Ultrasound

So here is a bit of the ultrasound from Monday. You can see the baby's left arm, leg and face. I'm sure she is much cuter than this leads on, she is of course mine and Wendy's offspring.

22 weeks

It's a girl. That's what Dr. Fagnant says and he claims he has never been wrong. If it ends up being a boy then we can still have it fixed. We also debated the actual due date and as of today we will be due on January 2nd. Either way it's happening before the new year because I want that tax deduction. Names are and will be up in the air until after the baby is born. We have some favorites but nobody including us will really know until later. Otherwise all is good. It has been proclaimed a normal pregnancy and will proceed as such.

at 22 weeks:

• Rapid brain growth continues.
• The eyebrows and eyelashes are well formed.
• The eyes are fully functional and capable of movement.
• The vocal cords are active.
• Reflexes are present.
• There is little chance for survival outside the uterus.
• The weight is about one pound.
• The length is about 7 to 8 inches.

Happy Birthday

I celebrated my birthday yesterday by doing absolutely nothing. Best birthday ever.

21 Weeks

The amniotic fluid that has cushioned and supported the baby in the uterus now serves another purpose. The intestines have developed enough that small amounts of sugars can be absorbed from the fluid the baby swallows and will be passed through the digestive system to the large bowel. Almost all of the baby's nourishment, however, still comes from Wendy through the placenta.

Until now the baby's liver and spleen have been responsible for the production of blood cells. (The fetal liver stops producing blood cells a few weeks before birth and the spleen stops by week 30.) But now the bone marrow spaces are developed enough to contribute to blood cell formation as well, and bone marrow will become the major site of blood cell production in the third trimester.

Hell's Satans

I think Zach and Cassie are now members of some outlaw motorcycle gang. Where they ever got this idea I'll never know. They just might crack their heads open. That will show them it sure will.

blah, blah, blah

Wendy likes to talk on the telephone. She talks to many people that way. If Wendy didn't have a cell phone she could not talk as much. Here she is talking to Scott. They talk about a lot of stuff. It is fun.

Did ya know?

Although vision is the last sense to develop there is sometimes just enough light filtered through Wendy's tissue that a fetal baby can respond when she is in bright light -- like when she soaks in the pool in the Southern Utah sunshine :-)

20 Weeks

We're not half empty, we're half full! At twenty weeks into the pregnancy the baby has grown significantly from that first dividing cell and now weighs about 11 ounces (312 grams) and measures about 6.3 inches (16 cm) from crown to rump. The baby is taking up increasing room in the uterus, and continued growth is putting pressure on Wendy's lungs, stomach, and kidneys. As a matter of fact I think the little shit is using her bladder as a beanbag chair. Under the vernix caseosa (a protective, waxy coating), the baby's skin is thickening and developing layers. Hair and nail growth continue.

As of Wednesday Wendy is at 19 weeks gestation. We went for a doctors visit and it seems to be going all right. We don't know the gender yet and we won't for three more weeks That is the time our next ultrasound is scheduled. Wendy is not really feeling as sick as at first but she is very tired, she sleeps more now than she did before and she slept a lot before. She is starting to show interest in baby related accessories. She is just looking for now but as soon as we figure out if we are buying blue or pink I'm sure the floodgates will be opened.

16 to 25 weeks

The lanugo covers the entire body. Eyebrows, eyelashes, fingernails, and toenails appear. The fetus has increased muscle development. Alveoli (air sacs) are forming in lungs. The nervous system develops enough to control some body functions. The cochlea are now developed, though the myelin sheaths in the neural portion of the auditory system will continue to develop until 18 months after birth. The respiratory system has developed to the point where gas exchange is possible. The quickening, the first maternally discernable fetal movements, are often felt during this period. A woman pregnant for the first time (i.e. a primiparous woman) typically feels fetal movements at about 18-19 weeks, whereas a woman who has already given birth at least two times (i.e. a multiparous woman) will typically feel movements around 16 weeks. By the end of the fifth month, the fetus is about 20 cm (8 inches).

All is well. I just got back from an overnight backpacking trip down the narrows of Zion canyon with Adam and Zach. It was a challenge walking down a riverbed for fifteen miles with a pack on your back. There was a time that it looked like we might not be able to go what with the fires in the canyon one week, then the flash floods soon following. It is the monsoon season but by some stroke of fate there was a parting in the clouds and we got in and out without a hitch. The only bad part was the extreme sense of fatigue that overcame me at the end of the first day. I thought it was just my old age but the boys were about as wiped out as I was. It was so bad that I wondered if would be able to walk the next morning. But it was all good. We were out by the afternoon and there were no serious injuries and no fatalities.