18 Weeks

Well, we made it almost half way without any bugs and illnesses.... until this week. Mummy had a cold, not a bad cold but a cold all the same! We also had a nasty abdominal pain experience Thursday night/all day Friday. I saw the doc yesterday for peace of mind, baby is perfectly fine, it seems that something I ate had irritated my bowel... lovely!!

Wednesday evening just after dinner, I *thought* I was feeling baby movements, but was unsure. But with the help of the doppler to confirm the movements, I decided I had felt baby. Felt it again Thursday and Friday... baby has been VERY busy this afternoon and evening

And for jellybaby?

We have two more ounces! Your "getting bigger-n-better by the minute baby" is already up to 7 ounces and 6 inches! This is a big week for their baby skin. There are now two distinct layers—the epidermis (or the surface skin) and dermis. Currently, their skin is covered with a greasy, waxy, cheese-like substance, known as vernix caseosa. Sure, it sounds pretty nasty, but this mixture of fatty secretions covering your little swimmer from head to toe is the best way to protect their oh-so-thin skin from bruising and abrasions as well as chapping caused by amniotic fluid exposure (and your little one is swimming in that stuff!). Still don’t like the fact your little darling is currently slathered in fatty cream like a greased pig? Well, you know the birthing process? Where you have to push something the size of a watermelon out a hole the size of a grape? That adorable little greased piglet would have a lot harder time getting through the birth canal without the vernix caseosa. Fun fact for momma’s with baby girls: it’s a uterus within a uterus! Your little girl will have developed a uterus and vagina canal by the end of this week.

Poor little mite... this week he/she is compared to a grotesque sweet potato!