Sunday, December 16, 2007

7 weeks

My little one is starting to look a little less like an alien! This is what I got from BabyCenter today:
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.

8 comments:

  1. Ooh, talking in terms of "she" I see. Does this mean your first instinct of the sex is that it's a girl?

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  2. That is BabyCenter.com talking, not me. They just alternate using he and she each week. :-)

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  3. just wait until the ultrasound...talk about alien looking! eek! that first shot of the face full on really kind of freaked me out. i much preferred the little feet pictures...at least i could recognize them.

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  4. i saw juno this weekend. great flick. the language is a little crass (very little swearing, just...crass) but i think you'll dig it. especially all the baby stuff.

    "it has fingernails!"

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  5. My pregnancy was SUCH a testimony to the miracle of life and GOD. I too got the babycenter updates and was simply AMAZED at the development. Incredible doesn't even suffice. I don't know how long the babycenter updates come, but I'm still getting them and LOVE them.

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  6. This is so fun for me to follow along with your baby's progress ;) I'm getting on g.chat right now to check up on you. Hooray for paddles forming :)

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  7. You're that much closer to finding out what you're having! You are going to find out right...?

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  8. Hi Katrina,
    Congratulations on your teeny weeny bundle of joy! I am truly happy for you and it is pretty obvious that Jarod and yourself are thrilled with the latest addition to the family. I read all your posts (almost all) and I know that you will make a wondeful mother! Congratulations again dearie!!!

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