avocados and onions

four months down, five to go and i am officially getting a pooch o belly. although not much different than the pooch o belly that has been there since forever. it may actually be just fat. it's difficult to tell.

also. i said goodbye to my happy red room where i spent countless hours putting off studying, pretending to study and, sometimes, actually studying. it is now a wee haven in all of it's slightly blue glory...

peectures:

we get to see the wee on monday at an ultrasound appointment where we will not find out the gender even if we want to. no weak moments. pictures, hopefully, to follow...

and of course the weekly update of wee happenings (times two because i'm lazy sometimes):

Week Sixteen

• Fat begins to form underneath skin, providing your baby with insulation (and character which is what i call fat) for the coming months.
• Did you know that both baby and placenta are now about the same size? herschel can tell you all about the placenta. he's a regular horn of plenty of knowledge.
  
• Your little one has reached 4.57 inches (11.6cm) and approximately 3.53 ounces (100gm) about the size of an avocado.
  
• His head and neck are held straighter now.
• This is a week of "mights!" You might hear the tiny thumps of his heartbeat with an external monitor now. The genitals are developed sufficiently that an experienced sonographer might be able to determine if your baby is a boy or a girl.
• Her heart is pumping as much as 6 gallons of blood a day and beats at a rate about double your heartrate.
• Sucking, swallowing and blinking are now evident
  
• Your baby has learned to breathe! This is apparent from the regular movements of his chest. Inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid help the lungs to develop and grow.

Week Seventeen

• By week 17, your baby weighs about 4.97 ounces (140gm) and is 5.12 inches (13cm) long, about the size of a large onion.
  
• He or she has a much more normal "human" appearance now. She holds her head more erect and her body and limbs are longer in proportion to her head.
• Pads are forming on his tiny fingertips and toes. Soon those individual swirls and whorls will be apparent.
• Her eyes are looking forward now, but they are still firmly closed.
• Meconium (composed of products of cell loss, digestive secretion and swallowed amniotic fluid), is accumulating in the bowel. This black gooey substance will become your baby's first poop!
  
• The umbilical cord is growing thicker and stronger and continues to rush blood and nutrients to your growing baby.
• If your child is male the prostate begins to develop.
• Her skeleton is tranforming from cartilage to bone. The bones remain flexible to make the journey through the birth canal easier.