16 Week Update (from the road...literally)

As I ride shotgun, in our monsterous Mercury Mountaineer (so much for saving gas by booking an economy car...) down I-84W, heading into Portland, I got bored and decided to post the 16 week update. Apparently we need to get ready for a growth spurt. Read below to see what babycenter.com has to say.

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.

** On a side note, we saw real hippies today. The whole two days we've been here, Brian's been calling everyone hippies, but there were 3-4 folks standing on the side of the road, near Mt. Hood, holding signs that said "Honk 4 peace" (with a peace sign). They were wearing tie-dyed shirts and everything. We were excited.

**Another side note, Portland and the surrounding areas are absolutely beautiful. Who wouldn't want to live here?

New York Highlights

Just a few highlights of our New York trip. You can consider it our "Frink Top 10", in honor of our front row (yes, I said FRONT ROW) seats at Letterman.

10. Finding black and white cookies at Grand Central Station (just for Damon)

9. Visiting the Statue of Liberty (some for the first time, some for the 4th)

8. We couldn't find any buttcrack, but we did find "cheek-a-boo" (new word, coined by Mom)
7. Eating at Pret (it's been almost a year since we've had their deliciousness in London)
6. Seeing Brian flip out at the top of the Empire State Building (he's afraid of heights)

5. Ominous clouds at Yankee Stadium

4. Playing with Harry, Ron, & Hagrid at FAO Schwartz

3. Having a Will Smith sighting outside the Ed Sullivan Theatre

2. Going paparazzi on Yoko Ono's A** (that's A star star for B in London)

And our number 1 NYC highlight is...

1. Sitting front row at David Letterman

Appointment & 15 Week Update

We had our 3rd dr.'s appointment today. Apparently, I'm really bad at knowing what's going to happen in advance. I thought we were getting an ultrasound to do that testing, but instead, they just killed my arm, taking blood. I can't straighten it out right now, it feels so bruised. Heartbeat was good at 155, which makes Brian happy. He's stuck on that old wives tale about heartbeats and gender determination. We've gone from 171, to 164, to 155 bpm. Apparently, if the heartbeat is above 140, it's girl and under 140 is a boy. We're getting closer to his magic number, but not yet.

We scheduled our next ultrasound for July 14th and then the next appointment with the doctor on July 16th, which will be at 18 weeks. Crazy. If we decide to find out the sex, we'll know on July 14th. OH, I also found out that I'll have to drink 8oz of water every 15 minutes for an hour before that appointment, because the ultrasound has to be on a full bladder. 32oz of water without peeing is not going to go down well. I'll finally know what it feels like to be Brian. :)

Other than that, not much has been happening. We leave tomorrow to head to NYC and Portland. That's right, east coast to west coast. I'll post some photos along the way, or when we get back, something like that. In the meantime, read below to find out what kind of changes are going on with Little Frink.

Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste buds. Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or a girl! (Don't be too disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down your baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and on your baby's position. He or she may be modestly curled up or turned in such a way as to "hide the goods.")

14 Week Progress

Here's what's going on at 14 weeks (thanks babycenter.com):

This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.See what your baby looks like this week.

Bump or Bloated?

At a request from LB across the sea (well Pacific Ocean), I took a picture of the belly. Please excuse the fact that I look half dead, but it was 9:30 at night and getting very close to my bedtime. Turns out, growing a baby is hard work. :) This is a 13 week photo. Check out Fats Magee (Gus); you can tell that he's über excited to be a big brother.

**On a side note - I definitely need to straighten my candles and get my living room painted. Just something else that's added to the list of things to do before December.

Week Skipping?

Well, we had our 2nd appointment today. The weeks must change at a different time than I've been calculating, because she said, well we're 13 weeks. Somewhere I lost 12, but I'm good with moving forward faster. This is the last week of the 1st trimester. You know what that means? That means I'm 1/3 of the way there. YIKES! In 7 weeks we can find out if Little Frink is a little Hayley or a little Brian - and that'll be the 5 month mark (over halfway there)!

I've only gained 2 pounds too! They say 3-4 pounds is good for the firs trimester, so I'm right around that. Then every week after that I'm supposed to gain a pound a week. We're shooting for no more than a 30 lb. gain total. I think that's definitely manageable and realistic. Especially if I keep eating spinach salads (minus ranch dressing..hehe).

This appointment was uneventful. No news is good news, I suppose. The heartbeat is still strong at 164 beats and the nurse had problems getting it to register. We have a wiggle worm on our hands. Little Frink couldn't be still long enough for the beat-o-meter to get the beats per minute. Every now and then we'd hear a loud thump and the nurse said that was it kicking and moving around. I'm supposed to start feeling them around 15-18 weeks.

According to Babycenter.com this is what Little Frink is up to this week:

Fingerprints have formed on your baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.See what your baby looks like this week.

We go back on June 20th for some tests and an ultrasound. I thought we were doing that this week, but I was wrong. After that ultrasound, we're off to the Big Apple for a few days and then to Portland to visit The Podd clan. We can't wait!!!