22 Weeks & 0 Days

It was another fairly uneventful week.

I've been craving fruit like CRAZY! Thankfully Sobeys has had good produce lately...apples, pineapple, strawberries, grapes, blackberries...mmmmm....!

I dropped my nausea meds (Diclectin) by one/day again this week and am now down to two/day. I did seem to notice a slight bit of nausea from dropping this one, so I might just leave it at two/day for the forseeable future instead of trying to wean myself off of the last two.

I am now REALLY feeling Bud moving around! Today he/she has been especially busy kicking me in the gut! He/she is usually awake for a bit in the early morning, and then almost every day around 12:30 or 1:00pm, and then again around bedtime. Today it was more like every 2 hours, though! We're going to have our hands full! Every now and then I can even feel the kicks on the outside, but it's pretty rare, so Martin hasn't had a chance to feel it yet. Maybe soon. This is pretty early to be feeling it on the outside, but the kicks are STRONG sometimes! (I may have a UFC fighter in there!)

This week we also set up the stroller and high chair that we bought last week, and we got a whole bunch of toys from a friend of mine from work - for free!

Last weekend I set up another pregnancy blog. This one relates primarily to the diabetic aspects of pregnancy. My diabetes nurse educator asked if I'd be willing to set up a public blog (to be distributed to a group of young adult diabetics in Winnipeg) to tell about my experiences with diabetes and pregnancy. Other than diabetes info, there's nothing in that blog that's not in this one, but if you're interested, you can check it out at www.pregnantbethany.blogspot.com.

Ok, so maybe it was a somewhat eventful week. ;)

Here's today's Bud facts:

- Bud weighs almost 1 pound / 430 grams and measures nearly 11" / 27cm (crown to heel).
- Bud is proportioned like a newborn now, but is a bit thinner since his/her baby fat hasn't developed yet. His/her skin still appears wrinkled because he/she needs to gain more weight.
- Bud's lips are distinct and the eyes are formed, though the iris still lacks pigment.
- Bud's pancreas is developing steadily.
- Bud's teeth are appearing in the form of tooth buds beneath the gum lines.

And finally - here is my 22 week picture! (My shirt still does fit - it's just pulled up funny in front.)

21 Weeks & 0 Days

OK, long post last week, short post this week.

This was a pretty uneventful week (which is fine with me). I'm growing pretty fast now, and a lot of my non-maternity clothes don't have a hope of fitting me (properly) anymore. I"m still craving eggs, salmon, salt, and apples...lots of apples. Mmm....

We met with our doula (Noelle) for the first time on Monday. She is very nice and gave us a lot of good information. We'll have 2-3 more meetings with her yet before the baby is born. It's great to be able to ask her diabetes-related questions (she's Type 1 diabetic too). I feel GREAT about working with her!

Today I bought Bud's first clothes! :) I found a good deal on a package of newborn onesies, so I got 'em! They're so cute! Now they just need a baby in them. :)

Now, without further ado, here's this weeks' Bud's facts:
- Bud weighs about 3/4 of a pound / 360 grams and is approximately 10.5" / 27cm long.
- Bud's eyebrows and eyelids are fully developed and his/her fingernails cover his/her fingertips.
- Bud can hear me now (and you too, if you'd like to talk to my belly....). Apparently some studies have found that newborns will suck more vigorously when read to from a book they heard frequently in utero.

All for now! More next week!

Edit: Oh...forgot to mention something else! We've started buying baby "stuff" too! We were able to purchase a swing and jolly jumper second hand, as well as a crib and high chair to keep at Grandma Rose's house for visits. We also found a good high chair (for our house) and stroller/carrier/carseat combo on sale last weekend, so we've got a lot of the basics by now already - and at some very good prices!

20 Weeks & 0 Days....???

So this was Ultrasound Week! Yay! We got to see Bud and it was amazing! He/she is a very active baby, and I think I will be feeling a LOT of movement once I can really start to feel it! Bud was kicking and flailing and turning and moving his/her head so much that the technician had some trouble taking all the measurements she needed to! (We may have our hands full when our active baby joins us "on the outside".) Our technician was excellent and very friendly. I've heard that the technicians at St. Boniface are often very quiet and not very interested in answering questions...they're all business...but this one was GREAT! She was so nice and answered all our questions and took us on a little Bud-tour. :) We got to see him/her from all angles, and she pointed out his/her organs to us, and even his/her little beating heart (you can see all four ventricles pumping)! Technology is truly amazing!

We weren't able to talk to a doctor about the results when we were there, but the technician assured us that one of the doctors there would be reviewing the results when we were gone and that the results would also be sent to my OB. She did mention, however, that the baby was measuring a bit small. She said the measurements were consistent with a baby of about 17 weeks, not 19 weeks. So...we may be a bit off on the conception date (and, as a result, the due date). Hence the "???" in the title of this blog post. We were really pretty sure about the date, but there's always a chance that we're wrong. My next appointment with my OB is February 2nd, so I'm not sure if I'll wait until then to discuss Bud's size with him or if I"ll phone him next week. I"m not overly concerned - just curious. I spoke with my endocrinologist today about the effect of diabetes on the size of the baby and she said that, while diabetics' babies tend to be bigger, some can be smaller too...but that the unusually small ones are typically those belonging to diabetics who are smokers (which I am not) or who have very bad control (which I do not). She really didn't seem to think the size was a diabetes issue, nor did she seem to think it was anything to be concerned about. She said she thinks everything's going well from a diabetes perspective and she's happy with my control (with constant "tweaking" necessary as the pregnancy changes my insulin needs).

Ok, enough blabbing about doctors' appointments. Here's the Bud-facts for this week:

- Bud is 6.5" / 16.5 cm and is steadily gaining weight.
- A whitish coat of a slick, fatty substance called vernix caseosa is beginning to cover Bud and protect his/her skin during his/her long immersion in amniotic fluid. It also eases delivery (so I'm ALL for it!!)
- Bud is swallowing more this week. After he/she takes in amniotic fluid, his/her body absorbs the water in the liquid and moves the rest into the large bowel.

And lastly, my 20-week picture! Look! I look pregnant!!!!!

19 Weeks & 0 Days

Well, we're halfway there! Over halfway, considering that I'm expecting to be induced around week 37. Although, it hardly feels like halfway since we only found out part way through week 7.

It's been a good week, pregnancy-wise. I've had lots of energy, which is good because we've been busy! I've been feeling really good and have further reduced my nausea medication (Diclectin). My knee and my back have been bothering me a bit as my posture and my joints change, but it hasn't been a significant problem. I'm also getting quite a bit bigger (gaining weight too) and actually went shopping for maternity clothes for the first time this week! I was really impressed with how comfortable maternity clothes are, and am considering wearing my maternity pants to Christmas dinner next year. ;)

This week we've started looking for some baby stuff in the stores and through friends. We're getting some great used stuff from a few people we know, which should help a LOT! One of these weekends we'll actually go buy some stuff at the store too.

Also this week I'm pretty sure I felt the baby move a few times, but it's hard to say for sure. I can hardly wait until there are more recognizable baby movements!

Today was my second appointment with the OBGYN. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat again, which was great :) We also found out that I will be having regular fetal assessments starting around week 24, during which we will find out the gender of the baby. So in about 6 weeks we'll know if we're having a boy or a girl! My first ultrasound is this coming Tuesday, but it's not a "fetal assessment" so they won't tell us the gender yet then. I don't expect we'll purchase the pictures from this round - we'll rather wait for the pictures from the first fetal assessment, as I've heard they're much better quality.

That's all for now! Except, of course for this week's "Bud facts":

- Bud measures around 6" / 15cm long and weighs about 9 ounces / 240 grams.
- Bud has started to swallow amniotic fluid and his/her kidneys continue to make urine.
- Hair is sprouting on the top of Bud's scalp.
- Bud's sensory development reaches its peak this week. The nerve cells serving each of the senses are now developing in their specialized area of the brain. Nerve cell production slows down as existing nerve cells grow larger and make more complex connections.

More next week!

18 Weeks & 0 Days

This one will be short, since I just posted a couple of days ago.


Here's the Bud facts for 18 weeks:

- Bud is approximately 6" / 14.2cm long and weighs about 7 ounces / 190 grams.
- Bud's chest moves up and down to mimic breathing but he/she is not taking in air - only amniotic fluid.
- Bud is busy kicking, flexing, reaching, rolling and even sucking his/her thumb!
- Bud's genitals are in place and recognizable (though they may not be recognizable to our untrained eyes on the ultrasound on the 13th).


Next week Friday is my next appointment with the OBGYN, so I'll post more then. In the meantime, here is a picture of me looking a little more pregnant!

17 Weeks and 4 Days

Well, I'm a little late on the 17 week post. Sorry about that. I thought I'd wait until we were home from our Christmas visiting before posting.

It's been a good week-and-a-half. I've been feeling really good (for the most part) and much more energetic than in the 1st trimester. My appetite has been rather...hearty...which is good right around Christmas, I guess. :) I've finally started gaining weight, too - about 3 pounds now. And...while on Christmas break, I seem to have "popped". I look quite pregnant now. Yay! I'll post a picture with the 18 week post in a few days. We definitely enjoyed our last Christmas with no baby, but are REALLY looking forward to next Christmas with a new baby! So exciting!


Here are a few Bud-facts for week 17, courtesy of www.babycenter.ca:

- Bud is now nearly 5.5" / 13cm long and weighs approximately 5 ounces / 140 grams.
- Bud's skeleton is mostly rubbery cartilage, which will harden later.
- A protective substance called myelin has slowly begun to wrap itself around Bud's spinal cord.


Look for a new post on the weekend - including a picture!

Happy New Year!

16 Weeks and 0 Days

Well, this has been a fairly uneventful week, pregnancy-wise. My belly's growing EXTREMELY slowly, much to my chagrin (although I'll admit to being pleased about still fitting into most of my clothes - including one pair of slim-fitting jeans). It's not worth posting another photo yet because there's not really a visible change from the last one. I'm actually losing a bit of weight, and can tell that my metabolism is changing (e.g. my bloodsugars are dropping), just in time for Christmas feasting! :) The doctor says this is very normal and I shouldn't be concerned about the lack of weight gain.

I have been feeling some "new" sensations that may be Bud moving around - but may just be muscle twitches...or gas. :P I'm thinking it might be Bud, but maybe that's just wishful thinking.

My abdominal muscles are not providing the support they used to. I managed to pull a muscle this week, and I'm finding my lower back is getting sore lately from compensating. Thank goodness for my massage therapist (and here's my plug for Tracie from Ankyo Therapeutic Massage)!


So, with no further pregnancy news to tell, here are this weeks Bud-facts:

- Bud is now about the size of an avocado (about 5"/11.6cm, and weighing approximately 4 ounces / 100 grams). In the next three weeks, he/she will double his/her weight and add inches to his/her length! (I've GOT to get bigger then!)
- Bud is playful, and may sometimes play with his/her first toy - the umbilical cord - which he/she may be pulling and grabbing.
- Bud's circulatory system and urinary tract are in full working order.
- Bud is inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid through his/her lungs.

More news soon (although week 17 may be a bit delayed due to our Christmas holiday plans.

Merry Christmas everyone!