15 weeks

The baby is about the size of a large lemon or a softball...

Here's what's happening this week in "baby-town"...

• Baby is now over 4 inches (10cm) long


• and weighs about 2.5 ounces (75 grams).


• He or she can move its arms and make a fist.


• Fingernails and toenails are present.
  
• Baby's skin is still very thin.

Your baby's legs have grown longer than the arms and the body is now longer than the head. The bone and marrow that make up your baby's skeletal system are continuing to develop this week. The bones and muscles are continuing to grow. You may begin to feel some fluttering movements as baby kicks, twists and turns; but don't panic if you don't feel movement yet.

Their ears are nearly in position, and the three tiny bones in his middle ear have begun to harden. By the end of the week, the roof of your baby's mouth will be completely formed. The fetus has an adult's taste buds and may be able to savor the mother's meals. The baby's thin skin is covered with ultra fine, downy hair that usually disappears before birth.

Although many women don't start feeling the baby move until the 17th week (or later), your baby has been having his own party in the amniotic sac he calls home. If you feel a little flutter in your belly this week, don't discount it as gas or hunger. It could be your babe banging around. Here's more to look forward to:

Baby's head is now resting on his well-formed neck instead of directly on his shoulders like Igor. He's beginning to grow eyebrows and eyelashes this week. (All the better to give you that "Mom, you're crazy" look when he's a teenager.) The hair on the head also begins to grow and, with some creative styling, you'll be able to turn those locks into a Maddox Jolie-Pitt faux-hawk some day.

Although baby's eyes are sealed shut, he's now able to sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, he's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but he is forming taste buds. His eyes and ears finally look like real baby features now. As your baby practices sucking and swallowing actions, he may actually hiccup. You'll know he's had one too many shots of amniotic fluid by the steady thump-thump you feel.

Here's me at 15 weeks...

So, honestly...I'm starting to feel so good, that I don't even really "feel" pregnant. Even though I still have times when I'm tired, I have way more energy than I did in my 1st Trimester, and the times of nausea are few and very far between, and definitely not as bad. I honestly just feel like I'm getting fat! :-)

I haven't felt baby move yet, or at least I don't think I have. I have felt twinges here or there, but nothing like what I have heard described...like butterfly flutters, little bubbles, popcorn popping, etc. So, I'm not sure if I've felt the baby move or if it was just muscle spasms or even gas! :-) It's only every great now and then that I feel something, so nothing regular or steady. I can't wait though to feel it!

One thing I forgot to mention in my last post was that my placenta is anterior and "low-lying". Basically that means that it is down by the cervix. My doctor is confident that as my uterus grows it will move away from the cervix, but I'd like to ask you to be praying that this will be the case. I don't want to end up with a placetna previa, or even a partial previa. (This is where the placenta partially or completely covers the cervix.) If that happens, I don't get a choice and have to have a c-section. Don't get me wrong, my ultimate goal is to have a healthy baby born anyway the Lord determines, but I'd really like to give birth naturally. So please join with us in praying for this to happen!

About a week ago I noticed that I am starting to get a "linea negra", so that is something new and exciting. It isn't really dark, but it's definitely there! Since I can't feel the baby move, it's just fun to have one more sign of being pregnant!