Seven Weeks

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.

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.



So that is what Babycenter says is going on this week.

Well....I definitely have been feeling sick. If I feel better by 14 weeks, then I still seven more weeks of this...great!! And I definitely have to go to the bathroom more than usual. I literally wake up at least twice a night to go to the bathroom. Easily.

I keep forgetting that I should probably change how I am eating. I'm still eating the stuff I used to, whether it be spicy, rich, sweet, whatever, and my stomach is NOT liking it. I went to Schnucks this morning and bought myself some oyster crackers, some lunchables, some 7-up and Gingersnaps (thanks to my sis and Jenn for recommending those!).

I'm soooo hungry, then I eat soooo much, then I feel soooo sick! It's a vicious cycle.

I have another ultrasound on Wednesday and if everything is still looking good (which I'm praying like crazy it does) then we're off to Dr. Webb, my high risk OB! And I can't wait for "graduation day"!