The big news this week:
Hands and feet are emerging from developing arms and legs — although they look more like paddles at this point than the tiny, pudgy extremities. Technically, our baby is still considered an embryo and has something of a small tail, which is an extension of its tailbone. The tail will disappear within a few weeks, but that's the only thing getting smaller. Our baby has doubled in size since last week and now measures half an inch long, about the size of a blueberry.
If you could see inside my womb, you'd spot eyelid folds partially covering its peepers, which already have some color, as well as the tip of its nose and tiny veins beneath parchment-thin skin. Both hemispheres of our baby's brain are growing, and its liver is churning out red blood cells until her bone marrow forms and takes over this role. It also has an appendix and a pancreas, which will eventually produce the hormone insulin to aid in digestion. A loop in our baby's growing intestines is bulging into its umbilical cord, which now has distinct blood vessels to carry oxygen and nutrients to and from its tiny body.
How my life's changing:
My uterus has doubled in size in the past five weeks and I have been needing to pee more than usual too, thanks to my increasing blood volume and the extra fluid being processed through my kidneys. (By now, I already have about 10 percent more blood than I did before I was pregnant. And by the end of my pregnancy, I'll have 40 to 45 percent more blood running through my veins to meet the demands of my full-term baby.) It's unlikely, though, that the need to pee more than usual will ease up. In fact, research shows that both the frequency and volume of urine tends to increase over the course of pregnancy.Yea... something to keep looking forward to! ugh!
Source: babycenter.com
