Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Baby Good 15 Weeks Gestation

Fetal Development:
If you have an ultrasound now, you may notice your baby sucking his/her thumb. The bones are getting harder each day. The baby's skin is very thin and transparent; you can see blood vessels through the skin. Lanugo, a very fine hair, covers the body and will continue growing on the baby until around the 26th gestational week of pregnancy. (Side note: when I worked at MM and Kristen told me about lanugo and how a baby gets rid of it in the womb...well, let's just say I'd get violently sick every time I thought about it. Then Joshua was born with his lanugo still in tact!)

Maternal Changes:
Your uterus will begin rising past your hipbones any time now. You can feel it about three to four inches below your navel. During your appointments, your care provider will be measuring "fundal height" to make sure your baby is growing consistently and adequately. Fundal height is the distance from the top of the uterus (fundus) to the pubic bone.

Boy or Girl? Should We Find Out?
If you have an ultrasound in the next few weeks, the technician may be able to make an "educated guess" at the gender of your baby.

Ideas for Dad:
Make sure you hug mom often. Research tells us that the more hugs mom gets, the more she'll hug the baby (and you too)!

Inspirational Thoughts:
A baby is someone just the size of a hug. ~Anonymous

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