17 Weeks

So I'm 17 weeks along today!  Matt and I always enjoy the email I get each Monday from babycenter.com because it says how big the baby is now compared to beans, fruits or vegetables.  Some days it is more informative than others.  Today would be one of those days that it is not helpful at all as they compared the baby to a turnip.  If you would like to see a turnip compared to a quarter, you can just click that link.  I liked thebump.com's comparison better this week.  They said that the baby is about the size of an onion:

(Photo Courtesy of thebump.com)

I suppose the actual measurements are actually the part that is most helpful since the fruits and vegetables they tend to choose come in all different shapes and sizes.  Anyway, the baby is about the size of a turnip, or an onion - or about 5oz and 5" long.

There are a few big things going on in the baby's development this week.  One is that the skeleton is hardening changing from cartilage to bone.  I blame my ice cream cravings on this fact.  I believe that the baby must be asking mommy for some calcium for his or her bones to grow strong.  Who am I to deprive the baby of the abundance of calcium that is in ice cream?  Another thing that is going on is that umbilical cord is getting thicker and stronger - bringing all that calcium to the baby.  The baby also has his/her own unique fingerprints now!  Pretty cool huh?

I think I MAY be feeling the baby move a little bit.  It's hard to tell if it is my uterus stretching or if it is little taps, but I suppose I will know for sure within the next couple weeks.  Matt likes to rile up the baby from time to time and this morning when he did it, I started feeling a little poking feeling in one particular spot in my abdomen.  So I guess I still don't know what exactly I'm feeling.  This being my first pregnancy, everything is new to me.  It will get more apparent though as time goes on so I will keep you updated.

I'm still feeling well and it's a good thing because we had a very busy weekend!  We went to Matt's work party on Friday night.  It was a lot of fun and Matt was finally able to tell his co-workers about the baby!  Everyone was really happy for us.  We ended up staying out until about 12:30 which is pretty late for me these days. 

I'm in what I can only describe as the "awkward stage of pregnancy."  To people who know I am pregnant, I have a cute little bump.  To people who don't know I'm pregnant, I just look a little chubby.  I'm really glad Matt told people at his work that I am pregnant because otherwise I may have gotten a few looks as I scarfed down two plates of food.  Anyway, here are this week's belly shots.  I still don't notice much of a difference between these and the first week I took pictures, but I suppose that will change soon.  Here they are:

So here we are at 17 weeks!  We see Dr. Bale again on Thursday.  I will update more then.