Week 9

My baby is almost 1 inch long now, about the size of a grape. Hands and feet are continuing to form and her joints are able to move, though I won't be able to feel her swimming. The embryonic tail is gone and her facial features become more pronounced each day. Nipples and hair follicles are forming. Her internal reproductive organs are starting to form (ovaries or testes if it is a boy.) This information comes from the Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy. Elsewhere I've read that baby girls start life with 7M eggs in their ovaries. By the time they are born that number shrinks to 2-3M eggs. And by the time she reaches maturity and begins menstruation the number has dwindled to 400,000 eggs.

Meanwhile, my body is working hard to prepare a good environment for my papoose to flower. This began with an increase in blood volume that will increase 40 - 50% above my pre-pregnancy blood volume. Most of this production occurs in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, so presumably I'm 2/3 of the way through this process. Because of this increased blood volume, my heart is working harder. In fact, pregnancy increases heart rate by up to 15 extra beats per minute. This is what causes the dizziness associated with pregnancy, as well as exhaustion in the first trimester.

The up-side of the extra blood circulating is that my skin is slightly flushed and plump. The pregnant glow is becoming noticeable. Part of this glow comes from hormones (HCG and progesterone) that increase oil production - so I could be struggling with breakouts instead of enjoying a dewy look.

Of course, things are growing too. D noticed my larger breasts within a couple of weeks of conception. And they have continued to balloon since then. My OB/GYN laughed when I asked if there will be a lull at some point in the pregnancy. "No, they will continue to grow. Once you give birth and milk production starts, they will get larger again." I started out with perky, C cups. I'm preparing myself to move up to an F cup later in the game.

This causes back aches - as does the ligament releasing hormone (Relaxin) that's already started preparing my body to throw out a bowling ball sized kid. My hips are starting to hurt and this is supposed to climax in the third trimester as they bear the weight of kidlet in addition to my larger self.

Despite all of this - I'm happy. I have this little person in there getting ready to sprout 25K neurons next week. Though I don't feel great, I don't have morning sickness to complain about. Really, my largest complaint at this point is the excess mucus production that has my head stuffed, my nose running, and my throat full of gunk each morning. This is called Pregnancy Rhinitis and can last up to two weeks after I deliver. I'm hoping that my OB can recommend something to relieve these symptoms. I can't imagine having the equivalent of a bad cold for the next seven months without some sort of decongestant. That said, I don't want to take the one medicine that Kaiser has ok'd: Sudafed with ephedrine. I find this recommendation odd as everything I read warns mothers to stay away from caffeine: stop drinking coffee, or strictly limit yourself to one cup per day because they say that it is hard on the baby's heart to beat as quickly as it would with the excess caffeine. Ephedrine is also a stimulant. So, I don't want to take that. I don't trust drug manufacturers and the FDA that they control to offer unbiased and truthful advice. So I am sniffling with a good conscience that I am doing the best for my baby. (At least until my health care provider offers me an alternate solution.)

Now D & I need to make the final decision on genetic testing (since I'm 35 and will be 36 when I give birth.) He's most comfortable with doing CVS because it is accurate clinical information. Other tests are non-invasive but offer statistics of probability instead of sampling specific genetic information for our baby. I'm a bit concerned about doing CVS because it could be painful and because it has a risk of miscarriage associated with the procedure. We still need to talk it through. But as we have to do this test between Week 10 and Week 12, our decision needs to be made very soon to get an appointment.

I'm going to go talk with him now about it. I think we're probably going to go with CVS. If so, I'll call to make the appointment today.