Turnip

Today marks my 17th week of pregnancy.  This week the baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord is growing stronger and thicker.  The baby weights 5 ounces now (about as much as turnip) and is around 5 inches long from head to bottom.  The baby can move his or her joints, and sweat glands are starting to develop.  

Baby or vegetable?

The baby and I had another doctor's appointment today and as always, it was reassuring to hear it's heartbeat. This was a quick appointment which lasted no more than 10 minutes - just long enough for the doctor to take my vitals and to listen for the heartbeat.  I'm always so disappointed (and in my pregnant state this is more like rage) whenever I don't get to see the baby via ultrasound.   Up until this point, I've had them at almost all my doctor visits and I've grown accustomed to getting to see my kid.  I think I appreciate the visual confirmation since the baby is too small to feel moving around just yet.  The doctor said the heartbeat was strong and that everything sounded great.  Per usual, the baby was squirming around so much that she had a hard time getting a steady read on it.  Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come! I also had some blood drawn for the 2nd trimester genetic testing.  The first trimester testing was negative for all the genetic strains they tested for, so I'm optimistic that these results will come back negative as well. Keep your fingers (and toes) crossed.

When I first learned I was pregnant, I began taking belly shots to track the progress of my growing bump.  I didn't publish them at first because we wanted to wait until we had past the first trimester mark to make sure everything was progressing normally.  Enough people have requested to see them that I now feel obligated to share. So without further ado, here is some belly.  I am keeping the pure belly shots to myself, which I'm sure you will all thank me for.

5 weeks

6 weeks

10 weeks

12 weeks

14 weeks