Small Update

There hasn't been much actual information here. Sorry about that. I know you want to read all about what kind of produce the Chicken resembles this week. Here's a little update.

I'm halfway through week 15 and not much is happening. Well, happening to me. All kinds of stuff is happening with the Chicken, such as:

Baby D now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste buds. Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or a girl! (Don't be too disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down your baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and on your baby's position.

We have an ultrasound on Wednesday (at exactly 16 weeks) and I will be disappointed if we're not able to find out the sex. The suspense is killing me! The point of the ultrasound is not to determine gender or anything. There's a big ol' cyst on my right ovary and they want to take another look and see if it has changed size at all. I'm hoping for shrinkage but I'm not too concerned. The doctor says it won't affect the Chicken and as long as I can handle the pain (oh yeah, it hurts all the time), they'll leave it alone. I'm hoping for shrinkage just for my own comfort but more than that I'm hoping for the money shot. I'll be giving my belly pep talks that this is no time to be bashful for the next two days. Either show us the goods or you get the flashlight baby!

I had a doctor's appointment umm, almost 2 weeks ago. Anything that wasn't baseball that happened in that two week stretch of the playoffs and World Series is all so very hazy. It's like I was on a baseball bender - which I pretty much was. Anyway, the doctor's visit went well. I only gained 1 more pound in the 4 weeks between appointments, putting me up to 139. Frank finds that hilarious. He listened to the heartbeat again and poked around my belly. He said my uterus was up around 16 - 18 weeks rather than the 14 weeks it was, thanks to the cyst that ate Philadelphia. He said to get a flu shot and don't rent one of those baby dopplers because it will make us crazy. He was supportive of my resistance to the quad screen blood test, ultimately leaving it up to us. It was a short visit.

So we have the ultrasound on Wednesday, then the doctor again the following week, then another ultrasound the week after that for the big anatomy scan.

Speaking of comfort, my love affair with maternity pants is over. I'm still enjoying the forgiving stretchiness of the waistbands, but that's about it. The reality is, they make me feel all fat and schleppy. They're so baggy and saggy - especially in the rear - there's no way to look good in them. I'm always hiking them up to fight the droop. I'm still wearing them every day, but now I hate them every day. There's just no pleasing me, really.