Week 13

Week 13 of fetal development:

- Baby is 3 inches long and weighs 1 ounce
- Bone replaces cartilage and ribs develop
- Face matures: eyes grow closer together
- Baby begins to pee amniotic fluid
- Liver is making bile and spleen filters blood cells
- Baby girls already have 2 million eggs in their ovaries at this time
- Plantar and grasp reflexes are working

At the end of the first trimester, all the major organs have been established. During the second trimester, they will continue to grow and develop.

The image above was taken today at the ultrasound used to screen for Down's Syndrome (everything looks good so far!). This is not a great profile shot, but I chose it because you can see Champ's fist up the air around 2 o'clock. It's like he's giving us a "Rock On!" sign. (I use the pronoun "he" just for ease, but I may just as well use she. We'll be finding out the sex in 2 more months.) While we were watching, we saw Champ sucking on her fingers (see image just below) quite a bit and even lick her umbilical cord (according to the tech, though I would beg to differ- eeww!).


We also saw her push with her feet to a standing position (oh my god, there's something standing in my uterus!) for a few moments. The one below is a good one of Champ sitting on his legs.





The tech had me do some coughing to try to get Champ into different positions when I noticed a movement that looked like hiccuping and she told us it was Champ "practicing her lungs." She said that most baby's do this a little later on and it was a good sign that Champ was doing it so early. On the way home, Kyle and I then talked about how funny it is when parents brag about their child's "advanced" behavior, but I was still secretly stoked that our little one is moving right along!

Today's visit was cool because Champ looks so much more like a human baby than a baby alien (at least, I omitted any images that would suggest otherwise). I was also totally overwhelmed by how this little creature is floating and bobbing and sucking its fingers inside my belly! Watching Champ respond to my coughing or the pressing of the ultrasound probe made me realize just how intimately our bodies are connected. Champ feels most of the things I feel. And pretty soon I'll be feeling him move around, too. Seeing it all transpire just made me want to cry with the joy of it.

As for me, I've been feeling significantly better. This is partly because I'm out of the first trimester and partly because I had spring break last week about could finally catch up on sleep (nearly 11 hours every night!). Any queasy feelings I had before are mostly gone, although I can't say I'm enjoying eating quite as much as before pregnancy (despite eating plenty more!). My energy level is up so much that last week I did some landscaping, re-caulked our 3 bathtubs, and did a bunch of spring cleaning. My pants are starting to fit a little tighter, but luckily my past fashions have included pants much too big for me, so I shouldn't need maternity clothes for another month or so.

This month is my last month of medical school. Wow. I'm on a "sub-internship" or "sub-I" in which I essentially "play intern." I get to pick up my own patients and act as their primary physician contact. I'll be working closely with the 2nd year resident and, of course, the attending so I don't do anything too crazy! But truly, this is my last chance to make some mistakes and ask dumb questions while still a student wearing a short white coat. While I'm excited to graduate and finally call myself doctor, I also want to appreciate my last student moments. I feel like I'm reading the last chapter of a good book when I slow my reading down just to enjoy and savor for a bit the fiction that has become part of my background thoughts.