Week 18

It’s now week 18 and almost half way through the pregnancy.  We’ll have a visit to the doctor next week.

So, how’s the baby doing?  Of course, it’s still growing.  The legs and arms are moving around quite a bit now.  The ears are in their correct position now, but standing out a bit.  The blood vessels are also visible through the skin.

How’s the mother doing?  Still occasionally feeling sick and sometimes feeling dizzy due to low blood pressure.  Her right leg is experiencing pain quite regularly.  The baby and uterus is pressing against the vena cava, a large vein in the back, and this is causing a build up of blood in the leg, lower blood pressure and varicose veins in the right leg.  She’s trying to sleep on her left side to reduce this.  Also, a much more exciting thing is happening.  She’s definitely feeling the baby moving!

Week 16

This is the first of the weekly baby development updates.  This week, we don’t have a check-up with the hospital about the baby, so this information is what the baby should be like at the moment.  We are now at week 16!

At this moment, the baby is still quite small, possibly around 11cm long from head to bottom.  The head is developing quite nicely, more erect, the ears are in the correct position.  The scalp pattern is developing now, too.  No hair yet, though.  Toenails are starting to grow and the heart is pumping lots of blood through its body.

The womb is now half way between the pelvic bone and the bellybutton, so a baby bump starts to appear at this time.  From what I can tell, morning sickness is mostly gone, but still comes back sometimes.  Also, lots of itchiness due to hormones.

What can we expect soon?  Well, we should be able to feel the baby moving and kicking within the next couple of weeks.  Also, the baby is about to start a growth spurt, doubling in weight and growing in size a lot faster over the next few weeks.