12 Weeks

Yay for the end of the first trimester! Eric and I had too much fun telling our friends and family about Baby Clark yesterday. It is quite a relief to have our little secret out in the open! Everything feels a whole lot more real and exciting. Addi and I had a great week together, especially with one of my best friends from college staying with us. Lazy Saturday today- pjs and playing with the baby. Life is good! The other night Addi was particularly snuggley and wrapped herself around my belly with her head towards it. It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen. What a good big sister already! I get more and more excited about their relationship every day!

Update: So I wrote everything else a few hours earlier today. I had a horrendous morning feeling sick to my tummy and achy all over. I started to feel a little better around 2:00pm and finally joined my family. I started to feel very chilly and decided to take my temperature which was a slight fever. Ugh. Can this Mommy get a break?! When the OB midwife called back she said to take regular tylenol and make sure it doesn't get higher. I am hoping to nip this in the bud asap...

From my belly: The most dramatic development this week: reflexes. Baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, toes will curl, eye muscles will clench, and the mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if I prod your abdomen, baby will squirm in response, although I won't be able to feel it. The intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into the abdominal cavity about now, and the kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder. Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in baby's brain, synapses are forming furiously. His or her face looks unquestionably human: The eyes have moved from the sides to the front of the head, and the ears are right where they should be. From crown to rump, baby-to-be is just over 2 inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce.