BabyCenter Update: Week 15

Click here to read last week's update.

How your baby's growing: At around 4 inches long, crown to rump, your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 ounces. He's busy inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid, which will help develop the air sacs in his lungs. His legs are growing longer than his arms now, and he can move all his joints and limbs. That means his hands are more functional, too. Sweat glands are appearing, and although his eyelids are fused shut, he can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, he's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but his taste buds are beginning to form. And if you have an ultrasound, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or girl! (Don't be disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down the sex depends somewhat on how clear the picture is and the position of your baby during the ultrasound; he may be curled or turned in such a way as to keep you in suspense.)

Spike

Lots of women give their unborn fetuses nicknames. Like my niece, Miriam, was "Flipper" in utero because she flipped around so much. Missy's baby was "Turkey Baby" because she was due on Thanksgiving. Lili's baby was "Gnocchi" because she was being born into an Italian family. And Melissa's was "Peanut" because, at the time Melissa named him, she read that he was the size of a peanut.

Well, my baby is "Spike." Strangely enough, I named it that because I was singing the Tom Petty song of the same name while walking to a meeting and touching my stomach. (It all comes down to music with me, doesn't it?) The funny thing is that the lyrics are, according to Tom Petty, about a "really kind of ignorant redneck guy who is kind of shaken up when he sees a punk rocker":

Oh, we got another one, just like the other ones
Another bad ass, another troublemaker
I'm scared, ain't you boys scared?
I wonder if he's gonna show us what bad is?
Boys, we gotta man with a dog collar on
You think we oughta' throw ol' Spike a bone?
Hey Spike what do you like?
Hey Spike what do you like?
Here's another misfit, another Jimmy Dean
Bet be's got a motorbike,
What'a y'all think?
Bet if we good we'll get a ride on it
If be ain't too mad about the future
Matbe we oughta help him see
The future ain't what it used to be
Hey Spike, you're scarin' my wife
Hey Spike what do you like
Please Spike, tell us 'bout life

Okay, it sounds really strange, but it is performed in a very sing-songy way that it very catchy. (Click here to hear a sample--it's number six on the sample list, which is about halfway down the page.) So Spike stuck in my head and that's what we're calling it--until we know the gender, anyway. Besides, the concept of a bad-ass fetus makes me laugh--like it's spray painting graffiti on the inside of my uterus while it swallows amniotic fluid!

If my kid grows up to be a rebel with a dog collar as a fashion accessory, then I have no one to blame but myself.

Babycenter Update: Week 14

Click here to read last week's update.

How your baby's growing: Head to bottom, your baby's 3 1/2 inches long — about the length of a lemon — and weighs about 1 1/2 ounces. Her body's growing faster than her head, which now sits upon a more well-defined neck. By the end of this week, her arms will have lengthened and will be in proportion to the rest of her body. (Her legs still have some growing to do, though.) She's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair all over her body (called lanugo). Her liver starts secreting bile this week, a sign that it's already functioning properly, and her spleen starts contributing to the production of red blood cells. She's also producing and discharging urine into the amniotic fluid, a normal process that she'll keep up until birth. You still can't feel your baby's movements, but her hands and feet (which are now half an inch long) are more flexible and active. Thanks to brain impulses, her little facial muscles are getting a workout as she squints, frowns, and grimaces. She can grasp now, too, and she may be able to suck her thumb.

Oh, How Your Dreams Change as You Get Older

Lots of you know that I am a huge Fleetwood Mac fan. Well, before I was a huge Fleetwood Mac fan, I was a crazy-in-love fan of The Police. And, as many of you also know, The Police are reuniting this summer for a worldwide tour. I've been waiting 24 years for this.

But here's the catch: The band is coming to Los Angeles eight weeks before my due date. And I gotta tell you, I'm not into the idea of packing my double-wide body into a teeny-tiny space into a crowd of thousands at Dodger Stadium. Even though I know there will be lots of emergency services there in case anything happens. And even though I adore, adore, ADORE this band. To tell you the truth, I just don't feel like going. And there's an example of how my world is changing. A year ago, I would have been sitting on the Ticketmaster website at sale time, ready to roll. After all, I'm the one who saw Fleetwood Mac five times during their last tour, just because I couldn't resist seeing them every time they played nearby. So maybe I'm starting to adjust my attitude to reflect my new nesting instincts.

Or maybe I'm just in denial...

But either way, I wouldn't trade the new life I'm growing in my body for one night with Sting.

Wait, did I really say that? I really must be growing up!

Babycenter Update: Week 13

Babycenter.com is a wonderful site for pregnant moms. They have a weekly update section where you can read about how your baby is progressing. Since I'm using this as a diary of sorts, I thought it would be appropriate to start posting the weekly updates as things move along.

They give a pregnancy 40 weeks--so it's 10 months, not 9--and I'm on week 13.

How your baby's growing: Your belly may soon be big enough to announce to the world that you're expecting, but your baby is still tiny. In fact, he's only about 3 inches long crown to rump — roughly the size of a jumbo shrimp — and weighs just about an ounce. Despite the small proportions, there's a fully formed baby inside your womb now. Much more proportional than it was a few weeks ago, his head is now only about a third the size of his body. His tiny, unique fingerprints are already in place. His kidneys and urinary tract are functional, and he's starting to urinate out the amniotic fluid he's been swallowing. As you start your second trimester, most of your baby's critical development will be completed, and your odds of miscarriage will drop considerably.

Ah, how I love my little jumbo shrimp.

Still Stuck on Those Dixie Chicks

I've been listening to the Dixie Chicks' album, Taking The Long Way, a lot this week. I went on their website to explore the stories behind the songs. The story behind one song, "So Hard," really moved me.

I mentioned in my last post that two of the band members, sisters Emily Robison and Martie Maguire, both underwent in-vitro fertilization and each have a set of twins. The Dixie Chicks, along with writing partner Dan Wilson, wrote a song called "So Hard" to share a little of the pain of the fertility process:

Martie: That song touches on the issue of infertility, which Emily and I both had to deal with. I think we feel a responsibility to break down some of these barriers - it's much more of a common problem than people realize. Someone the other day asked me if twins ran in my family. When I told them I did in vitro they said, "Oh, so you took the easy way." I couldn't believe they said that.

Emily: We both got pregnant through in vitro fertilization, and people usually get all freaked out when we tell them that. I don't find it a stigma at all - people need to start talking about it, because it feels almost epidemic. And it's so wonderful that we have this technology.

Here are the lyrics, which really touched me:

Back when we started
We didn't know how hard it was
Living on nothing but what the wind would bring to us
Now we've got something I can imagine fighting for
So why is fighting all that we're good at anymore
And sometimes I don't have the energy to prove everybody wrong
And I try my best to be strong but you know it's so hard

It’s so hard
It's so hard when it doesn't come easy
It's so hard when it doesn't come fast
It's so hard when it doesn't come easy
It's so hard

It felt like a given—something a woman is born to do
A natural ambition
See a reflection of me and you
And I'd feel so guilty if that was a gift I couldn't give
And could you be happy if life wasn't how we pictured it
And sometimes I just want to wait it out to prove everybody wrong
And I need your help to move on
‘Cause you know it's so hard

It's so hard
It's so hard when it doesn't come easy
It's so hard when it doesn't come fast
It's so hard when it doesn't come easy
So hard

I can live for the moment when all these clouds open up for me to see
And show me a vision of you and me swimming peacefully
Last night you told me that you can't remember how to feel free

It's so hard...

A Repeat Movie Recommendation

In December, I posted about the movie Shut Up & Sing, a documentary about the Dixie Chicks, which takes place in 2003 after lead singer Natalie Maines made a comment about President Bush that set off a series of events, including CD-crushing rallies, a death threat against Maines, and a downturn in record sales. The film follows the band through the release of their latest album, Taking The Long Way.

Last night, one of the directors of the movie came to school to screen the movie and do a Q&A. It was very interesting and served to re-spark my interest in the film.

One thing I liked about the movie was the exploration of motherhood. Between the three women, they have seven children. Martie Maguire and Emily Robison (who happen to be sisters) each has a set of twins conceived through in-vitro fertilization. Who knew I had so much in common with two Chicks?

Anyway, if you haven't seen the movie and it is no longer playing at a theater near you, you can rent or buy the DVD on February 20 when it is released. I highly recommend it.

Going Public

I’m delighted to tell you that I crossed the 12-week mark today, and that—combined with a successful doctor’s visit this morning—means that we can now go public. So… WE’RE EXPECTING A BABY IN AUGUST! It’s a secret no longer!

When I was trying to get pregnant, going to my ob/gyn was a really difficult experience. All of those pregnant women walking in and out--I used to feel so depressed when I walked out of there. Today I saw those women and realized that I was one of them! I felt great relief--and great sadness, remembering how awful it was. My fertility doctor has a policy that patients aren't allowed to bring their children with them unless it is an emergency. I think that's a great policy. It is so hard to struggle with fertility when there are lots of little children around. I once thought I was going to lose my mind in a shopping mall right after a failed treatment! All those kids...I had to ban myself from the mall for a while.

On another note, so far I really like my new doctor. She is cautious but not freakishly so, and she has great bedside manner. I'll get to meet the other doctor and the nurse practitioner at future visits. If this appointment was any indication, I think I'll like them too.

My Continuing Frustration with Southwest Airlines

I don't fly Southwest Airlines because of their "Customer of Size" travel policy, which requires obese passengers to "buy" the seat next to them. I have an issue with this because it stinks of size discrimination--especially when airline seats are so small anyway. (I understand that people should be able to fly without someone's hip spilling into their seat, but it feels so wrong to be targeting people becasue of their size. It is the last thing that people are allowed to discriminate against.) It's humiliating for the passengers involved, especially since the Southwest representatives make a judgement about whether or not the passenger should buy a second seat without knowing for sure if he or she needs to.

I just read this article on Big Fat Blog about a "Customer of Size" case that almost killed a man who couldn't afford the extra seat. And so my boycott continues...

So Proud of My Husband

As many of you know, my husband, P.C., recently took a job coaching baseball at UCLA. It's his first time back on a college baseball field, and this weekend was opening weekend for the Bruins.

As I watched him standing in the line of players during the National Anthem, I was filled with a lot of pride. So many of us like our jobs, some of us hate our jobs. But very few of us really, really love what we do for a living. P.C. loves coaching baseball. He's living his dream. It's not always perfect, and it's not an easy job (as his 7-day work weeks prove), but in his heart he's doing exactly what he wants to be doing. If only everyone could have jobs they loved as much.

By the way, the Bruins won two out of three games this weekend. So far, so good!

Update

Just an update to let you know that all went well today. We got a new picture of the little one--if you look closely, you can see that it is lying face down with its head to the left of the picture. Or, you just might see a little blob! In any case, if you compare it to the picture from my last post about going to the doctor, you'll notice that it has really grown and is starting to look more human!

So, onward to the new doctor next week!