Weekly Baby Update: Week 7

Today starts week 7.This week, baby is 10,000 times the size he/she was at conception. That's amazing, especially when you think about the fact that baby is only the size of a blueberry this week. Baby is growing quickly, especially the brain which has 100 new cells being generated every minute. Baby still has a tail and is still considered an embryo. The tail, an extension of the tailbone, is shrinking but everything else is growing rapidly. Baby has the start of arms and legs and has eyelids which are partially covering baby's eyes. Believer it or not, at this week, baby has some color in his/her eyes. Organ-wise, baby has a liver which is currently making red blood cells until his/her bone marrow forms to take this over. Baby also has a pancreas and appendix, both hemispheres of his/her brain, and baby's intestine has a loop which is part of the umbilical cord and has vessels to deliver oxygen.

My uterus has now doubled in size from where it started, I have 10% more blood than before I was pregnant. This is another reason why pregnant women need to go to the bathroom so often. And yes, I'm still finding myself going to the bathroom rather frequently.

Additionally, I haven't had morning sickness per se. What I've had has been an overall nausea that makes it difficult to find things to eat. I eat something, feel happy with it, then the thought of eating that same thing again, makes me nauseated. For example, last night, I had half and artichoke and two ribs. I ate one rib and by the second one, baby said, "NO!" So I ate one rib, and half an artichoke. Fortunately, baby didn't hate the artichoke, just the rib. The other night, it was the chicken and mushrooms and coleslaw. I ate most of the chicken and mushrooms but baby decided that wasn't yummy either, halfway through. Worse yet, if I get too hungry, I end up feeling more nauseated. Which really does not help.

Baby has also decided black olives are evil. And fresh crab. And not so hot on shrimp either. I'm sure this makes Working Man so happy as he hates seafood. And my mom will be thrilled that I hate olives now...for now...I hope. I really liked olives. Putting them on my fingers...anyway...

I'm still really tired. I wake up tired, go to bed tired, I'm at work tired. My apologies to my co-workers and clients. I'm tired.

I weighed myself a couple days ago and I've lost weight. This isn't abnormal for the first trimester. There are multiple reasons for this. One, usually moms have terrible morning sickness so they aren't digesting as much. I don't have this problem. However, my body is putting a ton of energy into building baby. As such, I've lost four pounds. I'm sure my body will make up for this later.

This week, Working Man and I have our first ultrasound. It's probably too early to hear the heartbeat but I keep hoping. I'm very much looking forward to making sure baby is in the uterus too, and not in a tube. It's a scary thought, that is.

I'm sure you'll see the ultrasound soon enough.

FFR