6 week check in!

Dear pumpkin,
The past two weeks have seemed to fly by! A lot has happened since the last time I wrote. Your Daddy was offered a new job at a laboratory in Burlington, which is a really exciting opportunity for us. This means that Daddy will now be dropping Oliver off at daycare and you too when you come along. It is exciting that he'll be around in the morning now and we can spend some family time together then too. 

We also had Auntie Jocelyn's surprise 30th birthday party last weekend (why I didn't have time to write). She was very surprised and excited! During that time we felt like we should tell your T-Craig and Shaina and T- Mary because if they saw that Mommy was not enjoying a celebratory glass of wine, that they might guess. So we had Oliver wear his big brother T-shirt again and when he woke up from nap we had them come in and see him before he got dressed for the party. Well...that didn't go as well as you'd expect...he was a little cranky being woken up by so many people. And as you can imagine - EVERYONE was so excited to hear about our newest addition to our family!

 Last week you did some serious growing -

photo courtesy of pregnology.com

 
 According to Pregnology.com:

"This is another important week in the development of your baby as the construction of the heart and the central nervous system will now begin. It is amazing how only in these first few weeks your baby has transformed from a single fertilised egg to an embryo with arms and legs already beginning to form. Last week your baby resembled a tadpole and now the tiny stems where the arms and legs will grow are already visible. As big as a grain or rice, around 2mm the baby is now visible to the naked eye.

An ultrasound scan can now already distinguish between the head and the tailbone and the spine will start developing. The tiny heart will begin to beat around this time, very slowly and carefully."

It is so exciting to think about your heart beating even though you're only as big as an apple seed! Growing a baby is such a miracle and I am in constant awe of it.  It's also amazing to think of your little head forming, knowing that in just a few months I will be putting so many little kisses atop that head. You are loved so much already my sweet baby.

Your Daddy seems to think you are a girl - already! Since he was correct with Oliver, maybe he has some super powers, who knows! 

So far, Mommy has been feeling very limited symptoms of pregnancy - sore breasts, some mild cramping in my uterus and mostly REALLY REALLY thirsty! I have had some acne flare up just like with Oliver,and a little bit of nausea at dinner, but mostly I feel ok in the pregnancy department. Unfortunately, I am going on week 4 of a really drawn out cold. I spent some time at home this week from work with Oliver because both of us were sick. Ollie is feeling better, but it just keeps on sticking with me. I am resting a lot and drinking lots of water, so hopefully we can kick this soon.

This week your Grandma came to visit us and bring us some dinner. We sort of spontaneously told her at dinner - without any planning - so no shirt or anything! She of course is really excited and surprised and sworn to secrecy!

This week we also took the first of our belly pictures for your scrapbook. There isn't much of anything there at the moment, but it is really neat to see the progression from 6 weeks until 40 (or 41/42!). You are the size of a sweet pea this week. Here are some details and pictures about your development.

photo courtesy of pregnology.com

 According to pregnology.com:
"Week 6 is a very busy week for your baby as it grows to approximately 5mm from head to tail. As well as growing the head, neck, eyes and ears of your baby will be formed this week. At first the eyes are far apart, almost on the sides of the head.

The baby's heart will be beating a little stronger now and he has limited circulation. This doesn't mean however that the blood pumps throughout the body, it is still too early for that. However the basis of the circulatory system is formed now and this will continue to grow and develop over the coming weeks. Although the heart is now beating it will be many more weeks before your baby would be able to survive on his own outside your body.

Did you know that your baby makes his own blood and can therefore have a different blood type from you?

photo courtesy of pregnology.com

The short stems which grew last week will now become more pronounced and it is here that the arms and legs of your baby will grow from. The development of the internal organs such as the kidney, liver and gastrointestinal tract is already under way and the brain of your baby continues to develop steadily. The jaws of his mouth are now formed and tiny buttons will indicate where his teeth will be formed." 


Yesterday, Mommy went to a Pregnancy and Baby Expo with a friend of mine, Stephanie. When we arrived, Stephanie shared that she was 12 weeks pregnant and I instantly shared with her that I was 6 weeks - after all we had both suspected the other may be pregnant given that we were thinking about attending the Expo.  It was really fun - we had great iced tea that we couldn't get enough of and explored lots of vendors, signing up for giveaways at every turn. We also chat with some great people and got some great info. I was especially interested in hypno-birthing given that the tools your daddy and I used from our child-birth class with Oliver weren't especially helpful to us when things became really painful.

I am sure the word you will see most over the course of the next 30 some weeks will be the word excited - because I can't exactly find the right word to express all of the joy, anticipation and awe I am feeling as you grow each day. I hope that when you read that word, you can get a sense of how it really is so powerful a love and joy from the moment I took the test until the moment you are born. And then, as if I thought I couldn't love you more...I will fall in love with you all over in a whole different, overwhelming way when you're born. 

I love you pumpkin, 
Mommy