22 Weeks Today!

22 week hurdle crossed! We're getting closer to that safe place of 30 weeks!

• Today is day number 154.
• Riley's age since conception is 140 days or 20 weeks.
• There are 126 days until Riley's due date.
• She measures about 10.94 inches and weighs nearly 1 pound (430gm).
• She can now hear conversations more clearly than before!. When we talk, read, or sing, she can hear us. Studies have found that newborns will suck more vigorously when read to from a book they heard frequently in utero.
• Her eyelids and eyebrows are fully formed.
• Fingernails have grown to the end of the fingers.
• Her brain has entered a stage of rapid growth, especially in what's called the germinal matrix. This structure deep in the middle of the brain serves as a kind of factory for brain cells and disappears shortly before birth. But the brain's amazing expansion program continues until around the five birthday.
• With some help from Shelly, Riley's liver is starting to break down bilirubin, a substance produced by red blood cells.
  

Big Baby

Laying in bed this morning I felt Riley kick twice! It's so amazing. What an absolutely wonderful experience. I'm glad that I'm able to feel her at 21 weeks!

I'm off to the other side of the continent Monday. On Friday it was decided I need to be in meetings next week in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I'm off early Monday and home late Thursday. Stacey and Angele I'll wave high during my lay over in Toronto!

I was going to try not to travel again during the pregnancy with everything that's happened the last three weeks. But everything is going okay right now. Shelly's doing well. Riley's doing well. We think it's alright if I'm gone for a few days. But I still worry. Luckily Shelly's brother lives with us. He can help with the dogs and address any of Riley's aka Shelly's cravings. I've also talked to Shelly's best friend and her Mom to have them periodically check in on her. When I told Shelly this she got made. "I'm not an invalid. I don't need people watching over me." I realized at that moment it wasn't about her. It was about me. I needed the comfort that she was being looked after while I'm away. That realization brought a tear to my eye because it once again reminded me how very much I love her and Riley. Of course, she quickly apologized, and then proceeded to tease me the rest of the night about being a big baby. I use to be someone who rarely cried. After the hormones for the IVF cycle I've turned into the BIGGEST CRY BABY!!!

I felt her kick!

Yesterday Riley was super active.

Last night Shelly said "Get over her. I swear you can feel her." We tried, but no luck.

Later in bed Shelly said, "Give me your hand, she's being crazy again, I know if you focus you can feel her." I sat there with my hand on her belly, focusing, trying to feel something. I had no idea what to really be focusing on. Then, all of a sudden, BAM. A swift kick to the palm of my hand. And then I cried. What an amazing, amazing feeling. To feel the life that is growing inside Shelly's belly. Wow!

I then kept trying to "focus" so I could feel her again. She kept squirming and Shelly could feel her but I couldn't. I may have felt her one other time but nothing like that initial kick, or head butt, or maybe she just decided to poke her little bum up in the air. Whatever it was, I FELT IT! She's there. Our sweet little baby girl is there! What an amazing miracle we are experiencing!

Fiesty Little Girl

Yesterday Shelly didn't feel well. She had a lot of sinus pressure and headache. Riley must not have felt well either because she wasn't super active. She (Riley) usually perks up in the evening. We think it's because I'm home from work and she can hear me reading, talking, playing with the dogs, etc. During the day it's pretty quite at home. But watch out, when I'm home it's a little chaotic. Even when I got home last night she was still pretty mellow even with me laughing, singing, and yacking through American Idol. If my singing can't stir her nothing will! So, anytime she's not super active, we comfort ourselves by listening to her heart beat with the doppler. What a feisty little thing! I immediately found her heartbeat. Nice and strong. She immediately moved away. I found it again. She moved. This happened three times. Then for the next two hours she took out her frustrations on her Momma Shelly. Almost as if she said, "Fine, you wanted to feel me, here I am! Bam, bam, bam." What a little pill! But we love it!

Pregnancy Looking Good

We has an OB appointment yesterday and all is going well. The doctor is really pleased with how Shelly is doing and feels more optimistic about how the pregnancy is going. We just love our OB. She is very open, patient, and spends a lot of time with us. We are so lucky to have found her.

Shelly is measuring right where she should for 21 weeks. She lost a pound since last month. Not sure how that happened since she wants to eat every two hours. Riley must be taking everything. So far, half way through the pregnancy, she is down a total of 4 pounds. Which is good. The doctor only wants her to gain about 10 pounds.

There was a little protein in her urine but nothing to be worried about at this point. Shelly's Blood Pressure was good. The baby's heart beat was good at 140.

We love getting good check-ups!

Our next appointment is the Fetal Echo Cardiogram on the 7th.

Popped!

Seriously, Shelly has popped overnight! We couldn't believe how pregnant she looked yesterday. Riley must be packin' on the ounces. (Wouldn't be nice if we just packed on ounces not pounds.) I wish she'd let me take a belly picture but she's just to modest/shy. We have an OB appointment today so it will be interesting to see if she has officially started to gain any weight. I'll post an update after our appointment.

On another note it's FREEZING here! Right now it's 2 degrees. Yesterday my car windows seriously frosted up on my way to work! The heater just wasn't getting the Land Cruiser warm enough. Today I'll let the Cruiser really warm up before I leave.

More to come later today.

21 Weeks Today

We're 21 weeks pregnant today. Every week is another hurdle crossed.



Here's an update on how Riley is doing:



Today is day number 149.

Riley's age since conception is 135 days or 19 weeks.



There are 133 days until Riley's due date.



Lenght is now measured crown to heel. She measures about 10.51 inches and weighs nearly 12.7 ounces.



Our beautiful little miracle-gro baby will be putting on a full ounce and a half this week (up to 16.5 oz), but that's just the beginning! Within the next five weeks, she'll really be packin' it on!



This week brings the addition of rapid eye movement (REM), a key component to any baby's healthy sleep schedule.



In the dermatology department her thin soft skin is very red, fairly translucent, and a bit wrinkled. Not to worry, it's not a premature aging disease. It's just her clever little body setting her up with extra space that will smooth out once she starts packing on the baby-fat. That won't be for a few more weeks though. So for the time being, our munchkin is still a lean mean growing machine.



The beginnings of what is commonly called "brown fat" is just starting to fill in to help Riley retain some body heat, which is crucial as she's not yet capable of regulating her own body temperature.



Riley's tongue is fully formed. If we were able to peek we might catch her practicing giving us a rasberry!



She swallows more this week. After she takes in amniotic fluid her body absorbs the water in the liquid and moves the rest in the large bowel. This is good practice for her digestive system.



Wake and sleep periods become more consistent. Some research sugggests that she sets her internal clock to match the outside world's even before birth! Shelly's eating and sleeping habits, as well as levels of light and noise serve as her signals.