Thursday, October 05, 2006

Nineteen Weeks

Second skin
"What's this creamy stuff all over my body?"
Around this time, the skin starts to produce a creamy substance called vernix caseosa, which is made of oils secreted by the skin, dead cells, and lanugo, the fine hair that covers the body. This waxy coating protects your little one's skin from the effects of floating in amniotic fluid. Most of the vernix will disappear before birth, unless your baby arrives early. Preterm babies are often born still covered with a lot of vernix. Even full-term infants will have a bit of vernix in the creases of their skin.

Measuring up
Your little one measures about 7 inches and weighs anywhere from 6.5 to 8 ounces. There's a definite upswing on the fetal growth chart now, so expect some big gains in the coming weeks.

Extra eggs
You probably don't know the gender yet, but if you're carrying a girl, the reproductive system is already well established. The vagina, uterus, and fallopian tubes are in place, and the ovaries contain more than 6 million primitive egg cells. When your baby is born, that number will have shrunk to about 1 million, which is all the eggs she'll ever have. Isn't it fascinating to know that the egg that became your baby is as old as you are, that it was just waiting to be released while you were growing up?

You've got male
If you're having a boy, things are also moving along. The male reproductive system is nearly fully developed. Testicles have formed and have been secreting testosterone since about week 10 of your pregnancy. The external genitalia, which became male in the first trimester, are continuing to grow: A scrotal sac is usually evident by now.

Let's Mambo, Mama
Is this little one practicing some Latin dance moves? The fetus's activity now occurs in clusters, separate "dance numbers" alternating with twilight sleep periods.

Dawn’s Notes:
I’m feeling blessed that I’m not experiencing many of the pregnancy discomforts that are normal for this stage of pregnancy.

I do have occasional back pain when I try to get out of bed in the morning, especially if I was very active the day before.

I’m starting to notice new stretch marks as my belly continues to grow, but they are very light and white in color. No angry red stretch marks for me (YET).

I do feel like the baby is doing the Mambo in there! The baby is rolling around right this very moment. Instead of the popcorn popping feeling that I originally had, it is now a marbles rolling around in my stomach feeling. The baby is either becoming more active, or I am just feeling his movements more as he gets bigger.

The doctor says that the baby can hear now, so he can start getting to know our family and decide whether or not he wants to come out.

baby

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

What's Up, Doc?

We had our monthly OB appointment yesterday.
I’ve been feeling the baby move for about two weeks, but I’m very anxious for Chris to share this sensation with me, too.

He can’t feel the baby moving yet, but he did hear the baby kick me yesterday when the doc was listening to the heartbeat! Feisty little jumping bean in there!

This pregnancy is progressing normally so far, which is always a huge relief to hear. I just love to go to these appointments to listen to the heartbeat and get out of work early!

We had a quad screen yesterday to test for Down’s Syndrome, Neural Tube Defects, and Trisomy 18. We almost decided to skip the test with the assumption that a positive result would mean we could terminate the pregnancy, which we would never do. After talking to the doctor, we learned that a positive result would affect the baby’s care immediately after birth. So, as much as I hate these tests that leave us in suspense for weeks awaiting the results, we both realized that it would be best for the baby that we are prepared for anything that could be wrong.

Luckily, I am in a pregnancy-induced euphoria where I can’t possibly imagine anything being wrong with our baby or anything going wrong during delivery. There must be a magic pregnancy hormone that I have that keeps me from worrying, because that is definitely not one of my normal personality traits.

We also talked to the doctor about considering birth without pain medication. I’m reluctant to get an epidural simply because I hate the feeling of being incapacitated and I think I would handle labor better if I could move around and help the process. I would rather be an active participant than a passive bystander.

Chris is surprisingly supportive of the idea, which is just one more thing that I love about him. Of course, the natural childbirth class is 12 weeks long, compared to the Lamaze childbirth class, which is only 6 weeks. Might as well give up our normal lives now…