So...ever since 9.5 weeks I feel like I have turned a corner - still not one hundred percent - but certainly better than I have been feeling! The hunger? Still most definitely an issue. And food doesn't really sound good, but I do keep eating it. ...But otherwise the past few days have been a pleasant surprise.
This is probably the most hodge podge entry ever...but here's some highlights from week 10...
This week I found more maternity pants - which are awesome by the way. Did you know they make yoga pants with the expansion tummy panel? WIN! I finally acquired a second pair of jeans and have one pair of black convertible cargo capris/pants - I officially have enough pairs of pants to be able to do laundry once a week and to not rubberband my clothes together to go out in public. HUGE victory for me! By the way, if you are one of the people trying to stretch your wardrobe for as long as possible all I can say is why torture yourself?! I fought it for a few weeks, but once I caved...ahhh, so much more comfortable! It wasn't that my pants didn't still buckle (in fact my smallest pre-pregnancy pants still button...it's just a terribly uncomfortable idea).
I also met with some of my colleagues for happy hour. It was fun to see them, I secretly gloated inside when they all talked about how tired/rough the first week of school had been (I don't miss the sore throat!), and breaking the news to them was a lot of fun! Exciting!
After that I met with the lovely Rosemary Laird - a parent of several of my favorite former AP students - for a delightful dinner at River Rocks and worked hard to absorb every bit of sage parental advice I could from her. I have known the Lairds for three years now and have only become increasingly amazed by the children, the parents, and the whole fun, precious family and tonight was no different! The Laird family kick-started Baby Hals' baby book collection! Each member of the Laird family (all four children and each parent) picked out their favorite baby book and signed it with a note! It was just the sweetest present!!!
A wonderful, thoughtful gift from the Laird family! Baby books for Baby Hals! :)
This week I have also visited the Kennedy Space Center...twice! Once with my friends and Daniel to see the new Atlantis exhibit and once with a dear friend and colleague I knew from the Korea fellowship. He and his wife Rachel were in town, so we enjoyed a nice lunch on the river and then thoroughly enjoyed exploring the space center - they were equally inspired and amazed by the exhibit!
Catching up with Mark Quinones at River Rocks and enjoying a breezy summery meal along the river
Mark and Rachel looking to the stars...
the Atlantis in all her glory - quite a beauty!
This is the kind of silliness that goes on in the evenings...
Okay, so totally cheesy...but it's this kind of stuff that makes me want more than one kid. To me there is something heartwarming about sibling antics...
As for cravings/aversions during week 10? Chicken is still hit or miss and Daniel has dutifully taken on the task of prepping/cooking the chicken part of dinner when applicable. (He's a keeper!). Cravings? Orange juice, orange juice, orange juice, orange juice! It is just SO good!
And week 10 positive? Today I swam at the gym and really enjoyed it! It ended with me feeling happy and contently tired, not beyond exhausted. In fact - before the gym I loaded the car with stuff for good will, paid the bills, moved all of my classroom boxes into my closet so if we are goign to sell the house we can show the room, did a load of laundry, worked out and then came home to cook dinner, fold laundry, cleaned the kitchen, walked the dog, what?! I know! I really am feeling a lot better than I have been!
I have struggled with this one. I don't think telling people early will "jinx me" - I actually think that superstition is ridiculous. However...I do understand that some people perceive the news as being very private news, particularly if the pregnancy has a sad, devastating ending.
That said, if after trying for a year and getting pregnant we did have a miscarriage - it would be devastating and extra upsetting the next time someone asks when we are going to start a family already.
I have gone in circles - if we tell people early will they think we are being overly optimistic or foolish for sharing so quickly? But telling our friends and family also means that there would be support there for us if something sad does happen - because let's face it - every week that I continue to be pregnant and Baby Hals continues to grow I cannot help but to become increasingly excited and attached to the idea that some day I am going to get to snuggle with this little one.
I'm also not going to lie - in reality, I told a bunch of people! But it was really fun because aside from parents and siblings and our immediate circle of friends we got to really enjoy telling people very organically as it naturally came up in conversation or when a close friend messaged us out of the blue to chat. Each week we added a few people to our circle. It made it increasingly exciting and in many ways it was really fun that we got to enjoy slowly telling people one by one for as long as we did.
And the day I told my grandparents and all of my mother's sisters, I may have chosen not to warn mom ahead of the ambush! (And kept cracking up when I thought of her suddenly juggling an onslaught of calls!) And my Aunt Betsy is convinced that I must consider naming the baby Diblet. Sigh.
Maybe it is silly...I am an incredibly rational, logical person, so knowing the statistics and my chances of things going wrong was a must. I found this site to be a great help to me - as the days passed it really boosted my confidence and made me relax and feel more free to be more unguardingly happy about my pregnancy and our baby... As was expressed by Cameron Diaz's character in What to Expect When You're Expecting "information soothes me!"
If you look at the statistics...you can see why at 8 weeks my confidence was up and why by 9 or so weeks I was bursting to make an official announcement! But at that point I had an appointment scheduled at 11 weeks exactly - so it seemed silly to not just wait a few more days. I decided then that once I heard a healthy heartbeat at that appointment is was public announcement time - and then I had a countdown to focus on!
While the numbers in the beginning are very daunting, once you get down to single digits - it really was a very comforting countdown for me! I am sure these stats aren't perfect - but it was something hopeful, yet realistic to focus on.
Knowing for weeks that the difference between the week I was in and reaching the second trimester was 1% was, well, awesome!
My first ultrasound was on Wednesday July 17th and...
Baby Hals has a heartbeat!!! (That's pretty much all I cared about!)
I had a hunch as to how far along I am - but found out I was actually off by two days. The official count the day of the ultrasound was 5 weeks 6 days so...
My official due date is March 13, 2014!
I assure you I am not delusional - I know the images below are grainy and pixelated and blobby but... that blob is OUR BABY HALS! And therefore...it's a very cute and adorable blob!
Last week the little one grew from poppy to apple seed and this week has been growing into a sweet pea sized tadpole shaped cutie with little nubbins! Aww - what an adorable cutie-blob! :)
So this week the insatiable appetite has waned (well it waned for three or four days) but the fatigue has kicked in with full force! Daniel has been joking that I am a giving Chance a run for his money and may very well be out napping our pup! (Who has always been quite the napper).
Highlights from the week -
I swam three miles in six days this week!
We told our friends!
Daniel got to tell Ryan at lunch the Monday we got back from the Keys
We had Chris over for dinner on Monday night and had a particularly fun time watching his face as he watched the video we had made and was like - is this for real? Seriously?!? His excitement was very fun!
My attempts to tell Becky were...thwarted quite a few times, but in the end I finally got to surprise her with the news on Thursday night and the Becky squeals and hugs definitely did not disappoint!
We got to tell Brie and Thomas later on that night wen they showed up and at some point in the evening the guys got into a raucous game of "the worst name ever for Baby Hals would be..."
Telling our friends definitely made it that much more real!
My first appointment! - Monday, July 15th!
And the last major event - an appointment with my midwife that was my first appointment...although according to official doctor's office/insurance mumbo jumbo this appointment was my confirmation appointment which will be followed in a month by my first appointment. Really? Sigh. Yes, really.
I got to the appointment, peed in a cup, and waited to be seen. When they took me back and did basic vitals, they were like - okay! Those are all the tests we are doing today (and in my head I was like what?! we're not doing bloodwork? or better yet an ultrasound?)
My midwife walked in and said "congratulations! Based on your urine test you are pregnant!" (Okay, now I feel really bad...because for months I have been hoping and hoping for that to be true...and here I was thinking "seriously?! I am paying for an appointment in which you tell me what I already know?!"
We discussed vitamins (check), what not to eat (check), risk factors (Rh negative), etc.
Usually they date your pregnancy based on your last cycle, but since mine are longer than normal I knew that wouldn't work, but I wasn't 100% sure how far along I was either. The midwife checked the size of my uterus and decided I was measuring "insufficient growth" (aka I was not as far along as my last cycle suggested...this is what expected so was totally fine, but...justifies an ultrasound to the insurance company!)
I left the appointment a bit frustrated to have (WAY) less information than I had hoped for, but I made the call to set up the ultrasound and tried to just embrace the fact that at 2 pm on Wednesday I was going to FOR SURE have more information about whether or not Baby Hals was okay!
After visiting six continents and over twenty-five countries together, Daniel and I couldn't be more excited about the adventure we are embarking on next!!! Estimated date of departure is March 13th, 2014!
On June 30th, 2013 we found out that YES! We are having a BABY!!!
Joy! Pure joy! When my mom asked - "so what was your first reaction or your first thought - were you happy? scared? anxious?" My response "My first thought and my continual thought is that I am unbelievably happy and excited!
We've spent years deciding what we value, setting goals ,and whittling down our baby bucket list...
We have always wanted to have a family some day, but it took us a lot of time to determine when exactly that would be! For years we just weren't ready. For a lot of reasons. We wanted to enjoy each other and just each other. We didn't want the responsibility. We knew we were too selfish - and were enjoying that lifestyle. We wanted to travel - and oh did we! We wanted to make sure we were set up financially - first we paid off my student loans, paid off our cars so that we owned both outright, and aggressively paid on our mortgage each month. Our goal was to have a mortgage and basic monthly bills (power, water, etc). Check!
I wanted to have options career wise too. I had always wanted a masters, but was still in the process of figuring out exactly what type of masters I wanted. I finally figured out what areas I was in love with and pitched it to Daniel (I mean...it was going to take a lot of my time and a lot of our $$$), but part of our rationale behind all of this was getting a degree in an area that would allow me to stay in education while having the possibility of having a job other than being a classroom teacher. I LOVE teaching...but I was beginning to realize that being a full-time classroom teacher while having a six week old baby was not the combination I wanted in life. I wanted to be able to work, but I didn't want to have a job that followed me home when I had a two month old. I know lots of people do it and I think they are amazing. But a) I was working at a school that was particularly boundary-less in terms of following me home/causing me to have late hours and b) I had learned that I was the type of teacher (not necessarily a good thing) that had a really hard time not being the almost too passionate teacher who spent hours pouring over my work after school and in the evenings...not something conducive to my future family. So I set my sights on a masters that I was incredibly excited about that would have a wide variety of possible applications for my future career goals, and went to work! Btw - masters? Check!
Travel...oh travel...we have actually taken seventeen different foreign trips together and have absolutely loved and relished our adventures! Amazing, astounding, unbelievable, ...so many of my dreams have come true. The days I have been traveling have been some of the best in my life...and I have had SO MUCH FUN exploring the world with my husband! It has brought us closer and closer together. My travels have helped me grow as a teacher, as a person, and have helped us grow as a couple - being a world traveler has deeply changed and influenced my life. And honestly - I don't know when we will travel next, but I know we will travel again. I cannot wait to take my child/children by the hands and show them the world!
Enjoying ourselves in Florence, Zell am See, an igloo in Switzerland, a glacier in Iceland, Vienna, and an amazing view in Innsbruck, Austria!
Diving the Great Barrier Reef in 2009
Snuggling up to a beautiful tiger at the Australia Zoo in Brisbane, Australia 2009
Snorkeling with stingless jellies in Palau 2010
Smooching in the Sahara in Giza, Egypt 2010
Hiking the Inca Trail and trekking to Machu Picchu 2011
I had secretly thought since we had gotten married that when it was time for a family I would know - I tentatively believed that I would know when I felt like something was missing in our lives. I wasn't sure if that was right...but honestly...that is exactly how I eventually felt. I reached the point where I wanted our world to revolve around more.
What may have sealed our fate...or escalated our timeline a bit...
How can you possibly tell me that this adorableness wouldn't flip the switch to "on" for baby hormones?
...and then there was watching my husband play with our pup. I really cannot begin to count the ways that this melts my heart. Daniel is THE BEST dad to Chance - thoughtful, sweet, incredibly selfless...
I still chuckle when I think about the conversation I had with my best friend Carolyn when I told her the story about how we got Chance...she said "oh my gosh Beth - dogs are gateways to babies!!!"
Oh Carolyn, you were oh. so. right. I remember smugly thinking at the time that you were right - because even then I was absolutely smitten with our pup. I knew I was truly in trouble during the summer of 2011. We had had Chance for four months and I was home for three days between the Greece & Turkey trip and my month long fellowship to China & Taiwan. I was sitting on the couch cradling the pup in my lap, gazing into his eyes thinking...maybe I should just skip China and stay home and snuggle with Chance. ...From that moment on I knew I was "doomed." The baby hormone had officially switched "on."
I mean seriously...how could you not want to spend your time and energy snuggling with this pup and making sure he has a loving, secure happy home!
So when we were finally ready (or as ready as we would ever be) we decided to start our endeavors in the family making business. To me it was a huge deal and getting to that point was a multi-month lead up...but then despite my cautious planning and my attempts at timing and the fact that in my mind we had waited for years to get to this point...nothing happened. In hindsight, I just don't think it was meant to...there are so many things that have happened in the past year that make the timing now so much more perfect. Did things go the way my type A self had planned? Absolutely not. In fact leaving my job was really not part of the plan at all (see this entry for details) but in the end it really seems like relaxing and going with what felt right for us and our long term visions and goals for ourselves and for our future family was what really mattered.
Hindsight is 20-20: The reasons that it was a blessing that we were not insta-pregnant...
- We had time for one more year of travel and we relished it! One of trips was the ultimate, prime jewel baby bucket list adventure - a dive trip to the Galapagos! It was absolutely one of the most magical weeks of our lives!
Ourika Valley, Morocco 2012
Saadian tombs in Marrakech, Morocco
Watching the bustling square in Marrakech at sunset
Parque Guell in Barcelona
Diving at Darwin's Arch on New Year's Eve 2012
Why dive the Galapagos...enough shown. One of the most amazing weeks of our lives!!!
- I learned a lot about myself. And about what I valued. And about my priorities. And was reminded how much I deeply love my husband.
- Daniel is now WAY more ready than he was a year ago. WAY. A year of mental adjusting was very very good for him.
- Over the past year my car accident injury (rear ended January 2011, herniated discs in my neck...daily pain for years) has become much more manageable! I have seen a lot of doctors and have learned a lot...but in the past year I have weaned off of muscle relaxers and other things and am much more day to day functional and comfortable...and had a lawyer that helped me get my medical bills paid...excellent timing.
- I earned my masters! I am now equipped with a M.Ed. in Educational Technology and Curriculum & Instruction and have dozens and dozens of ideas! I could not be more glad that I wasn't teaching six classes a day while working on grad school through the weekends while braving weeks 6 and 7and 8 and 9 of my pregnancy!
- Timing...the stars seem to be aligning for some major epic changes for the Hals...some of which have not been fully determined yet...but if all the changes occur that I anticipate will occur, it will be pretty crazy and amazing.
- It has made me ever so grateful for what we have now! We are SO excited and happy! I feel incredibly content! :)
Now for the exciting part...figuring out I was pregnant...!!!
I had a hunch that I might be pregnant - I was pretty sure we had timed things right and I knew it had been almost two weeks and that I could soon start testing. There had been three clues that I had made mental note of - that could be things that just happened or could be directly tied to what I desperately hoped to be true. First, I had an incident while I was at the gym (which I now know was three days before I found out). I was swimming laps in the pool (something I do several times a week) and once I had warmed up I decided to pace myself off someone in a nearby lane to push myself. For about five minutes I swam at a more intense pace (but not an "as fast as you can go sprint" by any means) and had to stop because I very suddenly got the most intense "I don't have enough oxygen" kind of headache and was so out of breath I couldn't actually swallow water from my water bottle. It was super bizarre - I pace myself off of people all the time and it usually makes me feel great. I had to take it easy the rest of the work out - and any time my heart rate went up too much the headache would return. Getting out of the pool I felt horrible - weak and sick instead of relaxed and refreshed like I usually do. In the hot showers I was physically shuddering/cold and shaking all of a sudden. It was definitely weird. I remember standing in the shower thinking...if I am pregnant, is this the hormones starting up and kicking in?!? If not, I have no idea what's going on! So...in hindsight - I knew I was pregnant when...
Two other major clues for the week that are far less obvious ones. Even though I was getting lots of sleep at night, I was still really fatigued. I was having a really hard time waking up in the morning - it was like coming out of this really heavy fog and by one o'clock I was tired enough to want to sit down again a few afternoons before I found out. I attributed it to finally relaxing enough that I was figuring out how tired I really am after years and years of pushing myself, but alas there was a different reason! And third clue - I had a few days (around the time of the swimming incident) when I was so thirsty it didn't matter how much water I drank, I still wanted more!
As the two week mark drew closer, I started testing. I started too early, but I was using really cheap tests I had gotten on the internet (the "Wondfo cheapies" as they are often called online) - my friend and neighbor Kim, had recently found out she was pregnant with some of these tests and had graciously given what was left over to me with the warning that the line tends to be pretty faint (these are some lucky tests - this pack has resulted in two different women's positives!) On Saturday I got distracted while it was processing, and when I came back to look at it, well after the five minute mark, I saw the faintest of faintest lines. Hmm. On some pregnancy tests you can actually see a shadowy line where the test strip should be, but on these that has never been the case. It was so light it was hard to see if it had a pink color to it or not... all day long I kept pulling it back out and thinking...hmmm. This is the most official maybe I think I have ever had. I was trying so hard not to get my hopes up! It was not even time to mention it to Daniel yet - I think he would have looked at the strip and been like - yeah right.
Saturday night I slept HORRIBLY! I was so excited to sleep and wake up and test, I couldn't sleep. I was too hot. I was itchy. I was way way too excited. Finally I woke up and it was about 6 am - good enough! I took another one of the cheap tests and it was a little bit darker, but still super super faint. But enough that I decided to try one of the tests that I had in the cabinet that cost more than 25 cents. This one only took three minutes and...it...was...POSITIVE! Clearly, blatantly, obviously, POSITIVE! It was still a fainter than an even match with the control - but there was no doubt! In fact, the line was so solid I decided to go ahead and pull out the "big guns" - I had one digital test I had saved for "the big day" and had planned to only use it when it really and truly was official - I really wanted to see those words. It can take up to three minutes - and after one minute - BAM! I breathlessly stared at it in anticipation - as the timer symbol pulsed on the screen to reveal - PREGNANT! I may or may not have jumped up and down...a lot. :)
Daniel was still solidly asleep and it was my one chance to figure out how to surprise him. When we had started trying a year prior I had decided I really wanted to get to tell him in a unique way - and I had dreamed up the idea of a package. I had put it all together and put it in the closet for "someday" knowing that it would probably happen like this - I would find out and have a tiny window of time to pull it together. So, I excitedly wrote a message in the card I had purchased for him, tucked it into the box with a cute onesie and the positive pregnancy test, and created a fun mailing label that addressed the box to "Papa Hals" (his nickname the students gave him in Italy) and drew a cute stork carrying "Baby Hals" in the return address spot.
I went back into the bedroom - I was on full blown adrenaline by now and in need of a walk, as was our dog, so I threw on some neighborhood walk friendly clothes and was about to head out the door when I noticed Daniel was stirring. Once Daniel stirs the kid is up. So, I ran to get the package and before he was even out of bed said "hey babe, this package came for you..."
Daniel - through bleary eyes "is it from Zappos? Is it from my mom or something?"
Me - "not exactly, just look at it"
Daniel - blink, blink, blink..."Really?!?"
Me - can no longer talk - very smiley happy emphatic nods!
P.S. Carolyn Peters you were right...dogs are most certainly the gateway to babies. :)
Every week feels like such a monumental step towards growing our baby! Every week puts us that much closer! Some big things...
At week 9 Baby Hals graduated from embryo to fetus! (Properly pronounced in my head as feeh-tus!). He/she also outgrew his/her tail! He/she is wiggling around now. And...since the Fourth of July the baby has grown from poppy seed to a large grape! Very sweet!!!
Highlights or funny (ish) stories from the past two weeks -
The possibility of sad things happening risk is down to 2%!
I have a bump! To an unsuspecting person I probably look like I just need to lose a few pounds...but...to a trained eye...it is most definitely a bump!!! Daniel declared it official on Sunday or Monday night (at about 8.5 weeks) when he walked into the kitchen to give me a kiss and put his hand on my waist and was like "Woah!" I've been so excited!
9 Weeks 1 Day!
Between weeks 8-9.5 was probably when I felt the crummiest. I have been super crazy lucky in terms of nausea - although in my defense, I have never ever been a puker. From week 8 through about week 9.5 I started having days when the nausea would come in mild waves through the day. Peppermint everything was my survival strategy. My funny craving/morning sickness moment is the day that the only thing that cured my nausea after an entire morning and afternoon of feeling crummy was caving into the one craving I had - a mint chocolate chip milk shake. It was one of the most delicious things I had ever tasted. Mmmm. It was seriously an instant cure - so crazy and strange!
The other funny incident was the day I have jokingly called "my day of rest." Last Saturday. I seriously slept in until 10 or 10:30 because I was so so very tired. I woke up and did a few things around the house - got lunch for Daniel to enjoy after his fifteen mile run (which - to brag for him he finished in 2 hours and 15 minutes!)...by 1 o'clock I was so exhausted I didn't know how to go on and laid down on the couch and...woke up three hours later. Haha. Daniel watched an entire movie in the same room while I slept - explosions and gunshots and everything and said Chance and I both only stirred during this one ridiculously massive explosion scene. I woke up - you guessed it - tired! We went to our friends for dinner that evening and while our friend was cooking I napped for another hour or so. Yep. I was in special (very tired) form.
I would say at this point my only worth complaining about pregnancy frustration is in my attempts to work out. First of all, working out is a challenge to time around my ridiculous need for food. If I try to work out without enough food in my system I end up a shaky nauseous mess. If I eat and try to work out right away my tummy isn't settled enough. So it's this difficult balance between consuming enough fuel so I have enough and waiting long enough that the fuel doesn't resurface....but not so long that I am running low on fuel. On top of that - workouts usually make me feel energized or refreshed. I may feel tired, but it is a content tired. I have scaled my workouts back - but even still the last time I swam I felt sick afterwards and so exhausted I could barely move for hours and hours. And I felt so exhausted it made me feel all super sad and depressed. (really? workouts make me happy...) :( I only swam slowly for thirty minutes - seriously? (Pre-pregnancy a swim workout was moderate to high pace for anywhere between 45-75 minutes). So...that's my complaint so far. When I thought back to some of my other workouts I realize that one of the other times I was swimming I felt gaggy in the water and struggled to finish...one of the other times was during the week I was super dizzy. Boo...I am totally willing to modify my workouts - but I still want to get to enjoy them! Maybe second trimester? Almost there!
And a fun highlight! This week I met up with one of my former students, Alexis, got to hear about her first year of college, and enjoyed brainstorming with her about her upcoming summer abroad in Innsbruck. And then I followed it up with a visit to see Amanda and Mitch's adorable newborn, Shea! What a cutie! It was great to see how happy they both are (exhausted of course, but happy!) And they sent me home with Baby Hals' first toy! (Which happened to be at the VERY top of my personal wishlist) - a Sophie the Giraffe set (the unbelievably adorable giraffe...that honestly, I almost bought online the day I found out I was pregnant)! YAY! :) Somehow that just made everything seem that much more real and official!
Is this seriously not the cutest baby toy you have ever seen?! I don't know what it is about this toy - but EVERY single time I have seen it in a baby picture,...omgoodness! Cuteness! :)
It's tricky...because in some ways I feel much better than I worriedly anticipated I might feel. You hear so many horror stories about the first trimester -- one of our close friends couldn't even brush her teeth without puking...for months. So, I was definitely bracing myself for the worst. (Which may still be around the bend). But honestly? So far I am very pleasantly surprised. And incredibly grateful!
Daniel thinks I am not doing well - but in comparison to the first trimester hell I envisioned I think I am doing great. And then I remember that...oh yeah, I guess on Saturday morning I did spend the majority of the morning with my head on the kitchen table because holding it up was too much work, or oh yeah, on Sunday I really did feel terrible...pretty much all day - I felt nauseous and struggled to eat throughout the day and had slept funny and pulled something in my neck.
And ZOMG the day of the itch...
I have always been prone to being a bit itchy, like I know when it has been more than 24 hours since my last Zyrtec because the itch creeps in. So right away even in week 4 by nighttime I was struggling with a wave of itchiness at bed time. I slapped some topical benedryl on...and sometimes hydrocortisone if I was desperate and would call it good. It has flared up here and there, but has mainly been in check...but today....ZOMG! I think I might lose my mind. As one thing calms down something else itches...my calves...my hand and fingers...my quads...the arms...my hamstrings...my scalp... I am losing it. Itching is seriously the most maddening thing - and throw in some bouts of nauseous and Chance puking just as we sat down for dinner beside the dinner table. Wednesday was a struggle.
So to recap...so far pregnancy is not as hellish as I envisioned it could be, in fact I am incredibly happy! But...when I think about it realistically - I feel pretty crappy and most days are a challenge. There, I admitted it.
But back to the exciting stuff...
This week there have been all kinds of cool developments for Baby Hals - the baby's bones have been growing, hardening, joints are starting to work - really cool stuff! Makes me think that my body is feeding Baby Hals his/her own little dose of Skele-gro :)
Besides the bones, all kinds of other cool things are happening - the mouth, lips, nose, genitals, are all taking form and in the next two weeks the muscles form too. When I thought about the bones forming and then the muscles and how it made a lot of sense that it would need to happen one step at a time I started picturing my uterus as the DNA rebuilder from Fifth Element - only Leeloo was built in like...90 seconds and Baby Hals is going to take 9 months...still pretty cool!
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