Ah, Week 15

The below picture is not of our baby. But it does give a good pic of what a baby looks like at 15 weeks.



So as you can see the little one is doing quite nice, again not ours, but a good view of his/her progress.

Your baby may have developed the habit of sucking his or her thumb! The skin is very thin and you can see the blood vessels clearly underneath. Your baby is about 70 grams. The scalp hair pattern is developing. And the heart is pumping about 25 quarts of blood a day. This will increase to about 300 at term.

This week Charissa has grown more aggitated with her clothing which refuses to cooperate properly. I blame the clothes as well. Outside of the fabric fiasco things are going well for her. She still has days when she does not feel good but even then she has more energy then she used to.

I have been taking some mini seminary classes at the church which I have truly enjoyed. I also tease the dog a great deal, which I too, truly enjoy. You can see him below.

In his usual state: Not cleaning house but instead inclined to lounge on my wife and couch.



I am putting in another cool pic that I found. This was taken during week 8 but wanted to add it in here as well. Its Charissa and her mom. We will get more "tummy" picks up soon for everyone.

Week 14

Whats up with the baby you ask?

The baby is now about 12.5 cms or 4.92 inches. Your baby is now producing urine and actually urinating into the amniotic fluid. It also can practice "breathing" the amniotic fluid in and out of its lungs. Amniotic fluid is an amazing substance. It completely regenerates itself every three hours. We do know that it is partially composed of urine from the baby, but where amniotic fluid in general is made we are not sure. Modern medicine still has some surprises left.

So our baby can pee and breathe. Two staples in life. Way to go baby!

We are doing well. Charissa started back to school and has been blessed with a great team around her. She now goes to bed earlier than before but the extra sleep helps alot. I am doing good and have continued to stay on top of my project list around the house.

Life is going along as usual but the excitement of our first baby is still there. We enjoy going down the baby aisle of the store, reading magazines on parenthood, random discussions on discipline over a taco bell dinner, you know, happy future parents.

Please continue to pray for Charissa's strength and the health of our urinating baby.

Lucky 13

Hard to tell who's carring the baby isn't?

Its Charissa still with that blessing. I just carry extra weight. Its a good trade off and a new way of caring for pregnant women. She will grow the baby and all the extra weight she needs to gain I will hold that for her. No need to put that much weight on her frame. Very loving I know, its the least I could do.

We heard the heartbeat yesterday. No pics to show unfortunetly but did have a great time hearing the very fast heartbeat. We will go back in three weeks. Below is another update on the baby's growth.

There are a lot of things going on this week! All twenty teeth have formed and are waiting (Teething is yet to come!). Your baby approximately weighs in at 1 ounce (28.3 grams). Consider that the placenta weighs about an ounce now as well. Your baby's intestines are migrating from the umbilical cord into his or her abdomen. The villi are also forming in the intestines, these help in peristaltic movements and digestion. The pancreas of your little one is even secreting insulin!

Week 12

The growth is....

While your baby's brain is not the same size it will be at birth, it does have the same structure. Bile is being secreted by this time. S/he weighs about 14 grams and is approximately 3.54 inches in total length. Your baby has its reflexes and also practice movements in the digestive tract. All of this in preparation for extrauterine life.

We are excited to see Charissa starting to get more and more energy with each passing day. I am now talking to the baby but can not tell if its listening to me or not. So the baby is in time out for while for disobeying me.

I have to confess that I lied about our doctors visit. It is next week. So you will have to wait another week for ultrasound pictures. Sorry to dissapoint. I too will go in time out for a bit.

Not much to report other than we are doing good. Its fun to think about being parents. Names have not been a big conversation for us. We are waiting to find out the sex of the baby and then I think we will go name crazy. We will only reveal the name for a monetary donation. So start saving you paychecks now.

Love to you all.

Week 11

How our baby is growing...

If you have seen pictures of babies at this stage you will notice that the head is about 1/2 of the body size. This will change as the baby grows. The iris will begin to develop this week and finger nails appear! Your baby weighs about 7 grams.


We are doing very well. Charissa is slowly feeling the energy coming back to her now. She goes on walks with Scooter and I almost every night now. We both have missed her on our walks. Unfortunetly for Scooter, our pace is slower with the pregnant woman. But we are watching what we eat to ensure a healthy Charissa and healthy baby.

I am trying to tie up all the loose ends and projects before due date. Little painting, little mending and some house love while I can. I want to have the last few months of the pregnancy be as stress free as I can. Not that I can plan life, but I can try.

Thank you all for your prayers and please do not stop. We stil have 6 months to go!!

Next week is week 12. End of the first trimester and probably another ultrasound pick for us all.

Week 10

We won't get another ultrasound for another 3 weeks but I will keep posting updates every week to keep you informed. Charissa is still taking lots of naps and eating lots of snacks. Its like kindergarden all over again.

The baby now enters it's fetal period. The average size is approximately 27-35 mm crown to rump length (CRL), or 1.06-1.38 inches. S/he weighs in at 4 grams, or 4 paper clips. Tiny toes have formed. The eyes are largely open, but the eyelids are beginning to fuse, and will stay that way until 25-27 weeks. External genitalia is beginning to differentiate. External ears are completely formed, as well as the upper lip. The biggest accomplishment this week is the disappearance of the tail!

Week 9

We went to the doctor yesterday. The baby is healthy. Charissa is healthy. And I think real excitement has occurred. Oh we have been before, but it was more victory in getting pregnant and now its excitement about my Son/Daughter growing in my beautiful wife. Now that is joy at its finest.

The two pictures below are our sonogram. The first one is with some arrows to help out. The second one is another shot. This is week 9. Below is from a website I copied and pasted to give you an idea what's going on in the picture.

Your Baby's Development

The tail at the bottom of your baby's spinal cord has shrunk and almost disappeared by this week. In contrast, your baby's head has been growing — it's quite large compared with the rest of the body and it curves onto the chest. By this week, your baby measures about 0.6 to 0.7 inches (16 to 18 millimeters) from crown to rump and weighs around 0.1 ounces (3 grams). The tip of the nose has developed and can be seen in profile, and flaps of skin over the eyes have begun to shape into eyelids, which will become more noticeable in the next few weeks.

The digestive system continues to develop. The anus is forming, and the intestines are growing longer. In addition, internal reproductive features, such as testes and ovaries, start to form this week.

Your baby may make some first movements this week as muscles develop. If you had an ultrasound now, those movements might even be visible, but you won't be able to feel them for several more weeks."

More from John

Now the amazing thing is the last paragraph. The movement. We actually saw it. When the doctor showed Charissa the monitor to see the baby, as if on cue, it began to dance a little. And yes, I say dance not move. Our baby has rhythm.

Our Dancing Baby

If you like you can click on the picture to enlarge the view and save it as well. More updates to come. And please try the link above.