Another busy week has gone by and Ryder is still growing and developing. Head to heels, our baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. His weight — somewhere over a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but he's beginning to exchange his long, lean look for some baby fat. As he does, his wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and he'll start to look more and more like a newborn. He's also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you'd now be able to discern its color and texture. I have been trying to come up with an image in my head of what he might look like as a combination of Russell and me. I guess we'll have to wait and see!
A huge thank you goes out to Ashley Rankin for helping us out with a trip to Babies R Us. We walked all of the aisles and she gave us awesome advice on what she's liked and what she didn't so we have a better idea of what to actually register for and what we will need. It's a little overwhelming when you go in there completely clueless as to what you will need. Thank you, Ashley!!!!
Here's an idea of what mister Ryder Cole might look like this week:
This week was a fun one :) We got to see Ryder again at the Arlington Perinatal Associates and my mom got to come with us this time! He was being a little shy and hid his face for most of the sonogram. We got one little frontal view and then he crossed his arms in front of his face and would only let us get a look at his mouth and nose. But we caught him holding onto his feet at one point and that was pretty darn cute :) He was totally healthy and his heartbeat was about 144. We don't have anymore sonograms scheduled at this point, but I think we are going to go get a 3D/4D sono sometime soon.
Here is the video from our most recent appointment:
Our little boy is growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. The doctor told us that he is right at a pound and a half, which is right where he should be at this stage in the game. Since he's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), he cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but his body is filling out proportionally and he'll soon start to plump up. His brain is also growing quickly now, and his taste buds are continuing to develop. His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world. His skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.
Here are some pictures from our last sonogram:
And as for me, in the past few weeks, the top of my uterus has risen above my belly button and is now about the size of a soccer ball. That's kind of a lot to take in haha. It's weird seeing my belly button getting less deep too. Pretty soon it will be popping out! haha
Most women have a glucose screening test (also called a glucose challenge test or GCT) between now and 28 weeks. I actually have this scheduled for May 31. This test checks for gestational diabetes, a pregnancy-related high-blood-sugar condition. It's not going to be a fun appointment from what I hear (lots of time spent just sitting there for hours and drinking some yucky orange-soda-without-the-carbonation-like stuff and then getting poked with needles). Yay! Not.
As of this week, they say to "turn on the radio and sway to the music." With his sense of movement well developed by now, Ryder can feel me dance. I actually put on some music and danced around the house one day while I held onto my tummy. Our first mommy/son dance :)
And now that he's more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound (about as much as a large mango), I have been able to see him squirm underneath my clothes. I laid on the couch one day and felt some kicks, so I got out my phone and took a little video :) It's hard to see the kicks since they aren't really close together and you kind of have to know where on my stomach to watch, but it's fun to see my tummy twitch when he kicks :)
In other news, blood vessels in Ryder's lungs are developing to prepare for breathing, and the sounds that his increasingly keen ears pick up are preparing him for entry into the outside world. Loud noises that become familiar now — such as the dogs barking or the roar of the vacuum cleaner — probably won't faze him when he hears them outside the womb.
Here is what Ryder might be looking like these days:
Ryder has been quite the wiggle worm lately. He is kicking me a whole lot more and he's kind of getting on a schedule too. I feel him in the morning around 11:00am and then he's pretty quiet until about 3:00pm and sometimes starts moving around more in the evening. I hope he's a good baby and will get on a schedule for me when he's actually here!
Russell and I got to enjoy a massage together earlier this week since our 2 year wedding anniversary was on Monday the 25th (our 10 year dating anniversary was the next day - I'm so glad I've had him by my side for so long!). That was so awesome haha. The first prenatal massage I got wasn't really that enjoyable since I had to lay on my side, but the lady had a pillow with a cutout for my belly so I was able to lay on my stomach. It was so nice!
As for baby developments, at around 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and probably somewhere at around 1 pound, Ryder is starting to look like a miniature newborn. His lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and he's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath his gums. His eyes have formed, but his irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside my womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers his body and the deep wrinkles on his skin, which he'll sport until he adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside his belly, his pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.
Here is what Ryder might look like this week. Starting to look like a real little person:
Wow, so I'm 21 weeks now! I can't believe that my whole pregnancy is already over half-way done. It is really flying by. I thought it would never end at the beginning when I was feeling so sick all the time. During week 21 we finally gave our little guy a name and started feeling some pretty powerful kicks!
As you may already know, the boys on Russell's side of the family have RCA initials, so keeping with that tradition, we are naming our boy Ryder Cole :) I love it! He certainly is growing a lot now, and I'm getting bigger at a really fast rate. No stretch marks yet tho, so that's good! Keep your fingers crossed for me that I don't get any!
One night after Ryder finally started going by his real name instead of Tiddle (bitter-sweet lol), I was lying on the couch and started to feel him kicking away. I told Russell and he put his hand on my lower belly and Ryder kicked him hard three times! It was so cool! I had felt little flutters and slightly distinguishable movements up until now, but he really gave us a good kick that time! I was so glad that Russell got to feel him! We were both so happy. It was like our first thing that we did as a whole family hehe :)
Right about now on average, Ryder should be about 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. I can definitely start to feel like he's going to be a soccer player like his daddy with all the kicking and nudging he's been doing. In other developments, his eyebrows and lids are present now.
As for me, I'm feeling pretty comfortable these days with the exception of the occasional leg cramp. Funny story about that...I woke up in the middle of the night with a KILLER charlie horse in my left calf and it hurt so bad that I was kind of yelling for help from Russell to rub it out for me. Well, he instantly woke up and attempted to help, but he had been lying on his arm and it had fallen asleep. He could barely move it, and was trying so hard to help and I was laughing and crying out in pain at the same time haha. Leg cramps are pretty normal about now too, and they are pretty annoying to wake up to in the middle of the night. At least Russell provides some comic relief for me when I'm in distress :)
Here is a picture of what Ryder might look like about now:
A TON has happened since I posted last. We found out the sex of little Tiddle finally!
Last time I left you, we were getting ready to meet our little one in Hi-Def and finally find out if Tiddle is a boy or a girl. Tuesday morning, April 12, bright and early we made our way up to Arlington Perinatal Associates (which is in the same hospital where I'll be delivering) for our appointment. We anxiously waited to be called in and then were brought into a large room with a huge flatscreen on the wall where we would get to see the ultrasound. The technician came in got me all ready to go. It was weird, because they put that jelly stuff on your belly which is normally freezing, but she said, "Okay, now this might be kind of warm." Haha and it was! That was refreshing :)
She placed the wand thing on my stomach and immediately found the little face and head. She showed us the brain and all of the different chambers, then moved to the face where we saw some amazing views of the eyes and nose (the baby TOTALLY has by nose by the way), then down to a view of an arm that was held up and kind of cradling the head. She then moved down to the chest and the beating heart, pumping away. She zoomed in on the heart beat and we could heart it pulsing along at about 150bpm. Then the tech showed us the back and all of the little ribs and spine that are now in place. It is so surreal to see all of that when last time we had an ultrasound all we could see was a little blob on the screen. Then it was down to the tummy where we saw a black spot that, the tech explained, is full of fluid that the baby has began to swallow and process thru its body. Then she moved down and crossed over the bottom area. She didn't stop there for long, but Russell and I both caught a glimpse of what we knew were little boy parts! Russell sqeezed my hand with excitement, but the tech kept going down the rest of the body to the legs and feet. This baby has exact replicas of Russell's feet :) The tech had a hard time keeping the camera on them because they were so wiggly. She finally got a shot of them where we could see little toes and then they went back to wiggling.
She moved back around again and stopped between the legs. Sure enough, what we thought we saw was there. Plain as day. Little boy parts!! She asked us if we wanted to guess at what it was, and we both laughed and said together, "boy!" She then proceeded to show us more of the body and turned on a view of the body where we could see the blood flowing from the umbilical cord thru the baby's body. That was so crazy. And it made me think how incredible it is that my blood is flowing thru me, then thru this little life growing inside of me.
Here is the video that we got from the doctor. There was no sound on it, so I kind of gave commentary throughout the whole thing:
After all of that, the doctor came in and told us that our little boy looked great and had no signs of any diseases or anything like that. He said that the heart was beating just fine and he looked healthy as could be :)
Here are a few pictures that the ultrasound tech took for us:
The one of the face from straight on is kind of creepy looking! haha. I love this little guy so much already and I can't wait to meet him!
So a few days after the ultrasound we hit the 20 week point. At our appointment, he weighed in at 11 ounces. The tech didn't tell us how long he was, but the average length right about now is around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of his head to his bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, he's measured from head to toe.)
He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).
As for how I'm developing, at the 20 week mark I'm officially half way! My uterus is about at the top of my belly button and I've gained around 10 lbs.
Here's about what the baby looks like at this week:
Hello all :) I have been really busy and just plain pooped the past couple of weeks, so I've been kind of behind on my posting, but I finally have some time to catch up!
As of the 18th week (April 1), Tiddle was about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and weighed almost 7 ounces. At that time, he/she was busy flexing its arms and legs — movements that I'm pretty sure I've started to notice more and more. I have felt little flutters here and there, but I'm not totally sure if that's the baby moving or not. His/her blood vessels are visible through thin skin, and the ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from its head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around the nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he/she's born. If we're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If we're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from us during an ultrasound. I sure hope the little one isn't shy when we go in for our ultrasound!
Our appointment to see the doctor and find out what we are having is THIS TUESDAY! I am soooo excited I can hardly stand it :) In a couple of days, Tiddle will have a real name hehe. The first appointment (when we will have our ultrasound) is going to be at 7:45 am in Arlington at the hospital where I'll be delivering, then it's over to the Mansfield office for a follow up with my doctor at 1:15 pm. They said that we can bring a DVD and they'll put the whole sono on it for us, I can't wait!
As of yesterday, I was 19 weeks along and can tell I've grown significantly since last week. If you look at the difference in my belly pics from last week to this week (below), you can definitely tell. About this time, our baby's sensory development is exploding! His/Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that he/she may be able to hear my voice now, so I might turn into one of those crazy pregnant ladies you see talking to her belly :) Tiddle now weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. His/Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of the body now. The kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on the scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on its skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.
In the past week I've also realized that I'm hungry WAY more often than I normally have been. I still haven't had any weird cravings I guess, other than when I had to leave work yesterday to go satisfy my need for a lunchable! haha. And for all of you moms out there, gotta love that round ligament pain. There are ligaments that stretch to support the growing weight of the uterus, and they sometimes cause shooting pain in my stomach when I move really sharply. The other day I was lying in bed and Russell made me laugh at something, which made my stomach instantly hurt due to the jabbing pain, which caused a loud "OUCH!" from me, which made me laugh harder, which confused Russell, which made me laugh EVEN harder! It was definitely funny, but I was glad when I finally quit laughing and hurting haha. So here are my pics for this week. The first two are what the baby is looking like over the past couple of weeks (you can tell it's getting cramped in there):
Week 18:
Week 19: And here are my latest belly pics. Starting to really grow now!
I'm 26, happily married to my high school sweetheart, Russell. Our 3rd anniversary is coming up on April 25th. First and foremost, I am a mommy of one sweet little boy and have another on the way. I am also a systems analyst and webmaster for Networking Results, Inc in Arlington, TX.
And here are my latest belly pics. Starting to really grow now!
