14 Weeks Prego! Belly Pics!

WELCOME 2ND TRIMESTER!

This week's big developments: Our baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his/her thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his/her facial muscles are getting a workout as his/her tiny features form one expression after another. His/her kidneys are producing urine, which he/she releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he/she will keep up until birth.

Our baby is really stretching out. From head to bottom, he/she measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he/she weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His/her body's growing faster than his/her head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his/her arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his/her body. (His/her legs still have some lengthening to do.) He/she is starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his/her body. Baby K's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his/her spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though I can't feel his/her tiny punches and kicks yet, our little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.  Definitely not a gummy bear anymore but a real teeny tiny person!

My all-day queasiness is becoming more and more rare, thank goodness. My cravings are pretty much the same as before- cheese, red meat, Mexican food (especially tacos and nachos), pickles and mint chocolate chip ice cream. Same stuff different week. I still LOVE sleeping, I still get that weird pain in my right side just under my right breast, but thankfully that strange and itchy rash I had between my cleavage is near gone- its only a patch of dry skin that is slightly darker than the rest of my skin.

 My newest pregnancy symptom is what can best be described as round-ligament pain. Round ligaments are attached to each side of the upper uterus and to the pelvic side wall. During pregnancy and the growth of the uterus, these ligaments are stretched and pulled. My movements can stretch and pull these ligaments causing discomfort and at times, pain. If I stretch my arms up over my head too far in a big yawn, I can get a pain in my side. I noticed I get them more while I am sleeping, which in a way, to me, is like when my body is doing the most growing and stretching so I shrug it off. Best to have the most symptoms when I am focused on them the least than during the day when I am super-alert to any changes in my body.

Bending at the waist is getting harder and harder. Things like lifting my foot to put my pants on while sitting is getting more and more difficult as I am very aware of the little rock hard lump of a uterus in my belly. Our little baby is really in there!