18 Weeks

At 18 weeks, the baby is approximatelyy 5.5 inches long - about the length of a bell pepper - and probably weighs about 7 oz. The baby is busy flexing its arms and legs, which I'm not sure if I'm feeling yet. There are certain feelings when I wonder if its the baby moving. But this should increase over the coming weeks. A protective coating, called myelin, is starting to form around the nerves. The gender characteristics have formed - if its a girl, the uterus and fallopian tubes are now in place and if its a boy, his genitals are now visible. We have our ultrasound on Tuesday, Nov 6th, so hopefully the doctor will see a healthy baby - boy or girl!
I've had a cold all week, so I haven't felt that great. I've been trying to treat it with non-medicinal remedies to try to alleviate some of the symptoms. Minna made me a concoction of honey, lemon and ginger. She said it really soothes the throat and calms a cough. I was getting ready to down a spoonful, desperate to feel some relief, when she yelled, "No, don't eat it straight!" and she told me to mix it with hot water, to make a tea-like drink. Right. Its actually really good and very soothing. I've had about 10 cups of it in the last couple of days. Patrick has taken to sleeping in the other room so the only person I bother by coughing all night is myself. Nellie is even sleeping with him.
We have a CD of baby sounds to play to help Nellie get used to the sounds of a baby. I put it on the other day, but it was stressing out both Nellie and Patrick, so I turned it off. I'll have to play it while Patrick isn't around. Nellie sat there and stared at the stereo, her ears very alert. Hopefully she won't be very alarmed when we have a real baby making those noises. I'm posting some pictures of our recent activities - some from the NASCAR race and one of Patrick and I in our Halloween costumes. I painted a fishbowl on the belly of my shirt and Patrick went as a "fisherman", but instead of lures, he had baby stuff hanging from his fishing vest. Not sure if anyone else thought it was funny, but we were hightly amused by ourselves.

17 Weeks

The baby is getting bigger - about 5 inches now, which is about the length of your hand to the tip of your pinky finger. My uterus must be growing pretty rapidly because I've had some abdominal pain this week that the doctor has said is round ligament pain. I'm not having any other problems, so she said it wasn't anything to worry about. We listened for the baby's heartbeat which is was a strong 142 bpm. I haven't felt the baby moving yet, but it shouldn't be too long before I do. The skeleton of the baby is starting to harden to bone and the baby is beginning to develop its sense of hearing. I guess I'm going to have to start singing to it...or do you think that would just traumatize him/her?
My mom was here over the weekend and we got a lot accomplished. We now have a huge pile of stuff for a garage sale. She helped us go through closets, drawers, boxes of papers, etc. We can now open most of our closets without being scared that something is going to jump out at us. We bought hooks and bins to hang and store a lot of stuff, which has really helped with the organization. I found a lot of stuff that I hadn't seen in awhile. On a sadder note, she made me throw away some things that I didn't really want to get rid of. Like my pay stubs from working my campus job at LSU where I made $700/semester. Don't you think I'll need those someday?? And she made me get rid of my papers and notes from my first year of graduate school that I haven't looked at since. My notes from college must be stored in the closet at her house somewhere. I definitely might need those some day!
Ok, so in the end, we got rid of a lot of stuff that we needed to get rid of. Hopefully it will be a successful garage sale!
She did the ring test on me, because I had been getting some huge inconsistencies in the results. She showed me the right way to do it and ever since then, every time I do the test, it says Girl, Boy, Girl, Boy. Am I really going to have 4 children?!
We'll know the sex of the baby pretty soon!

Visit with the doctor ... what Patrick heard.

We had a pleasant visit with the doctor the other day. She is nice and doesn't mind explaining things to me in non-scientific jargon. We heard the heart beat again .... very exciting. This time it was a very distinct sound between 130 and 150 beats per minute. Woosh...woosh...woosh.

At the end of the visit the doc asked if we had any questions (I had been waiting patiently for this). I, of course, had a question. Just what, exactly, is Jessica not supposed to be doing physically? Jessica has been avoiding all physical activity. The doc immediately looked at Jessica who darted her eyes away. The doc said that pregnant women could do anything that wasn't painful. She said that she knew of women who ran marathons while pregnant! She also said that there are many old-wives tales about not doing heavy lifting or physical activity while pregnant. The secret was out!

Our wonderful doc confirmed for us that Jessica is in fact not disabled in a any way. No, she won't and I don't expect her to start running marathons, but it is nice to know that she can safely go on a walk every once in a while (like about 3 times a week as the doctor has suggested).

-Patrick

16 Weeks

Yay! We love reading everyone's comments, so thanks for posting them!
The baby should be about 4 1/2 inches now - about the size of an avocado (that's for Aunt Rez), and probably weighs about 3 1/2 ounces. In the next few weeks, it will be going through a growth spurt and will nearly double in size. The eyes, which are still closed, are moving toward the front of the head and the ears are close to their final position. The baby's circulatory system is working hard, pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, which will increase to about 190 quarts a day by the time its born.
We had a doctor's appointment earlier this week. We heard the baby's heartbeat, which sounded very healthy. And I had my blood drawn to do the quadruple screen where they test for downs and spina bifida. Hopefully everything will look good. She measured my belly and so far it measures 12. I don't really know what that means, but I guess it will get bigger as my belly grows. Patrick did tell me earlier this week that I looked pregnant. I reminded him that I am pregnant, so that could possibly explain it. He says that I am also exhibiting signs of craziness. I disagree, of course. I think I'm perfectly rational at all times. Granted, I may be emotional, but I always remain rational. I have good reasons for those emotions.
The baby had its first trip to a NASCAR race this past weekend. My dad was in town and we went down to Charlotte for the race. We had a great time.
This weekend, my mom will be in town to help us go through stuff and make room for the little one! Patrick is going to have to get rid of a lot of stuff because all of my stuff is sentimental and I can't possibly get rid of any of it.

15 weeks

Alright, people, where are those comments? I know you're reading this...that means you need to leave a comment!!!
Anyway, we're now at week 15. The baby should be about 4 inches long now and probably weights about 2.5 oz. It is beginning to inhale and exhale amniotic fluid which helps the air sacs in the lungs to develop. The legs are growing, and should be longer than the arms now. (Good to know that things are becoming more proportional.) It is beginning to move its joints and limbs - hopefully it won't be too long before I start feeling it move! Its eyelids are fused shut but the baby can still sense light. Meanwhile, its tastebuds are starting to develop.
I'm still feeling good. Not many cravings or anything, although I love having a piece of chocolate with a cup of milk midway through the day. I can tell my emotions are on a roller coaster. Patrick was aggravating me the other night and I couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry, so I was doing a little of both.
I go to the doctor again next week, and hopefully we will schedule the ultrasound where we find out if its a boy or a girl! That will probably be scheduled for November sometime.
We did the test last night where you loop your ring through a piece of string and hold it over the open palm of your hand. If the ring goes back and forth, its a boy. If it makes a circle, its a girl. Then it stops and starts moving again for the next child. It supposed to tell you how many kids you will have and what the sex of each will be. I stopped after the 4th because I was worried that it was going to tell me I was going to have 10 kids. But the order was boy, boy, girl, boy. Those Harrells sure do like to make boys! So, we'll see in a few weeks if the test was correct! I have 2 friends that had babies in the last couple of weeks and both are girls. A friend is due in December and she's also having a girl. And I know two more girls having babies in February and both are having girls. And one in March is having a girl. I don't know of any others having boys yet. I think odds are working in favor of a boy here.

14 Weeks

The baby should be about 3 1/2 inches long now and weigh about 1.5oz. The arms should be lengthening and will be more in proportion with the rest of its body. There is now a covering of hair all over its body, called lanugo. The liver will start secreting bile this week, and the spleen will start to contribute to the production of red blood cells.
My allergies have really been acting up this week. I finally broke down and took a claritin yesterday on the advice of the doctor because I was pretty miserable. Then I went home early and Nellie and I slept all afternoon. I feel much better today.

13 Weeks

Ok, Ok, I know I'm a little behind. I was a little distracted last week with school stuff, but here is the 13 week update:
At 13 weeks, the baby is about 3 inches long - about the size of a jumbo shrimp. The head is now only about 1/3 of the size of the body, so things are becoming a little more proportional. The baby now has unique fingerprints and the kidneys are functioning along with the urinary tract, so the baby is beginning to urinate. How exciting! That must be why I feel like I need to run to the restroom every 10 minutes. Ok, that's an exaggeration, but you get the point.
This week is the official end of the 1st trimester, and things are still going very well. I feel great and am starting to show a little bit. My mom's been sending me some maternity clothes that she has found great deals on (of course!), and I've bought a couple of non-maternity shirts that look like maternity shirts since that's the style now. I just need long shirts to cover the elastic waistband of the maternity pants I'm wearing. My friend Lauren had a baby on Friday and she had given me some of her early pregnancy "big" clothes to wear, so that's been helpful. My butt is bigger than hers, so I think I outgrew the bottoms more quickly than she did but the tops have been great!
Every day when I come to work, Minna, my labmate, checks out my wardrobe to make sure I look presentable. Apparently she had a dream that I was very pregnant and came to work dressed in a moo-moo. She thought I looked horrible, and debated on whether or not she should tell me that I could be pregnant and still wear cute clothes. She was afraid that she would upset me, the pregnancy hormones would kick in, and I would cry. Apparently I worried her the other day at Erin's defense when I started crying during Erin's acknowledgments to her family and then I couldn't stop crying. At least now when I cry, I have an excuse.
I have to go now.....I need to tinkle.