The Gift of Life

How your baby’s growing:
The cells that will make up all of your baby’s body parts and systems are dividing furiously as her body begins to take shape. Right now she’s about the size of a small lentil bean (4 to 5 millimeters across). If you could see through your uterine wall, you’d find an overlarge head and dark spots where her eyes and nostrils are beginning to take shape. Shallow pits on the sides of her head mark her developing ears, and her arms and legs appear as protruding buds. Her hands and feet look like paddles, with thick webbing between the developing digits, but her fingers and toes will soon become more distinct. Below the opening that will later be your baby’s mouth, there are small folds where her neck and lower jaw will eventually develop. (Inside, her tongue and vocal cords are just beginning to form.)

Your baby’s heart (which is starting to divide into the right and left chambers) is beating about 100 to 130 beats per minute — almost twice as fast as yours — and blood is beginning to circulate through her body. Her intestines are developing and tiny breathing passages are beginning to appear where her lungs will be. She’s also starting to build muscle fibers and, halfway through this week, she’ll likely start moving her tiny limbs. Unfortunately, you’ll probably have to wait until you’re several weeks into your second trimester before you get to enjoy feeling your baby’s calisthenics.

Source: BabyCenter

How your baby’s growing:
The cells that will make up all of your baby’s body parts and systems are dividing furiously as her body begins to take shape. Right now she’s about the size of a small lentil bean (4 to 5 millimeters across). If you could see through your uterine wall, you’d find an overlarge head and dark spots where her eyes and nostrils are beginning to take shape. Shallow pits on the sides of her head mark her developing ears, and her arms and legs appear as protruding buds. Her hands and feet look like paddles, with thick webbing between the developing digits, but her fingers and toes will soon become more distinct. Below the opening that will later be your baby’s mouth, there are small folds where her neck and lower jaw will eventually develop. (Inside, her tongue and vocal cords are just beginning to form.)

Your baby’s heart (which is starting to divide into the right and left chambers) is beating about 100 to 130 beats per minute — almost twice as fast as yours — and blood is beginning to circulate through her body. Her intestines are developing and tiny breathing passages are beginning to appear where her lungs will be. She’s also starting to build muscle fibers and, halfway through this week, she’ll likely start moving her tiny limbs. Unfortunately, you’ll probably have to wait until you’re several weeks into your second trimester before you get to enjoy feeling your baby’s calisthenics.

Source: BabyCenter

We could see the first line almost immediately after the test began. The instruction says however to wait for at least 3 minutes for the second line. We were excited but not knowing if it will yield us the result that would change our life forever. Then there it was, faintly and slowly becoming visible until it was almost the same colour as the first. It was Positive! Leah is pregnant! For the first few minutes we didn’t know what to do except hug each other.

We were not that confident a few weeks ago that it would come this soon. A close relative who happens to be a seer happily told us that a month before that a “breakthrough” on Leah’s condition will happen and the number 3 will be significant (see earlier blog article). That month, we waited in anticipation for it to happen. It didn’t. Then a fear hit home. Sometimes in the back of our minds, we are convinced that somehow we should also prepare for the possibility that maybe such moment is not meant to be. Then last Friday which fell on the 3rd week of this month (July) we got an answer.

Unlike other couples, we don’t have the luxury of delaying starting a family. Leah’s endometriosis hangs like a grim reminder that we could not take for granted having children. So when the second line appeared, we felt humbled. The gift of life as well as the gift of parenthood felt like God’s hand extending to us. We felt truly blessed.

- post by J

We just came from our very first doctor’s appointment earlier today. She palpated my abdomen and found everything to be well. I also underwent the usual blood and urine tests. We will be back to see her four to five weeks from now. Probably by then, we will be having our first ultrasound as well.

Everything right now is so surreal for me. It hasn’t really sunk in yet although I already knew from the very moment that my period was delayed. Thank God, I’m feeling generally fine except that I get frequently nauseous (having trouble burping) and I can easily fall into sleep whenever I’m left idle. As of this writing, I am already five weeks and five days on the way and we are to expect our little angel on the 23rd of March next year.

J is hoping that we’ll be having a boy, while I, on the other hand, would want a girl. In a few more months, we’ll soon found out. But whatever the gender is, we both just wish it to be healthy.

Speaking of J, he is soooo overprotective of me since we found out. Accordng to him, I shouldn’t be doing this, I shouldn’t be doing that; I should be eating this and not that. Hey, I’m not complaining. On the bright side, getting spoiled ain’t so bad after all.

Yes, like all other pregnant moms out there, I, too, seem to have developed a bottomless pit for a stomach overnight. Well, actually, it’s at dinner time that I really have these huge cravings and by the time it’s morning, I’ve lost all my appetite and just feel nauseous until lunch time.

Of late, I have been yearning for pizza and McDonald’s El Maco.

Images swiped from Daniel85

Yeah, they’re all junk food but you can’t deny that that is one awesome burger! Everytime I see the TV commercial run, I just crawl and beg J to get me one ASAP. Ahh.. but I have yet to wait for the weekend. J says I should be eating healthier foods in the meantime. Oh well…

The Gift of Life

We could see the first line almost immediately after the test began. The instruction says however to wait for at least 3 minutes for the second line. We were excited but not knowing if it will yield us the result that would change our life forever. Then there it was, faintly and slowly becoming visible until it was almost the same colour as the first. It was Positive! Leah is pregnant! For the first few minutes we didn’t know what to do except hug each other.

We were not that confident a few weeks ago that it would come this soon. A close relative who happens to be a seer happily told us that a month before that a “breakthrough” on Leah’s condition will happen and the number 3 will be significant (see earlier blog article). That month, we waited in anticipation for it to happen. It didn’t. Then a fear hit home. Sometimes in the back of our minds, we are convinced that somehow we should also prepare for the possibility that maybe such moment is not meant to be. Then last Friday which fell on the 3rd week of this month (July) we got an answer.

Unlike other couples, we don’t have the luxury of delaying starting a family. Leah’s endometriosis hangs like a grim reminder that we could not take for granted having children. So when the second line appeared, we felt humbled. The gift of life as well as the gift of parenthood felt like God’s hand extending to us. We felt truly blessed.

- post by J

We just came from our very first doctor’s appointment earlier today. She palpated my abdomen and found everything to be well. I also underwent the usual blood and urine tests. We will be back to see her four to five weeks from now. Probably by then, we will be having our first ultrasound as well.

Everything right now is so surreal for me. It hasn’t really sunk in yet although I already knew from the very moment that my period was delayed. Thank God, I’m feeling generally fine except that I get frequently nauseous (having trouble burping) and I can easily fall into sleep whenever I’m left idle. As of this writing, I am already five weeks and five days on the way and we are to expect our little angel on the 23rd of March next year.

J is hoping that we’ll be having a boy, while I, on the other hand, would want a girl. In a few more months, we’ll soon found out. But whatever the gender is, we both just wish it to be healthy.

Speaking of J, he is soooo overprotective of me since we found out. Accordng to him, I shouldn’t be doing this, I shouldn’t be doing that; I should be eating this and not that. Hey, I’m not complaining. On the bright side, getting spoiled ain’t so bad after all.