14 Weeks

Not much to report this week. I haven't been feeling well this week, but I'm hoping that will pass in a few days and I'll be back to feeling great! If you didn't get to see our ultrasound picture, check out last week's post to see how cute our new little one is!

Here is a look at how the baby is growing.....Welcome to your second trimester! This is a big milestone in your pregnancy because it marks the end of a critical development period for your baby. All the basic structures of your baby's body — internally and externally — are formed now. Of course, they're still very tiny. Head to bottom, your baby is just 3 1/2 inches long — about the length of a lemon — and weighs about 1 1/2 ounces.
Your baby's body is growing faster than her head, which now sits upon a more well-defined neck. By the end of this week, her arms will have lengthened and will be in proportion to the rest of her body. (Her legs still have some growing to do, though.) She's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair all over her body called lanugo. Her liver starts secreting bile this week, a sign that it's already functioning properly, and her spleen starts contributing to the production of red blood cells.
Your baby's also producing and discharging urine into the amniotic fluid, a normal process that she'll keep up until birth. You still can't feel your baby's movements, but her hands and feet (now half an inch long) are more flexible and active. Thanks to brain impulses, her little facial muscles are getting a workout as she squints, frowns, and grimaces. She can grasp now, too, and she may be able to suck her thumb.