14 Weeks

Happy Tuesday...Hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!!! Well I have officially entered into the second trimester and the rumors about this trimester are true...kind of :) The second trimester is supposed to be when most expectant mothers start to feel like a normal person again and I have definitely noticed a change in the past week. I am still ready to call it a day by 9 pm but my daytime fatigue has pretty much disappeared and my motivation level has increased significantly. My super sensitive sense of smell is still very much present however the nausea caused by this is beginning to lighten and food is starting to look appealing again. In fact my appetite is BACK! Great for Baby V, unfortunate for my waistline. Oh well I knew that gaining weight was an inevitable part of being pregnant, but I suppose the 6 lbs I lost in the first trimester will give me a nice buffer ;)

Despite still having a bad day or afternoon occasionally, I AM feeling better and I feel like my attitude has improved greatly. I think that the appointment at the midwives office last week helped to ease a lot of fears that I had buried deep down. I have not allowed myself to focus too much on the 'bad stuff', but that doesn't mean the fear of a miscarriage or something else going wrong with me or the baby wasn't in the back of my mind all the time. Now that I have heard his heartbeat and seen how much he has grown, I just feel more at peace with pregnancy. I am finally allowing myself to be completely open to this experience and our child. It's almost as if I had built up a wall, not permitting myself to get too emotionally involved with this pregnancy but the sound of a heartbeat tore that wall down and I'm in love.

So I told myself when we found out that Baby V is most likely a boy that I would refrain from shopping until the 20 week, 100% confirmation appointment. However, I never realized that baby shopping would be so much fun! My mom was out last week and we went a little crazy ;) (I did save my receipts, just in case!)





Love, Love, Love the little overalls and flannel shirt outfit!



Mom and I found this great baby consignment store nearby. On top of the bibs for a buck and the amazing little stocking caps, we also found this bouncer and baby carrier for a steal....love a deal!!!



And Baby V got another care package from Cathy this week which was full of adorable onesies that she made! And FYI, 'Opa' would be Grandpa Schrof ;)

Here is the Week 14 update...This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.



In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.



Lindsey