9 Weeks Along (Friday, 7/18/08)

It was another busy weekend for us. Saturday we went to the LaVictoire family reunion. That was fun. We haven’t been able to go for the past few years. Rachel had fun with her cousins. She won the bean on a spoon race and the triple sack race. Sunday we went on the LaCasa garden tour. This was less impressive than in years past but I love going because it gives us great inspiration for our gardening projects. All of the wandering around in the sun pooped me out, though.
Wednesday I had the day off of work because Janet and Bill were in from Austin, Texas and we planned that day to meet up. Last time I saw her, we were 6 months into our infertility journey and I was getting pretty frustrated. Little did I know that it would take 19 more months and a whole lot of patience to achieve pregnancy. Janet, Amy, and I had a girls-only lunch while Bill watched Brayden, Cooper, and Rachel at the Imagination Station. We then went back to my house and hung out until Wynn arrived with Austin and Mya and Paul returned from work. We had dinner at Zukey Lake Tavern. It was nice getting to spend so much time with them. We have all come a long way since college but I am glad that we have remained friends through the years and miles.
Friday we went to Art Fair. We took Rachel and Katelyn, her best friend who had a sleepover at our house that night. Remembering how we ran all the way across Art Fair last year to get to a booth before it closed to how I kept having to rest this year, I definitely noticed a change in my energy level due to pregnancy. I was very glad that the girls were quiet and didn’t keep me up all night like they did at their sleepover in December.

News from the womb…
The baby now displays a reflex response to touch. The upper lip, elbow, toe ridges, and indentations where the knees and ankles will be have formed. The nose, tongue, and eyelids have begun to form. The arms have lengthened and now bend at the elbow. The fingers and thumb appear short and webbed. As connections continue to improve between the baby’s brain and tiny muscles and nerves, the baby’s trunk and limbs have begun to make spontaneous movements. The baby’s body proportions begin to change as the trunk begins to elongate and straighten. The surface of the baby’s brain has developed characteristic rounds and fissures. Primary ossification centers appear in the long bones. These direct the replacement of cartilage by bone which starts in the upper arms. The baby’s heart is beating strong, the stomach can produce some digestive juices, the liver can manufacture blood cells, and the kidneys can extract some waste products from the baby’s bloodstream. The baby is now 16-18mm long and weighs about 0.033 ounce, about as heavy as 1/5 teaspoon of water.