Week 15

So, I'm a little behind this week. I'm just finishing week 15 but here's the update on development this week:

Fetal development in pregnancy week 15: Your nearly four-inch long gymnast is happily mobile inside your womb and if you're really lucky, you’ll notice a point when your sneezing, coughing or laughing results in a little kick here or a poke there. Still, many women don't feel anything until the 17th week or later. Although the poking and kicking isn't very charming during sleeping hours, it’s a good sign as it means your baby is actually reacting to outside events. Yay! You’ve got yourself one active healthy baby! Their little elbows and knees are bending more freely this week and their little legs are finally growing longer than their arms and getting pumped up for prenatal Richard Simmons. Many of their major organ systems are increasing in capacity—particularly that amazing tiny heart and complex circulation system, which is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood per day, and will increase to a very impressive 200 quarts per day by the end of the pregnancy. As far as hair goes, we’ve got some new scalp patterns beginning to develop on the head, although actual head hair is not yet present.

I haven't started feeling the baby move yet. Occasionally I think maybe I felt something but I don't know yet if it's the baby. I know it's normal to not feel anything yet so I'm not really expecting it. Once I start to feel things more regularly then I'll know for sure. I'm looking forward to getting to feel the little one moving around in there. Rifkah didn't feel her baby moving until about week 20, so I'm not worried.

On Saturday, I took Reilly to a birthday party for my friends' son. My friend didn't yet know that I was pregnant and when we got there she was giving out name tags for everyone and she gave me one and then I said, "wait, i need an extra one for the baby!" so she squeeled and gave me a big hug and then stuck an extra name tag on my belly! it was really cute. the party was fun. it was at this park that has injured animals so you can walk around and see all the animals like a zoo, but it's kind of like a rehab center for the animals to get them healthy again. it was really cool and the kids loved it. My parents met us there at the end with Zoe, my 3 year old neice and we walked through again to look at all the animals after playing on the playground for a bit. it was great to just be outside and walking around. it was such a beautiful day. I'd been feeling under the weather for a couple days but being outside and enjoying the weather just makes me feel good! My mom took a bunch of pictures and here are a few of them:

Reilly checking out the smaller of the two black bears.

Zoe and Reilly looking at the peacocks, who put on quite a show for us!

Me helping Zoe feed the goats.

Zoe and Reilly hanging out with my dad back at my parents house.

The next few pictures are from a graduation party that we went to on Sunday for one of my classmates. it was fun, we got to get most of my classmates together to celebrate and let the kids play and meet eachother's spouses. It was a beautiful day and we just sat outside and enjoyed the good company, good food and good weather. Everyone kept making sure that "the pregnant one was eating enough" and when they brought dessert out, all the cakes and yummy things were placed in front of me!

It's kind of amazing how quickly these last two years flew by. It seems like just yesterday that I decided to stop commuting to the city and teaching yoga to go back to school and now it's over!! But at the same time so much has happened in that time. I got engaged and married and now I'm pregnant! I'd say those are some pretty major life changes in a short period of time.

Sorry you can't see the belly in any of these pics, but I'll get some up soon. I really need to get my camera fixed so that I don't need to wait for other people to take pictures and send them to me. I'll get to it soon...