Week #9 coming up!

Hi All!

Things are going great! Here's what we have to look forward to this week. Amazing!!! Again, I'm getting this information from the website www.babycenter.com.

Hope you're all doing great!
Love,
Us

Your pregnancy: 9 weeks
See the big picture
How your baby's growing:Your new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain.

How your life's changing:You still may not look pregnant even if your waist is thickening a bit. You probably feel pregnant, though. Not only are morning sickness and other physical symptoms out in full force for most women, but you may feel like an emotional pinball as well. Mood swings are common now — it's perfectly normal to feel alternately elated and terrified about becoming a parent. Try to cut yourself some slack. Most women find that moodiness flares up at around six to ten weeks, eases up in the second trimester, and then reappears as pregnancy winds to a close.

Hearts-all-a-flutter

I had my first doctor's appointment on Wednesday, the 20th. I actually got to see the baby's heart fluttering like crazy! It was so great! Except I was so sad that Joe couldn't be there. It was the first day of school as well, and his first class started at exactly the same time my appointment was. I should have taken video or something! I feel horrible for not doing that! I made sure my next appointment was at a time when he could come for sure! That will be so cool.

Thank you all so much for your excitenent and love! We so appreciate our family and friends!!!!!

And MY heart is a flutter as I reflect on the most incredible marriage proposal ever! Tomorrow will be three years from the day that Joe swept me off my feet with the most creative and thoughtful proposal I've ever heard of. I'm so grateful for him and for his love! Happy anniversary, sweetheart! I love you!

Week 8!

Here's what we have to look forward to this week! Yay!!! Things are going well with us. We hope you're all doing great too! Love, Joe & Kristen

Your pregnancy: 8 weeks
See the big picture
How your baby's growing: New this week: Webbed fingers and toes are poking out from your baby's hands and feet, his eyelids practically cover his eyes, breathing tubes extend from his throat to the branches of his developing lungs, and his "tail" is just about gone. In his brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways. You may be daydreaming about your baby as one sex or the other, but the external genitals still haven't developed enough to reveal whether you're having a boy or a girl. Either way, your baby — about the size of a kidney bean — is constantly moving and shifting, though you still can't feel it.

How your life's changing: Feeling fatigued? Hormonal changes — in particular, a dramatic rise in progesterone — may be contributing to your sluggishness. Nausea and vomiting can certainly cost you energy, too. And you may be having trouble getting a good night's sleep at this point, especially if you're uncomfortable or find you need to get up to pee.

We're havin' a baby! Woo-Hoo!

We are so excited to be having a baby! I am so amazed at the miracle a baby is. Especially as I read how it is developing week by week. Just mind blowing!

I thought I would put an update each week for family and friends to see what's going on with our little one during that week. Currently we are at approximately 6 weeks and 2 days, give or take, grin. Here's what happened during the last week. I get this information from www.babycenter.com.

Your pregnancy: 6 weeks
See the big picture How your baby's growing: This week's major developments: The nose, mouth, and ears that you'll spend so much time kissing in eight months are beginning to take shape. If you could see into your uterus, you'd find an oversize head and dark spots where your baby's eyes and nostrils are starting to form. His emerging ears are marked by small depressions on the sides of the head, and his arms and legs by protruding buds. His heart is beating about 100 to 160 times a minute — almost twice as fast as yours — and blood is beginning to course through his body. His intestines are developing, and the bud of tissue that will give rise to his lungs has appeared. His pituitary gland is forming, as are the rest of his brain, muscles, and bones. Right now, your baby is a quarter of an inch long, about the size of a lentil bean.

How your life's changing: You may find yourself developing a bit of a split personality — feeling moody one day and joyful the next. Unsettling as this is (especially if you pride yourself on being in control), what you're going through is normal. Ricocheting emotions are caused partly by fluctuating hormones. But hormones aside, your life is about to change in a big way — and who wouldn't feel emotional about that? (So far, I think I'm doing okay... Joe?)

Here's what's happening during this week!

Your pregnancy: 7 weeks
See the big picture
How your baby's growing: 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 you're daydreaming about holding and tickling. Technically, your baby is still considered an embryo and has something of a small tail, which is an extension of her tailbone. The tail will disappear within a few weeks, but that's the only thing getting smaller. Your 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 your womb, you'd spot eyelid folds partially covering her peepers, which already have some color, as well as the tip of her nose and tiny veins beneath parchment-thin skin. Both hemispheres of your baby's brain are growing, and her liver is churning out red blood cells until her bone marrow forms and takes over this role. She also has an appendix and a pancreas, which will eventually produce the hormone insulin to aid in digestion. A loop in your baby's growing intestines is bulging into her umbilical cord, which now has distinct blood vessels to carry oxygen and nutrients to and from her tiny body.

How your life's changing: Your uterus has doubled in size in the past five weeks, and eating may feel like a chore — or worse — thanks to morning sickness, which by now may be in full swing. (If you're feeling fine, don't worry — you're lucky!) You may need to pee more than usual, too, thanks to your increasing blood volume and the extra fluid being processed through your kidneys. (By now, you already have about 10 percent more blood than you did before you were pregnant. And by the end of your pregnancy, you'll have 40 to 45 percent more blood running through your veins to meet the demands of your full-term baby.) As your uterus grows, pressure on your bladder will send you to the bathroom as well. About half of the women who feel nauseated during the first trimester will find complete relief by about 14 weeks. For most of the rest, it'll take another month or so for the queasiness to ease up. 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.

Have a great day!

Back to School Time!!!

It's that time of year... school starts next week (at least for Joe). This is an exciting semester though! This will be the first time Joe will be full time at school! Woo-hoo! For years he has been working full time and going to school at night. It takes a long time to get through school that way. So we are very happy to be able to swing it so he can focus on his classes and get it done! Electrical Engineering Degree - here we come!