Eighteen Weeks

Today marks 18 weeks, but I feel as though I've been thrown back into the first trimester, because I'm suddenly completely and totally exhausted again. It's a real struggle to hold my eyes open these days. I generally doze off on the drive to pick up Will in the afternoons, so it's a good thing that I'm not the one behind the wheel or we'd be in real trouble.

Other than needing to tape my eyelids open, everything is going swimmingly. I have been feeling some definite movement from the kiddo which is pretty exciting. With Will, I didn't feel anything until around 21 weeks, so it's true (at least in my case) that second timers are able to detect movement a bit earlier.

We've got a bell pepper this week and the email is pretty non gender specific. They just love messing with me. Only a couple more weeks until we are able to find out for sure and put all the speculation to rest.

How Your Baby is Growing:
At 18 weeks pregnant, your baby is hitting the height chart at five and a half inches long (remember, that's crown to rump) which is about the length of a bell pepper, and weighs about five ounces (the weight of that boneless chicken breast you're making for dinner).



And now for the skill of the week (drum roll please…): The art of the yawn has been mastered by your baby (someone's sleepy!). In fact, you might catch a glimpse of that adorable yawn if you're getting an ultrasound this month. You'll also catch a glimpse of all the fetal movement your baby's doing — twists, rolls, kicks, and punches. And would you believe your baby is finally big enough for you to start feeling those movements now (or anytime in the next few weeks). So get ready!

Something you won't see on the ultrasound, but you'll know is in working order, is your baby's nervous system, which is maturing rapidly at this time. Nerves, now covered with a substance called myelin (which speeds messages from nerve cell to nerve cell), are forming more complex connections. And those in the brain are further specializing into the ones that serve the senses of touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing. Talking about hearing, your baby's is growing more acute, making your little one more conscious of sounds that come from inside your body (which means you could both be listening to each other hiccup — a skill that your baby has by now).

Night night,
L