15 weeks... and counting

By the end of this week "the apple" is about 4.5 inches long and weighs as much as a slice of cheese. (I didn't make that reference up, I borrowed it from a web site.) I'm not quite sure if that is still head-to-rump or an actual length at this point.

The baby's taste buds already look like a mature adult's and doctors have learned that the amniotic fluid that surrounds it can smell strongly of curry, cumin, garlic, onion and other essences from a mother's diet.

The baby spends most days practicing breathing amniotic fluid and swimming about. Apparently they're quite mobile at this point, waving their arms, smiling and frowning, sucking their thumb, but I probably won't start feeling that for another few weeks. Unless I mistake it for gas.

On Friday we have our next prenatal visit. Still no ultrasound. We'll probably hear the heartbeat again, though. Nothing much has changed since our last visit, so I have no idea what we do this time. Oh, but I'll probably go to the lab and ingest a gallon of un-carbonated Mountain Dew-like juice so they can test my sugars. Diabetes runs in my family, so they do this test early for us lucky gals.

The buttons on my shirts scream in torture these days, although my pants ride low enough that they're still doing ok. I need to go maternity shopping. The clothes my wonderful friends loaned me are summer weight and I can't quite get away with them yet. I know it seems silly, but I always feel "hefty" when I go try on clothes and I'm fairly certain that trend is going to continue for awhile, so I'm not all that enthusiastic about hitting the racks.