Week 21 - Coconut!!

The Babe:

This week our little one measures from head to toe 12" long...a WHOLE FOOT!! Thankfully, the babe does very little streched out...for the most part the babe stays in a little ball about the size of a coconut. It’s a big week in the babe's world: bone marrow starts contributing to cell production, taking some of the load off of the liver and spleen. Permanent tooth buds have developed, so I guess that means we should start the Tooth Fairy fund, however if I remember correctly the toothfairy doesn't make a lot of money and little to give away! Perhaps most exciting is that the babe now has noticeable sleep and wake cycles that are very similar to what we will experience upon arrival -- sleeping up to 12 hours a day, though not consecutively.

Our little one has FULLY functional taste buds right now, so as the babe continues to swallow amniotic fluid, the babe may actually begin to taste what I have been eating. This is because the fluid changes based on what has been consumed -- so those garlic mashed potatoes will produce a more garlicky amniotic fluid and eating pineapple might make the fluid a touch sweeter than normal. Researchers have even reported that some children seem predisposed to enjoy certain foods if they were exposed to them in utero. That's all the more reason to make sure that I am eating plenty of the good stuff: green veggies, fruits and whole grains, I guess.



Parents:

Well, this last week was a big week for us too. We got to see our little one!! We had our first ultrasound on Saturday and it was pretty exciting. Good news is that everything looks like it is progressing as it should be...no real concerns. In more good news, and contrary to popular belief and appearance there is only ONE in there!! It was really neat to see all the organs, especially the heart and all four of the chambers beating. I also thought that seeing the rib cage, arms and legs was pretty cool!

We were informed of some contrictory information. Accroding to the technian doing the ultrasound, we have a very cooporerative and calm baby. SINCE when did two wrongs make a right?!? And on top of that she even claimed that the baby was very photogenic!! Yeah, that was about the time we both started wondering whose child this was!!

The strangest part came when she announced that she knew what we were having! Now I know that we had decided that we were NOT going to find out but once she said that I found it incredably unfair that she got to know and I didn't!! Ben is convinced that since she said she knew so quickly that it must be a boy...I think she was just that kind of person that would do just that on purpose to make you think that it was a boy but really it is a girl...either way we both made sure that dressed for the appropriate TEAMS!! I wore PINK for team GIRL and ben wore BLUE for team BOY!! I informed the ultrasound girlfriend of our team colors but she didn't congratulate either one of us for winning...I guess it will remain a mystery until April! Oh but there was more, girlfriend believes that we are a little further along than originally thought, but only by a few days, not enough to go changing the due date, but she says April 18th not the 22nd...so long as this baby stays away from the 20th we good. Otherwise, I will LIE to that child for the rest of its life!! No, I have NO problems with doing that!!