Week 12

I had an appointment with Dr. Placide this morning.  It was the first time I got to hear our baby's heartbeat.  What a great sound!  His/her heart rate was about 161 bpm.  My appointment was really quick.  Because I had no questions, after checking the heartbeat, I was pretty much done.  My next appointment won't be for six weeks now.

Although Dr. Placide doesn't think I could be feeling the baby yet, I'm wondering if maybe I have.  Last Sunday (11wk 2d), I definitely felt a flutter type feeling and then again two more times this week.  Maybe it's just my uterus expanding or moving.  We'll see if it starts happening more before I say for sure whether it's the baby or not.

My nausea has gotten better this week thankfully.  I've been feeling sick the last two days but I think I'm just getting a cold or something.  I'm still cold frequently and can be pretty moody.  But I'm also less tired than I was five weeks ago.  I think my chest is starting to get larger also.  It was actually hurting the other day.  I suppose it knows what to do to get ready to nurse again.

Our baby weighs between 1/3 and 1/2 ounces.  By now, nearly all of our baby's organs, structures and systems are fully formed. The heart has begun to pump several quarts of blood through his/her body every day. Our baby has also begun to develop nerves and a spinal cord, allowing him/her to feel some types of pain. While our baby's brain is not the same size it will be at birth, it does have the same structure. Fingers and toes have separated and hair and nails continue to grow. Also, the external genitals can now show definite signs of male and female gender. Before, where there was only reflex movement, our baby now moves spontaneously and at random, although his/her movements are still too slight to be felt.