 21, 2009

16 Weeks

Today marks 16 weeks in my pregnancy! Yay! Before I get into what's going on with baby this week, I thought I'd give an update on me first. My energy level has definitely gone back up!!! I've been waiting for that to happen for about...oh 14 weeks! ;-)I've also gotten a little bit of a baby bump...or rather, the bump I already had has gotten a bit more predominant.

On a different, quick, non-baby note, I was informed last night that I will be one of the people honored at the upcoming Carson Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner for my "above and beyond volunteerism" with the Chamber! How cool is that!?! My work is also excited about this and is planning to pay for me to attend. Hopefully, Adam will be able to skip his summer class for that night to attend the function with me.

And now on to baby!

How your baby's growing:
Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.

Listen up: Tiny bones in your fetus's ears are in place this week, making it likely that the baby can hear your voice when you're speaking (or singing in the shower)at 16 weeks pregnant. In fact, studies have found that babies who are sung to while they're in the womb recognize the same tune when it's sung to them after they are born (so choose your baby Muzak with that in mind…).

And baby's busily boning up in other ways. For one, the backbone (along with the back muscles) is stronger now — strong enough, in fact, to enable your baby to work on straightening his or her head and neck even more. Baby's crown-to-rump measurement is between four and five inches in length, and weight is hovering around three ounces.

This little one's a looker — with a face that has both eyebrows and eyelashes — but a skinny looker since there's no baby fat yet. And here's the skinny on baby skin: It's practically translucent now, so if you took a peek inside your uterus, you'd be able to see your baby's blood vessels under that thin skin.

Pretty crazy! If I don't get back on here before the weekend, I hope you all have a great long weekend!!!

1 comments:

Jerry and Suzy said...

Nanee,
Huge congratulations on your honor from the Chamber! And for your office to pay for your attendance! Hope they pay for the dinner too!

Thanks again for the continuing tour of your inner life (and Boss's too). It's really interesting. When we were young parents-to-be, we never had that kind of information.

Loads of love as always!

 
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