How your baby’s growing:
Deep in your uterus your embryo is growing at a furious pace. At this point he’s about the size of a sesame seed, and he looks more like a tiny tadpole than a human. He’s now made up of three layers — the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm — that will later form his organs and tissues. The cells are forming for his major organs, including his kidneys and liver, and his neural tube is beginning to develop. This neural tube — from which your baby’s brain, spinal cord, nerves, and backbone will sprout — develops in the top layer, called the ectoderm. This layer will also give rise to his skin, hair, nails, mammary and sweat glands, and tooth enamel. His heart and circulatory system begin to form in the middle layer, or mesoderm. (This week, in fact, his tiny heart begins to divide into chambers and beat and pump blood.) The mesoderm will also form your baby’s muscles, cartilage, bone, and subcutaneous (under skin) tissue. The third layer, or endoderm, will house his lungs, intestines, and rudimentary urinary system, as well as his thyroid, liver, and pancreas. In the meantime, the primitive placenta and umbilical cord, which deliver nourishment and oxygen to your baby, are already on the job.
How we’re doing:
This week marks the first full week that we’ve known about the pregnancy. Lori is doing good so far with the exception of feeling a little more sick to her stomach than she was with Logan’s pregnancy. They say that every pregnancy is different, so we’ll see how this one goes. She also said that she’s had less bleeding than the first one. Last year, she said that she bled quite a bit at the beginning. This time, she has just had a tiny tiny bit of spotting. I’m going to take that as a good sign, since she’s not bleeding like she did with Logan.
I’m trying to make sure that we keep our spirits up with this pregnancy. Tomorrow (Sunday), I’ll be leaving for Detroit and won’t be back until the 26th or 27th. Our first appointment with the doctor is scheduled for the 27th. It’ll be her first round with the doctor and our first sonogram. I can’t wait to see the pictures of our little living baby. It will be about 8 weeks developed by then.
We’re going to be dealing with the stress of me being out of town knowing that I’ll be taking advantage of my company’s travel incentive. By the time my traveling is done in October, we should have a good little chunk of change that we will set aside for the baby.
Currently craving:
All Lori keeps talking about is hamburgers. She says that she’s craving them like crazy! A commercial will come on and her mouth just waters. I wonder if that will be her craving all the way through the pregnancy. I’m sure it won’t be the only weird thing that she craves though.
