12 Week Update

Interesting Fact!

The end of the first trimester marks an important step for your baby-to-be. All of her major body systems are in place. In her digestive system, her small intestine is no longer entwined with the umbilical cord, but instead is tucked neatly within the abdomen. Her nervous system continues to develop, and her brain's structure is fully formed. Many of her organs are starting to work on their own, too. For instance, her thyroid begins to secrete hormones. Next week she'll no longer be considered an embryo, but instead graduates into a fetus. She's already looking more and more like the baby you're probably imagining—she even has tiny fingernails.

How Big Is Baby?

At 12 weeks, your baby weighs in around 1.5 ounces and measures about three inches in length (from crown to rump).

How We Feel

A lot has changed in the last week, the ultrasound just made the baby that much more real to us and, we are at the end of the first trimester, which is a relief. It's time for us to really start preparing for baby, with so much to do and time flying as fast as it does I don't want to find myself rushing right at the end. Our What to Expect in the First Year book has a great list of essentials we need to be ready to bring baby home so slowly but surely we will start checking off the list.

Stacy and I have been talking about painting the nursery and we have some really good ideas for a cute nursery that will grow in to a great toddler bedroom as well. We are excited to get started on that project, though we'll probably wait until the new year.

One major thing has happened this week and that is that Stacy has come to stay with us for a while which is kind of neat because we've had a chance to have some great conversations about our expectations of each other once the baby is born, and it's just been nice to get to know each other better. I'm not sure at this point how long she will be staying with us, but she's more than welcome for as long as she'd like to stay.

That's it for this week.

♥