14 Weeks and Growing!

Hello All,
It's Natalie. Wanted to fill you in on what is happening with us. Friday I went to the doctor and everything is going well. I heard the heartbeat and it was beating about 150 times a minute. I love hearing that sound! It's one of the best sounds in the world. Hearing it makes it so much more real that there is someone growing in there. I'm still not showing right now, but I know I will have to get into new clothes sometime soon. The nurse practitioner said I should be showing in about three weeks. We'll start posting pictures once I start showing.

I have started to feel a little bit of movement. It feels like a butterfly fluttering. You have to pay really close attention to it, or you'll miss it. Here's how he or she is growing right now. I got this from babycenter.com if you want to check out some more information. We don't know if it's a boy or girl yet. Our appointment is October 30th, I'll be 18 weeks along. We're super excited! So is the family!

Head to bottom, your baby's 3 1/2 inches long — about the length of a lemon — and weighs about 1 1/2 ounces. Her body's growing faster than her head, which now sits upon a more well-defined neck. By the end of this week, her arms will have lengthened and will be in proportion to the rest of her body. (Her legs still have some growing to do, though.) She's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair all over her body (called lanugo). Her liver starts secreting bile this week, a sign that it's already functioning properly, and her spleen starts contributing to the production of red blood cells. She's also producing and discharging urine into the amniotic fluid, a normal process that she'll keep up until birth. You still can't feel your baby's movements, but her hands and feet (which are now half an inch long) are more flexible and active. Thanks to brain impulses, her little facial muscles are getting a workout as she squints, frowns, and grimaces. She can grasp now, too, and she may be able to suck her thumb.

We purchased our first item for our baby. We got a crib! It's beautiful and I got a great deal on it! We'll post some pics on that too. It's solid and a dark espresso color. We've been clearing out the second bedroom, which will be our nursery. It's hard to imagine the finished product with it such a wreck right now, but it will happen.

Thanks for your support and your prayers. I am feeling much better. Very little trips to the bathroom, and I'm able to eat. I've been warned that I'll want to eat everything in about three weeks. I'm ready for it! I appreciate taste so much more now. Right now I'm stuck on chocolate milk and potato chips and french onion dip. Not all together, but they taste good right now.
Love you all.