Week 18 and Welcoming week 19!

We are now just finishing up week 18 and headed onto week 19. In a week and 2 days we will have our first ultrasound to make sure everything is going smoothly, get a more accurate due date, and find out the Gender of our not-so-peanut-anymore.

This week baby is the size of a Sweet Potato... although at this point ALMOST the size of a Mango. To me, these are fairly the same size... but okay. 

Photo Credit: TheBump 

Week 18: How your baby's growing:
Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and he weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.
See what your baby looks like this week.

Week 19: How your baby's growing:
Your baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.
Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.

Credit: BabyCenter

Me at 18 weeks exactly:

Baby has basically hit ONE pound at this point...and well, mommy is starting to put on the weight as well. I'm now weighing in about 122.2 lbs every time I weigh in the morning... so I've totaled about 6-7 pounds so far. It's coming quickly though, about a pound a week as it should!

The added weight DEFINITELY has caused a harder time sleeping, AND a lot more bathroom breaks at work. Sometimes I'm running to the bathroom twice an hour. This baby is using my bladder as a pillow! 

Leg cramps are a common symptom at this time of pregnancy, and I get my share of those as well. I'd say I'm about as normal as it comes when it comes to pregnancy symptoms I guess!

Well we are excited to find out if this baby Brinley is a boy or girl! Next time we post it will probably be revealed!

Stay tuned til next week! =)

The Brinleys

Moving onto week 17!

This week:
Baby is the size of an onion

Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.

Credit: Babycenter

This image is about right as far as where baby is sitting in my tummy. This is taken from FitPregnancy's Website for week 16. At night when we look at my belly, we will often notice it being lop-sided, assuming maybe the baby's head has ended up on one side. I also will suck my stomach in--and it is so funny to see that below my belly button it just stays sticking out--which indicates baby has claimed his space!

Exciting News for this week is......
BABY IS KICKING--- or tumbling or flipping. Either way I have begun to recognize baby's movements. They happen once or twice a day for a couple kicks at a time. It's very faint usually (easily mistaken for gas) but for some reason yesterday baby was doing FLIPS in my stomach (probably due to all the chocolate from Valentine's day). It was a sensation similar to gas bubbles passing through my tummy, but a little different. It came from the same spot every time--and it was a little more pleasant. Also each one felt the same as the ones before, whereas gas usually moves its way around your stomach. He is making himself known to the world!

Baby is now able to hear, as it said above, his bones are starting to harden, and the first ones to develop are his ear bones--so he can hear mommy's tummy when it grumbles as well as my heartbeat and voice! Daddy has tried talking to him too some, and gets mad at mommy if she turns up the radio too loud with a song he doesn't like. =)

For Valentine's Day, Darin and I went to Bombay house and had some great curry. Baby has been exposed to quite a bit of a variety of foods--thai, korean, japanese, sri lankan--so I figured he is okay with ethnic food.... not quite this time, he was not happy with Indian. I thought it was a fluke and at the left overs the next day--no fluke. I had some bad tummy aches after that. Now that baby has taken over the lower half of my stomach it's harder for my intestines to pass food through, causing tummy aches to last much much longer.... and I expect it won't get much better from here.

Baby's gender can be known by an ultrasound at this point, although the doctors make us wait until 20 weeks to do other measurements as well. I thought we could go pay a little extra and find out early for Valentine's but Darin said he'd rather just wait. 3 more weeks and we will know what this little munchin will be. I always refer to baby as "he" although today he/she kicked when I did--and I joked with Darin that she's probably mad I keep calling her a boy... after which she kicked again. So we will see!

Til next time,
The Brinleys

Week 15 - Plus a Cold...

Week 15 has begun, here is the update on our little baby:
On my phone app, it said the size of an apple... here is says an orange... On average the baby is now 4 inches from crown to rump (refer to below ;) )

How your baby's growing:
Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste buds. Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or a girl! (Don't be too disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down your baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and on your baby's position. He or she may be modestly curled up or turned in such a way as to "hide the goods.") 

Credit: Babycenter

 Here's how he looks from the outside:
not too many changes there...

I have been tracking my weight since November, now that we are in the second trimester that should start to pick up. Most things I've read have said about 1 pound a week. So we shall see.

I'm usually weighing in at a consistent 119. something usually, which is about one pound more than the last few weeks...

 Although by looking at the calendar, you can see when I ate a lot and my weight increased to even 120... What can I say--it was the holiday!

This week has been one of the harder ones--mostly because of this darn cold. No, luckily it is not the flu (and I plan to get a flu shot Tuesday when we see the doctors), but without the usual meds to take, one must resort to the natural healing methods-- Sleep, vitamins, water. I have been in bed for two days straight (Saturday and Today) which helped some. I just can't afford to miss work--(with no maternity leave, I gotta save my sick days for July) so I took advantage of the weekend.

I can no longer fit in my pants. Whenever we decide to go out, you can find me in stretchy pants, or sweats... very attractive. Darin and I also took a trip to the mall to get me a new bra. According to my mother, I now have "Milk tanks" Thanks mom... harsh realities of pregnancy.

We are excited to hear baby's heartbeat again on Tuesday--we are at 15 weeks, just shy of knowing the gender (Although I believe there is a chance to be able to see it now, it just costs extra for an ultrasound so they save it for 20 weeks--where they can almost guarantee it). We will find out the gender at around 19 week, a month from now. We are excited. We decided once we find out, we will run to Target and buy a baby outfit to celebrate!

Baby Aiden or Kiana (a new name we thought we might like to use if it's a girl)?:

Any Guesses?

Til next time!

Love, The Brinleys