Our little lemon

Today there are a couple of important birthdays. Our little tyke has just turned 14 weeks old, and his/her cousin, Jackson, out in the big wide world, is one year old!!! Happy Birthday Jack!

I copied this picture from babycenter.com, which illustrates the size of our fetus. It's hard to believe that in only 10 short weeks, our little tadpole has come from being the size of a poppy seed (at 4 weeks) to now being the size of a lemon. He/she is 3 1/2 inches long now and weighs about a half ounce.

It is also apparently a big time for Mom (me!) now too. I have just entered the second trimester, when life is supposed to (emphasize "supposed to") get much much better. Just in time for Mother's Day (thanks little guy)... I have to admit that I don't feel nearly as queazy as I did several weeks ago; but I am still very turned off by surprising smells - like coffee - which I used to love. Also, I'm still waiting until I can be less tired. It is very VERY easy for me to sleep about 10 hours per night and then still want a nap during the day. It takes a lot of energy to grow a lemon! ; )

Anyways, it's good to know the baby is coming along just fine. In the past week I have had another ultrasound (this time successful), visited the geneticists, and had blood and urine tests. One more test is scheduled to see if I might be a carrier of Cystic Fibrosis -this will be conducted through yet another blood test. Then, in about four more weeks, we will have an amniocentesis. Man, this thing requires a lot of poking and prodding!!

I'm not someone inclined to prayer (Meditation is normally more my speed), but for the first time ever, I just want to ask anyone who is willing to say a quick prayer for the health of our baby!!! We want this lemon to grow into a full blown, healthy pumpkin within the next few months or so! Go baby go!

10 Weeks and 5 days - Our first trimester screening

Mom had an ultra sound today and found out that our baby has a strong heart beat and is really big. In fact, "he" is 5 days bigger than average, so the OB has moved his due date up to October 29 (Previously it was Nov. 3). Mom heard the heart (and actually saw it too - it was amazing - located somewhere near my belly button at this point). My heartbeat was measured at 160 per minute.

Incidentally, Mom has a strong intuition that I am a boy. I make her eat a lot (too much), am stubborn, and BIG. (Already sounds like one - or both - of my parents!!! hmmm) How does she know I am stubborn? Well, I was apparently sleeping during the ultrasound, and refused to wake up long enough for the technician to measure my "Nuchal Translucency" (NT). (Below, Mom cut and pasted what the NT is according to a definition on the Net). Babies are supposed to be in a certain position for the technician to measure the NT, but no matter how much she jiggled my Mom's belly to try to wake me up, I refused to budge. (Again, sounds like one of my parents!) This sleepy time is apparently normal (although Mom was slightly worried, the doctor said that this happens all the time). We are rescheduled to go back next week to try again before the NT disappears in another two weeks. Hopefully Dad can go with us then, and he can proudly hear how strongly my heart is beating! We are really fortunate because the hospital is only about a 5-minute walk from Dad's office, so he can just pop over for the ultrasound during his lunch hour.

Cut and Pasted from Toronto's Mount Sinai Web Page (Image is from here)

Nuchal Translucency/Early Anatomy Ultrasound:

A nuchal translucency ultrasound measures the fluid at the back of a baby’s neck between 11 and 14 weeks of pregnancy.

All babies have some fluid there, but babies with chromosome abnormalities such as Down syndrome, Trisomy 13, and Trisomy 18, tend to have an unusually high amount.

The most common explanation for a higher fluid level is some variation in normal development, but it can also indicate heart defects and certain rare genetic syndromes.

When during pregnancy is the ultrasound performed?

The test is performed ... between 11 weeks, 2 days and 13 weeks, 3 days of the pregnancy.

Measurements taken during the test are based on the crown-rump length of the baby, which is calculated by the ultrasound machine. Measurements taken outside the stated time frame generally cannot be used for screening tests.