9 Weeks

Dear Baby G,

I should have written this on Thursday, but this has been a long, stressful week! So, I am writing three days late. Another week is gone and another one is half-way gone! We go to the doctor again on Wednesday. This last week you went to your first OU basketball game. We went to the Ford Center in Oklahoma City and watched the OU women play Tennessee. It was loud but fun. We watched more home videos of your daddy this week. They were really funny! Someday you'll be able to watch them and hear your grandpa's voice since you won't get to know him. We're both really sad about that, but you will know how good of a man he was and how much he loved your daddy. I know he would have loved you, too.

We are still working on emptying out your room. Hopefully soon it will be finished. It was a busy week at school, so I didn't have much time or energy to work on it! Maybe this week I will have a little extra time. I still haven't been throwing up, but I am nauseous a lot and my gag reflex is really sensitive! And, other than being completely exhausted all the time, I feel pretty good! Whatever I have to go through to get you will be more than worth it. We've also made it a month and a half taking the injections. Your daddy was giving them to me for a while, but I have been doing it for the past couple of weeks. They aren't too bad, but my stomach is bruised pretty bad! Hopefully we'll get some more pictures of you on Wednesday, and we're anxious to hear your heartbeat!

Love,
Mommy


How your baby's growing:
Your new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain.