11 Week Update from Baby Center

How your baby's growing:

Your fig-sized baby is now fully formed — measuring 1 1/2 inches long and weighing in at a quarter of an ounce. His skin is still transparent, allowing many of his blood vessels to show through. Some of his bones are beginning to harden, and tiny toothbuds are starting to appear under his gums. His fingers and toes have separated, and he may soon be able to open and close his fists. He's already busy kicking and stretching, and his tiny movements are so fluid they look like water ballet. These movements will increase as his body grows and becomes more developed and functional. As his diaphragm develops, your tiny tenant may also start to get the hiccups. Because he's still so small, though, you won't feel any of his workouts or intrauterine gulps until sometime between weeks 16 and 20.

Phew - Eeeeeeked By

So the weekend is fabulous, and we are pretty darn sure no one figured out we are pregnant. I say that knowing in a couple of weeks, we're going to begin telling people anyway. But I had a lot of anxiety going into the weekend about fitting into clothing, being at a lunch, brunch, and a wedding and not drinking. We had a great plan worked out, Tim would order me a glass of wine, and when no one was looking, take a huge drink out of it, and then fill it up with water that I would just hold all night. I must have left several watered down glasses of wine throughout the party all night... so it goes to keep Monday healthy.

Super fun weekend, which makes Monday (the day of the week - not the unborn Reeth) all the harder. I do like spending time with Tim banging around the city instead of at the office in front of a computer....frantically writing blog posts!

Big week for us -- And a bigger weekend coming up!

This week has been huge! And by Friday afternoon, I am feeling the part. I had my annual review on Monday, which I worked myself up for for nothing. Wednesday we heard Monday's heart rate for the first time -- again, I worked myself up for nothing. Last night we had dinner with Dad, who's in town for an annual hunt, and his sister Aunt Patsy to celebrate her 75th birthday. Dinner was great, but I didn't really get into bed until after 10:30 and I am just plain exhausted today.

Tomorrow starts of with Aunt Patsy's real birthday celebration (Hawaiian style at the St. Francis yacht club) followed by Greg Hu's wedding and then brunch the next day with Joely who is leaving for Texas in 10 days... Whoosh! The good news is that Tim got us a deal at the W through AAA, which meant we just signed up for AAA and we get to spend a really fun weekend together in the city. The other good news is that tonight we will get to have a quiet evening tonight to rest up enough for the festivities a'coming!

I've started to feel old, with how tired I am, and how much sleep I need.... But I guess that's what 31 & preggers will getcha.

wacca, wacca, wacca, wacca...only faster

What a sound, what a great Wednesday! Like Lina writes in her post from today, we had an opportunity to listen for Monday's heart. The Midwife let us know that it was natural and not uncommon to not hear the heart beat at this stage and that we shouldn't worry (too much) if we weren't able to. Not wanting to even consider the possibility that we wouldn't hear the heart beat, I remember thinking, "don't warn us of such things....just find Monday's heart beat. It will be there. Everything will be fine. We're not the couple who doesn't hear the heart beat on the first attempt." With Lina's abdomen all lubed up the Midwife went on the hunt for little Monday. Lina (laying down) and I (standing next to her) just sat staring into each others eyes - clearly both praying for the best. After some searching, some scratching, some muffled sounds - we heard...Badump, Badump, Badump...as clear as day...it was Lina's pulse. Ok...a good sound to hear...yes, we like Lina's heart beat....we even celebrated briefly that Lina was still alive (Lina even made a nervous joke to that effect). After a few moments (I'm sure it felt longer than it was) we heard her/him. Wacca, wacca, wacca, wacca...it was Monday's heart racing along. POW! like getting splashed with cold water reality hits us. With faces full of smiles and eyes full of tears we giggle at the realization and relief that our baby carrot sized Monday is doing fine. What a sound, what a great Wednesday!

Midnight Masseuse

Masseuse : a woman who practices massage.

Tim reports that my sleeping problems to date may not be wholly characterized by the need to increase hours, but also by the notion that I may need to sleep more restfully. Apparently last night Tim awoke as I was sitting up in bed repeatedly tracing his legs through the blankets. He asked me what I was doing, put his arm around me to encourage lying down, at which point I rolled over and hugged his given arm like a blanket. I have absolutely no recollection of this, which either means that some ribbing from my husband has been indelibly donated to Monday's blog, or that I have a sleep-leg-tracing thing that I might need to get over....

Our own little Jogger

For the first time today, we heard Monday's heart beat. We were warned that we may not hear it, but after about a minute of the ultrasound, it came through. We both just teared up immediately. It somehow makes it so much more real to hear the little heart just popping. Seriously, the thing is at a heart rate of 160 (which is normal) but that is super fast! Tim commented that it sounded like she was on a treadmill, which made me laugh. (By the way, laughing when you have a super sensitive sound machine on your abdomen is not recommended.) All the worry that takes us into one of these appointments was for naught. Our little Monday is doing well and we'll get a more thorough ultrasound with pictures in the next couple of weeks. Wow, we're really pregnant.

Big Day...

Well, Lina and I have our second appointment with the doctor tomorrow morning (08/15) where we get the results from the blood test. We're looking forward to the results and the additional information we can get to help with the jittery questions; like are we at the target weight, are we getting enough sleep, is it ok that Tim is putting on sympathy weight at 2x the rate of Lina?

Its an anxious time...but I hear the anxiety lessens a bit after Monday graduates college. :)

I'm not the patient type - so I find myself wishing we could fast-forward to the end to make sure everything is ok, then rewind to present day so we can experience it all in slow-motion. Knowing that's not likely to happen...I exhale and sit in the moment. Ahhhhh.....we're pregnant, in love, healthy, happy and have supportive and loving family and friends. This is a nice place to be...I love it here.