The most dramatic development this week: Reflexes. Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his toes will curl, his eye muscles will clench, and his mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, your baby will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. His intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into his abdominal cavity about now, and his kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder. From crown to rump, your baby-to-be is just over two inches long (about the size of a lime!) and weighs half an ounce.
Ahh, little baby lime. I love how they compare the baby to a fruit (or vegetable) every week...especially because the all time favorite "birth comparison" seems to be "imagine squeezing something the size of a watermelon out of something the size of a lemon!"
So what are MY observations in week 12? Pretty much the same as the weeks leading up to 12...indigestion, gas, bloating, no pants that button (I'm guessing this won't change?), extreme exhaustion, and a continuing aversion to chicken. (Todd tried to get me to have homemade chicken tenders for dinner last night and I gagged. They have been in the fridge now, thawing since Tuesday. He said we're having them for dinner tonight whether I barf or not. I'm still trying to convince him that I need Red Robin french fries and ranch for dinner instead. He's weakening. I can tell.)
I also had a Dr. appointment on Tuesday. This was my annual "lady exam", which I typically get in June, but was not far enough along at that time to have the exam, so hence I had it Tuesday. During the exam my Doctor said "hmm, you really don't like this, huh?" Uhm, no actually, a vaginal exam is my favorite! But it was more uncomfortable than in the past, and she said that was due to all the increased blood flow "down there". (I told you I wouldn't hold back in these posts!). After that was over, came the fun part -- the Doppler radar system where we tracked down the baby floating in my abdomen, much like Bob Ryan tracks down a storm system. And lo & behold, we found that baby! And his/her heartbeat was pumping like a champ. My Doctor, who is the coolest by far, immediately wanted me to call Todd to play the heartbeat for him by phone, which worked for a couple seconds, but my blackberry kept interfering with the Doppler system and turning it off. So after we called Todd, we called my mom and played it for her too.
At the end of my appointment, I asked the Doctor when I could officially claim to be in the second trimester and she said when I turned 12 weeks. She said technically with all the math involved, and looking at some gestation time period calendar, and a bunch of other things that I wasn't understanding, she narrowed it down to the best system to go by would be the first three months (or 12 weeks) is the first trimester, the last three months (or last 12 weeks) is the third trimester, and everything in between is the second trimester. I promise she said this much more "doctor-like" and professionally, in terms that would be deemed hospital worthy, but she broke it down into layman's terms for me, and I'm stickin' with this theory.
SO, I'm happy to announce I am entering my second trimester! And I'm really hoping I wake up tomorrow morning full of my pre-first-trimester energy. Although I might milk the "exhaustion" thing a little bit longer, if I can get away with it. I'm really enjoying watching Todd do laundry, make dinner, and empty the dishwasher!
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