13th Week

I'm a peach this week!  I have a peach sized human being in my uterus!? :s  Weird!  I’m still in shock.  You don't fully realize how incredible it is till it's happening to you. And I don't take one second of it for granted since I gave up believing that it ever would.  Some days I think that it is so monumental and miraculous that the world should just stop spinning for a minute and I wonder why people aren't stopping to stare…pointing at me and saying "that's the girl who is pregnant"!  lol  But alas, the world keeps turning and no one has pointed in my general direction yet! (At least not because I'm pregnant!)

I found out this week that there isn’t a second ultrasound as part of the 15 week IPS testing.  Only more blood work.  (Which means I won’t get another glimpse into the secret little world until 20 weeks!) The blood test is looking for some strange protein that I would secrete if I was carrying a baby with a chromosomal abnormality. Plus my Doctor wants my immunity tested to paroviris (fifth's disease) and a multitude of other scary things. Surely as a medic  I have immunity to just about EVERYTHING…Sheesh!  Oh well, apparently my blood volume has increased by 20% so I certainly have enough to spare.

I finally had my first ObGyn appointment this week. I met  my new doctor who is very nice…mostly because she said I looked young. She used a Doppler on my tummy and I heard Baby's wee little heart. I was too stunned to count but it sounded like ~140-150bpm.

Boy or girl?  AF and I have been referring to Baby Bean as a boy from the start.  Not very scientific I suppose.  There are lots of old wives tales about using heart rate to predict sex.  But our rates have been right in the middle.  Not too fast, not too slow.  Hmmm.  Perhaps when my tummy really pops, we can entertain the other wives tale about carrying high or low.

I been looking into the “newish” technological offerings of 3D ultrasounds.  The images are so clear that you can see their features as if it were a photograph.  The optimum "viewing" time is ~28 weeks which puts me into September .  I’ll have to remember to book mid summer so I don’t miss my chance.

I found an iPhone app that acts as a mini Doppler.  You start the application, press the speaker against your belly, and listen through the earphones.  So far all I've heard is the rumbling symphony of my own intestines but I’m hoping to pick up BB's heartbeat in the coming weeks.  It also has a neat feature that allows you to record! (Anyone want to hear my intestines??)

What’s happening with baby this week? “Your little one is now about the size of a jumbo shrimp, 3 inches long and weighing about  an ounce. But make no mistake; this is no shrimp. Although your baby is tiny, he is a fully formed baby. His head is becoming more proportional to his body every week, and it now makes up about 1/3 of his size. Eyes and ears continue to move to their rightful places, as they develop. Your baby's neck is also getting longer, so that the chin is no longer touching his chest. Reflexes are working; and if you were to touch him, he would squirm. Hands and feet also respond to stimuli, as they open and close.  Your baby has fully formed fingerprints, which make him like no other.”

Only 183 days to go....