11w0d

**Baby Update - Mommy is 11 weeks pregnant. Your baby is now approximately the size of a large lime! The crown-to-rump length of your developing child is 1.75 to 2.4 inches. The weight of the fetus is approximately 8 grams at this point. The growth of your baby is phenomenal now and your baby's length will double in the next three weeks. The head is grossly out of proportion and is almost half of the baby's length. You are almost at the end of your first trimester and while changes continue to occur quickly in your baby, they are happening at a slower rate in you. Your uterus has been growing with the fetus inside of it and is now almost big enough to fill your pelvis. You are burning up calories at a faster rate than you did before you became pregnant! The amount of blood being pumped around your body will increase and you might feel warmer than usual. This is the last week of the embryonic period. From now on, your baby will be called a fetus. Your baby's fingernails appear this week! External genitalia are beginning to show distinguishing features and the development of male or female will be complete in three weeks. The placenta's blood vessels increase to provide your baby with the nutrients and oxygen he needs for continued growth. Your baby's ears are gradually moving from the neck towards the sides of his head. Inside of your baby's abdomen, the intestines are developing. Because the intestines are so large, some of them project into the umbilical cord and they will return to the abdomen within the next week or two.**

Today was my first OB appointment and I learned a ton!! (First off, let me say that the little picture associated with this post is our newest addition!! We'll get to why I had an ultrasound in a while. . .) First thing when I got checked in the clinic had done some homework about what my insurance covered and how much I'll have to pay for this child! Which I am pleasantly surprised by how much my insurance will actually pay and how much I won't pay. . . don't get me wrong, I am still paying a pretty penny.


After waiting forever, we finally got to see the doctor. Dr. Petelin was very nice and I like her a lot. She did the horrible papsmear, breast exam and felt my uterus. Everything looked good, no real big deal except she said that my uterus felt "small" for how far along I was. And then we talked about my "morning sickness", not concerned with my puking too much because I gain a few pounds since last time. But if I start going the other way then we will have to get a prescription to keep the nausea at bay. I also got a new prenatal vitamin that is coated and suppose to taste like vanilla. . . since I'm not taking the other prenatals regularly because they taste nasty and I end up throwing them up. Then the part I've been waiting for. . . the heartbeat! The doctor tried finding the baby's heartbeat, and after several failed attempts she checked my charts and dates, and questioned me on how sure I was about the time frame. Of course, I could always be off a couple of days but I was near certain that I couldn't be off by very much. So for peace of mind she ordered up an ultrasound because she couldn't find a fetal heartbeat. Then if there was a heartbeat they wanted to check the dates for accuracy. They couldn't fit me in during the morning. . . the earliest time that they had available was 2:45 in the afternoon; otherwise, I could wait for another day. Of course, I wanted it as soon as possible, no way I would be able to wait for another day. So we left and we went out to lunch, just Jerry and I. (Jerry's sister, Susan, watched the kids for us.) We took advantage of lunch by ourselves, since our 6th Wedding Anniversary is tomorrow and Jerry has to work.


We then went back to Susan's house, and she volunteered to watch the kids while we went back to the doctor's office. Jerry and I actually sat and watched all the kids at her house while she ran out and got the errands done that she needed to do. It was the least we could do! Then I few hours later we were on our way back to the doctor's office. . .


It felt like we waited for a while, but I'm sure it was just because of my nerves. But everything was set at easy when the technician easily found the baby. . . which had a very strong and very healthy heartbeat!! 175 beats per minute. Baby measured 11 weeks and 3 days while it was laying still, then when we got it moving it only measured 10 weeks and 6 days. Which is basically spot on what I say I was. The reason that the heartbeat couldn't be found in the office visit is because my uterus is tilted forwards and the baby and the placenta is sitting towards my back with the head between the doppler and the heart. My uterus should tip back to it's normal position as the baby grows. So all worries aside, our baby is snug as a bug inside my belly.

So baby #3 estimated due date is January 14, 2011. And my doctor said that normal practice is to do a scheduled c-section one week before depending on how baby is measuring towards the end. So we are looking at sometime in the first two weeks of January! Only 203 days left to go!! lol


Okay, I am going to try and get the ultrasound pictures that I have from today posted. . .