Week 22

At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, our baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. Her lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and she's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath her gums. Her eyes have formed, but her irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside my womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers her body and the deep wrinkles on her skin, which she'll sport until she adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside her belly, her pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.

Sonogram

We had another sonogram this week. We were able to see our little baby girl jumping all over the place. However, we didn't receive any pictures of the sonogram. We were able to see her kidneys, spleen, spine, legs and arm bones, hands, cerebellum of the brian, bladder, stomach, and the coolest: all four chambers of her little heart. We could actually see the blood being pumped through the heart and valves. Our baby was kicking and moving the whole time, and even once we watched her pull her little arm back and punch me. 

Growing Baby

Our baby weighed 1 lb and 1 oz that day. This is great! She weighed in on the higher end of the range, but is not double what she should have been like last time. This means we don't have to worry so much about gestational diabetes. Other measurements: her head weighed in at 23 weeks, and then her body and stomach weighed in at 21 weeks and 4 days.  

We Graduated

Also, we graduated out of high-risk for the first time in this pregnancy. The placenta moved upward to a safe place. So for now we are in the clear. We are very excited, but don't know what we will do when we won't get sonograms every few weeks. 

Somebody get me some food!

Ha. I have been so hungry lately! I feel like I eat all the time. The thing is that I crave healthy food mostly. Except for fried chicken every now and then, which is strange because I can't really eat meat usually. I eat a lot of apples, pears, bananas (yes, I am allergic, but for some reason I haven't been reacting to them--part of the magic pregnancy powers), tomatoes, peaches...

She's Listening

Charlie Has been responding to noises lately. The other day I went to my parents and Toy was barking (for those of you who don't know, he has a very high pitched bark,a s most yorkies do). And, Charlotte started kicking. Then, I went to my brother's and his dog was whining and squeaking his toy because he was happy to see us. And, once again, Charlie started getting excited. I also think she responds to her daddy's voice. When he comes close and starts talking to me, she starts kicking.