Week 17, Dec. 11- Dec. 17

Thursday, Dec. 11th
I went to the Old Navy down at Southcenter to get some more maternity pants. Wanted to make the trip before the stores got even crazier as we get closer to Christmas. I got a pair of pants and a couple of others that are hard to describe, but cute actually. I didn't like spending money on clothes I won't get to wear for very long though.

I think I jumped the gun on yesterday's entry, where I said I thought I'd be seeing some changes in my belly soon. I still think it'll be much sooner rather than later, but the hard belly seems to be a first thing in the morning phenomenon. By breakfast I feel all soft again. It'll happen soon enough I suppose. I'm very impatient.

Baby Update: During this entire week, the baby grows rapidly, with growth setting the stage for development later this month. The baby's weight will increase six times during this fourth month of pregnancy. Even then, the baby will only weigh 6 ounces, not even half a pound. - "The Pregnancy Journal" by A. Christine Harris, Ph. D.

Friday, Dec. 12th
It's Friday evening (7:30 to be exact) and I just realized that today went by without a phone call from my doctor's office. Which is a very good thing. The nurse said the quad test (prenatal screening) would only take a couple of days and they would call *only* if there was something wrong. So I think we're in the clear. Yea! The systic fibrosis takes longer... another 2 weeks about, and then we should get a letter that tells us how both tests went. So far this little baby is in the clear!

Almost forgot to mention that the crib arrived today. It'll be quite some time before it comes out of the box and is assembled, but it's here. yea!

Baby Update: Blood travels with considerable force through the umbilical cord, giving the cord the same kind of tension as a water-filled hose. The cord resists knotting and tends to straighten itself out as the baby moves about. - "The Pregnancy Journal" by A. Christine Harris, Ph. D.

Saturday, Dec. 13th
Baby Update: With the help of the placenta and the umbilical cord, the baby's system is operating as it will after it's born. The baby has its own circulation, pumped by the heart, which at this developmental stage, pumps the equivalent of 25 quarts of blood. - "The Pregnancy Journal" by A. Christine Harris, Ph. D.

Sunday, Dec. 14th
Baby Update: The baby is getting bigger this week. It is also adding to its list of reflex behaviors. Reflexes are the automatic, unlearned behaviors a baby is born with. Most reflexes have survival value for the infant: blinking helps keep foreign objects out of their eyes and keeps their eyes moist; sucking and swallowing provide for the ingestion of nutrients. Right now, the baby is practicing all three of these reflex behaviors: sucking, swallowing, and blinking. It is also working on incorporating some additional reflexes, so that by the time it is born, the average full term baby will display more than seventy different reflex behaviors.- "The Pregnancy Journal" by A. Christine Harris, Ph. D.

Monday, Dec. 15th
Before I get started I have a note from Isaac to share with you. He says that he's feeling a little left out and that I'm getting all of the attention. So if you could send him a little note that would be great. I warned him I'd put this on the site. There is all ready one kid in this little family. :)

After my false thought that my stomach was coming in last week, I think that after this last weekend I'm seeing some changes. They aren't drastic enough yet for any one but Isaac and I to notice, but still exciting for us. We also discovered that these noises that we were hearing on the doppler weren't actually my stomach processing food, but the baby moving around. We got a cd from the company we are renting our doppler from and I listened to it again recently. I'll try and get a good recording of it sometime so I can share it with you. As far as I can tell, the baby is more active during the evening listening sessions than the morning ones. I still can't feel it move yet. That could be as late as 22 weeks (I'm nearly 17 now).

My abdomen area has been feeling pretty weird lately. I'm pretty sure it's related to the quickly growing and moving uterus. All kinds of aches and pains. Woke up this morning at 5, but I'm not sure if it was my stomach or the muscles around it. I hope to start taking pictures of my stomach and at the end create a time-elapse movie so we can all watch it grow. That should be cool.

Here is a link to Baby Center that gives details the baby's development at 17 weeks. The baby is now 5 inches long and 5 ounces in weight.

And here is this Monday's heartbeat sound.

Baby Update: During this month, the baby grows so much that it reaches half the length it will attain by birth. - "The Pregnancy Journal" by A. Christine Harris, Ph. D.

Tuesday, Dec. 16th
Baby Update: During this month, the baby and the placenta are nearly equal in size, but the baby will soon grow larger than the placenta. - "The Pregnancy Journal" by A. Christine Harris, Ph. D.

Wednesday, Dec. 17th
More weird dreams these past few nights. Last night's dream had me pregnant and returning to college classes. I found myself in a choir room and excited that I was going to get to sing. Then I was told by a fellow choirmate not to go upstairs because there were zombies up there, but then all of a sudden there were zombies all around us. Then one of the girls told me that the male students when they became zombies actually looked like monsters, whereas when the female students turned in to zombies they remained looking like normal people, so you never knew who was a zombie and who wasn't.

None of my pregnancy books talk about dreams that *aren't* related to the baby. And though I was pregnant in the dream, I think the dream had very little to do with the baby. I dream like this every night. I should start keeping a dream journal. And usually I have multiple dreams in a night. After the zombie dream I had a dream I was in Las Vegas (we're vacationing there mid-January). Don't really remember what was going on in that dream though. Just remember cruising the strip. :)

Baby Update: This was a week of rapid, whole-body growth for the baby. Existing structures became larger and more well-developed, but no new structures were formed. - "The Pregnancy Journal" by A. Christine Harris, Ph. D.