How big is baby?

Your little embryo has now officially graduated to fetus-hood. Adding to the excitement, a Doppler ultrasound device might be able to pick up the beating heart. With basic physical structures in place and increasingly distinct facial features, baby is kind of starting to look like... well... a baby!
By now, your baby is being nourished through the placenta, a flat, spongy organ covered with wavy masses of capillary-filled tissue called chorionic villi. Nutrients pass through this tissue to the embryo, while wastes are carried away. The placenta and chorionic villi are made up of the same genetic material as the baby, and can offer important information about birth defects such as Down syndrome, Tay-Sachs disease, and cystic fibrosis.

Our first dr appointment!

It went well! I have to admit I was beyond nervous/scared/freaking out/happy and everything else in between. I was so scared that we would get sent home with an appointment for a d&c or something. But, we got to the dr's like 45 minutes early. I got in and found out I haven't gained anything yet. Could have dropped a pound or two since I was last weighed there. MIL's scale said I was 190-some after we told them a month ago, but that could have been off. Hard to know. The nurse sat us down and started telling us what to expect from this appointment and the next one. I was EXCITED to hear we would get an u/s. Internal, but its still a freaking u/s. When the dr came in, she did the pelvic exam and freaked me out like you wouldn't believe. she looks and says "Oh My God." I'm thinking, is the baby ok? is my cervix open? am I m/cing again? But she looks at the nurse and says "That's a big uterus for 8 weeks!" THANK GOD! LOL
She gave us a few photos (1 is 2-d and 2 are 3-d) and showed us what is what on each. Then we heard that amazing little heart beat. 169 bpm! Such a precious sound! The more she poked around trying to get different angles of the baby, the more she poked my bladder into needing to pee and the baby was starting to bounce around and try to cover its eye spots. She then measured the baby and we are actually measuring a week ahead! She changed my edd, but until we see any other proof, I'm keeping myself on the 28th instead of the 22nd for now.
She said she won't do another u/s until 20w, but we'll see if she changes her mind at all. Adam REALLY liked both the nurse and the dr. The only downer part of the whole appointment was when I went to get my blood drawn. The nurse asked if it was our first and how long we had been trying. I told her 14 long months. She looked at me and said "my husband and I have been trying for 5 years." Before leaving, I told her, "I want to hear you are in my position next time I need to see you again!" she smiled and we went about our ways.
Reading the book they gave us (more like a parenting manual for new parents), I saw that our hospital doesn't do epis very often. only in special cases. I have to find another pain med! LOL
We also got to surprise MIL with photos. Adam made sure not to tell her that we got photos so she would be happy shocked when we gave her a copy of them. She smacked Adam when she saw we had those for her. then she stared at them for the next hour! Even FIL was beaming looking at them! So next time we are at their house, MIL wants to borrow her sister's doppler to hear the hb. I've gotta say, I'm interested in hearing it again too!
Before the appointment, anyone who knew all thought "its a girl" and I was the only one thinking boy. Well, after they see the photos, they are starting to change their tune a bit. One even said "I thought girl before but there's a boy vibe coming from the photo. I'm willing to bet you are right" I couldn't believe how many people (EVEN OTHER MOMS!) didn't know you can't really tell sex at 8 weeks! I had to tell them "They don't even try to tell for sure until about 14-20 weeks. I'm not there yet!" Was pretty annoying.
Other than that, I'm just looking forward to garage sales and growing a belly!

How big is baby?

Your baby is growing like mad, putting on about a millimeter every day and continuing to straighten out in the trunk. Though you can't feel it yet, baby is moving those little arms, legs and (now only slightly) webbed fingers and toes like crazy.
Go, baby, go! Your talented child has doubled in size in the past two weeks, and is now approximately three-quarters of an inch long. Body parts that formed in the first few weeks are growing more complex and specialized, including the eyes, limbs, mouth, heart, and brain. Fingers and toes are taking shape, along with the palate and pituitary gland. The eyelids are also forming--until they're complete, the eyes appear open.

WOW. What a week to blow off

So, this week has been a week from hell. My birthday was the worst I've EVER had. Drama, bullshit, feeling sick, can't eat anything, and SERIOUS emotional moments. Poor Adam. I had to keep reassuring him that NONE of it was his fault. Poor guy was doing all he could to keep my mind off all the shit that was upsetting me. Cause really, WHO should be crying for hours on their birthday? I really don't want to go into the details of that day ANY more. I just want to forget it and move along.
In other news, today was a great day. We went to the ILs for Easter. Didn't need to worry about the cat or anything so that was WONDERFUL! When we got there, I was able to eat a little and take a nap. When company starts coming over, they were picking on me (and Adam) for always napping when we are down for the weekend. We hid eggs for the only little one there was and that was so cute because all we needed to do was tell her "Lets go look at Uncle Scott's pretty truck" and she found all the eggs around it. Too cute when she would pick it up, shake it scream "More coins!" and ask where the next was. After dinner, we were all gathered in the spare living room and BSing. ILs, Adam, and I were all looking at each other as if to ask "Should we tell everyone? no one will be able to come together like this for a little while..." so Adam and I gave the go-ahead to MIL. She told FIL "Tell Grandpa". Well, this trips a few triggers as to *something* is going on. So FIL says "Dad!, Guess what? You are going to be a Great Grandpa again!". The look on his face went from WTF, to Well who could it be, to pointing his finger at us and saying "You two?". Imagine how HARD it was to not break out into tears and scream YES! His face lit up like a christmas tree. Then we hear Jeff and his girlfriend in the corner asking "What just happened?" So FIL tells them and they are all "Really? WOW! Congrats!" off in their own little world again. So cute!
So of course everyone is making sure I'm not over exerting myself and all that fun jazz. Not something I'm used to at all! We then called the other side of the family (MIL's side) and told them. Now, there was only a set of grandparents there and an aunt and uncle with their kid. Granny was EXCITED and said "Melissa, guess what?" and Adam and I hear "I KNEW IT! They were pregnant all along weren't they?" Well, The night after telling ILs, Melissa (MIL's sister) called MIL and asked "Are Megan and Adam pg? I had a dream last night we were pg together" and MIL had to say not that I know of. Melissa is the aunt who was trying to get pg for 5 years, was told her one pregnancy was a m/c and thank dear Lord above, the baby didn't m/c. Their daughter is 2 now and they are trying for #2 right now. So cute! So now we have to have dreams that she's pg too so that I have someone to talk babies with for all this. Praying it happens quickly for her this time. Well, we get off the phone with that side and MIL calls her other sister (the one who just became a grandma in march) and told her. She also said "I had a feeling she was pg!" No sooner do we get off the phone with them, FIL says "Call Great Granny and tell her" (Granny's mom). Well, MIL calls and we find out the good news already made it that far! It was so funny. You can tell everyone is really excited for this baby, being its planned and we've had a loss.
I'm pretty excited to see how many people call us in the coming weeks with hearing the news. Still trying to keep it under wraps until at least the appointment on the 20th. Hopefully we can keep it quiet until at least mother's day before saying it to the whole world!
Other than that, its been pretty normal around here. Starting to get used to having to eat before getting in the shower and feeling better all around. Mom also thinks its a Girl cause I'm carrying low and am so bloated that I don't fit into my old pants at all. I'm the only one thinking Boy, but we shall see in a few weeks.

How big is baby?

Baby's brain -- both hemispheres! -- is growing fast, generating about 100 new cells every minute. Arms and legs are emerging as joints start to form, and a permanent set of kidneys (baby's third!) is now in place.
Although she still resembles a tiny alien, your baby's facial features are starting to form. Arms, legs, hands, and feet are taking shape, although they don't yet have fingers and toes. The brain is growing more complex; if you looked through a microscope, it would be clearly visible through the transparent skull. The embryo has started to move in small jerks, although you won't feel these until the fourth month.
Remember a few weeks ago, when you weren't sure if you were pregnant? The symptoms are coming thick and fast now! Nausea, exhaustion, food cravings, mood swings, chronic urination--you may experience all of these, or just a few. Worst of all, unlike in later months when your expanding belly announces your pregnancy to the world, no one is going to offer you a seat on the bus or smile indulgently when you nap through a meeting. Be sure to do special things for yourself now, whether it's hiring a sitter to watch your other children so you can nap, or splurging on a day of beauty at a local spa.

How big is baby?

Growing like crazy, baby is starting to sprout eyes, ears, nose, cheeks and chin. Those little hands and feet- still webbed like paddles- might wiggle by week's end, the heart is beating (almost twice as fast as yours!), and blood is starting to circulate.
A wonderful new sound enters the world this week: your baby's heartbeat. Although still too faint to be picked up by a doctor's stethoscope, it's visible in a sonogram as a tiny, pulsing dot in the middle of your still-transparent embryo's body. From now until birth, it will beat approximately 150 times a minute, twice the average adult heart rate. The rest of the embryo is working hard, too--it will triple in size this week, to about a quarter of an inch long.

There's good news and bad news this week. The good news is that your body is pumping increased amounts of progesterone. This hormone is responsible for inhibiting contractions and building the blood vessels in the uterine wall, creating a safe "nest" where your baby can grow. The bad news is that progesterone slows down the digestive process, causing nausea in as many as two-thirds of pregnant women.

Also known as morning sickness, pregnancy-related nausea can strike at any time of the day or night. When it hits, you may feel slightly queasy, downright miserable, or anywhere in between. Most women find that it lets up by the end of the first trimester, but a few spend their entire pregnancy clutching airsickness bags. If you're starting to feel the pangs, take comfort in the fact that morning sickness has been associated with a lower miscarriage rate.