15 Weeks

I am finally 15 weeks pregnant. In two more weeks, my doctor may be able to tell if I am having a boy or a girl!!! I am so excited. This weekend I’ve been feeling great, I went to the mall to do some maternity clothes shopping. I wasn’t all that excited, I am buying bigger clothes. When I went to the doctor, I was weighed and I lost 4 pounds from my last visit 5 weeks ago. You know its funny that I am losing weight and my belly is still getting bigger. I tease Chris that I should get pregnant more often, just so I can shed some pounds. My doctor did say that my baby measures 1 week older than what I really am. I really hope I don’t have a big baby.

Guess what I am eating this morning….pickles! I hate pickles, but for some very odd reason I was craving them. Lately, I have noticed that I am breaking out more on my face and on my shoulders. I usually don’t breakout as much. I have also noticed my hair falling out too. This weekend, I spent most of the time playing card games with my parents and I think I felt my baby move. It sort of felt like a punch in my stomach, but the books that I have been reading- these punches are sometimes mistaken for gas. I’d like to think it was the baby. Anyway here is an update on the development of my baby.

Week 15
Fetal Development:

If you have an ultrasound now, you may notice your babysucking his/her thumb. The bones are getting harder each day. The baby’s skin is very thin and transparent; you can see blood vessels through the skin. Lanugo, a very fine hair, covers the body and will continue growing on the baby until around the 26th gestational week of pregnancy. Maternal Changes: Your uterus will begin rising past your hipbones any time now. You can feel it about three to four inches below your navel. During your appointments, your care provider will be measuring “fundal height” to make sure your baby is growing consistently and adequately. Fundal height is the distance from the top of the uterus (fundus) to the pubic bone.

Boy or Girl? Should We Find Out?

If you have an ultrasound in the next few weeks, the technician may be able to make an “educated guess” at the gender of your baby. (Keep in mind, gender determination via ultrasound is not 100% reliable and is only as good as the person doing the scan.) If you have an amniocentesis, gender can be reliably determined via the chromosomes. Neither of these tests are performed (or should be performed) just to find out the baby’s sex.If your care provider recommends these tests for various reasons, ask yourself if you really want to know your baby’s gender. The majority of parents nowadays do want to know, but if you love a special surprise, it’s perfectly okay to tell the tech/care provider that you do NOT want to know the gender. Read what other StorkNet readers said about this

Ideas for Dad:

Make sure you hug mom often. Research tells us that the more hugs mom gets, the more she’ll hug the baby (and you too)!

Inspirational Thoughts:

A baby is someone just the size of a hug. ~Anonymous

Reading:

What to Expect When You’re Expectingby Arlene Eisenberg, Heidi E. Murkoff, and Sandee E. Hathaway, published by Workman Publishing Co, 2002