Our Baby - Week 18

How your baby's growing:

Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and he weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.

from (http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-18-weeks_1107.bc)

We had our monthly checkup for Baby O. this morning. Everything was progressing on schedule and we are hoping that the glucose tolerance test comes back good so that I don't have to start testing my blood sugar daily. We have our next ultrasound on November 30th, so we are hoping that Baby O. cooperates and we can find out the gender (along with making sure that all the organs and systems have developed properly). Unfortunately, my back and hip pain is only going to get worse and Dr. Mackie didn't seem to think there was much that could be done to prevent it, short of doing less activity. And since Abby isn't on board with the less activity idea, I guess I will be having a sore back and hip until Baby O. arrives.