Week 23/24 Belly Shots

Week 24

I have been busy the last month, visitors, holiday's, work etc. etc. so this blog has been neglected! Below are all the updates Baby Boy Hertel now known as Liam Alexander Hertel has gone through.

Week 20: Liam's digestive system is building up for the real world, he helps it along by swallowing to work his digestive track. We saw this during the ultrasound, he was so active and alert for us.

Week 21: Liam's eyebrows & lids are present.

Week 22: Liam looks like a miniature newborn- all of his facial features are becoming more distinct, he is even developing tooth buds beneath his gum's. His eyes are fully formed but his irises still lack pigment. He has plenty of lanugo hair that covers his body (along with vernix this hair covers the body and protects his skin from the amniotic fluid).

Week 23: Liam's sense of movement is well developed by now. His blood vessels in his lungs are developing to prepare him to breath. He can also pick up noises outside the womb - we talk to him and play him music and Sophie likes to practice her bark around him too.

Week 24: Liam is still lean but soon most of his weight will pack on to fill his wrinkles out. His brain is steadily developing. His lungs are developing branches of the respiratory tree as well as cells that produce surfactant - a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he joins us.

Week 23

Baby Boy Hertel Weighs a little over a pound now and his length is around 11.5inches long.

Week 22

Baby Boy Hertel is weighing in at 1lb to 1.25lbs now, and his length is around 11inches.

Week 21; Two Baby Bellies

21 Weeks

Baby Boy Hertel is the size of a carrot in week 21, weighing in between .75 to 1lb this week and measuring 10.5in in length

Week 20

Our baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now; the length is around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel. We find out this Thursday if it is baby boy Hertel or baby girl Hertel. Alex says boy, but don't all guys say their first born is going to be a male...we will see.

Week 19

Our baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6- 7.5 inches, head to bottom and even longer if you measure the legs!

Nursery

Thanks Aunt Sarah for picking out the nursery color, I LOVE IT!

Any volunteers to paint...ha!

Week 18

Our baby is about 5.5 to 6 inches long about the length of a bell pepper and weighs around 7 ounces this week. The blood vessels can be seen through baby Hertel's skin and a protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around the nerves (this process lasts for an entire year after baby graces us with their presence). Genitals are now noticeable through ultrasound...but we will have to wait for our twenty week checkup to see what the sex is (November 5th).

Week 17

Our baby's skeleton is now changing from cartilage to bone. Baby Hertel weighs as much as a turnip (5 oz) and around 5inches long (head to bottom). The brain, muscles, nervous and circulatory systems are all functioning and the sweat glands are starting to develop. As the baby grows I should start to feel it move (quickening), so any day now I am sure I will feel flutters from the baby.

Week 16

A growth spurt is coming, the baby is between 4.5 to 4.75 inches now weighing in at 3.5oz now but in the next few weeks it will double in weight. The legs are more developed along with the position of the head/neck being more erect and the eyes and ears being close to there final position. The heart is pumping around 25 quarts of blood each day. Our baby has hiccups that are caused by the diaphragm although they don't create sound because there is no air to make noises. Our prenatal appointment went well last Tuesday, everything is going smoothly thus far... and babies heart beat was around 148 bpm. November 5th will be the big day... little Hertel will finally be known as girl Hertel or boy Hertel.

Week 16 Belly

Week 16

Week 15

Baby's body is growing faster than its head which makes it look even more baby like. The baby has hair now (called lanugo) that covers its body and head. It is about four inches long and weighs under 2 ounces.

Our baby can hear the tones and noises going on outside the womb now, although it probably sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher instead of clear voices. It can also sense light (flash light), even though it's eyes are shut until later in the third trimester.

We have our third prenatal appointment on Tuesday the 3rd, there probably won't be a ultrasound this visit but next month we will find out the sex of the baby... finally.

Baby Bulge

Week 14

Our baby weighs between 1 - 1.5 ounces and it's length is 3.25 - 4 inches. This week we are finally in our second trimester, I am feeling a lot better no nausea and more energy.

Our baby can now make facial expressions squinting, frowning, and possibly sucking it's thumb! The babies body is growing faster than its head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck.

I should be able to feel the baby kicking by the end of month four (week 16), and soon after we can find out what this little lemon is.

13 Weeks

At the end of this week, our baby officially enters the second trimester of development. It is only 3 inches from crown to rump and weighs just half an ounce, but it looks like a real human baby now! The eyes have moved from the sides of the head to the front, and the ears are in their normal position.

Week 12

By now, nearly all of the baby's organs, structures and systems are fully formed. The heart is pumping several quarts of blood through our baby's body every day. Our baby has also begun to develop nerves and a spinal cord. Fingers and toes have separated and hair and nails continue to grow. The baby is approximately 2.5 - 3.5 inches and weighs about 12 - 14 grams.

Before, where there was only reflex movement, your baby now moves spontaneously and at random, although the movements are still too slight to be felt. At last weeks office visit we got to hear the babies fast heart beat (159bpm), along with seeing how big it has gotten since the last visit (now over 2 inches long).

Baby Hertel's 11-12 Week Picture

Week 11

In week 11, our baby's fingers and toes have separated and are distinct.Amniotic fluid begins to accumulate as the kidneys start functioning. This fluid also helps to protect the baby inside mommy and allows for the baby to move freely around in it. Our baby can suck and swallow along with it's new skills: flex fingers, form a fist, punch, kick, arch the body, and wrinkle his/her little forehead. The baby's muscles in the intestinal walls begin to practice contractions that digest food. The tiny little skeletal bones throughout the baby's body are beginning to harden and even little tooth buds are forming. Now that all major organs have formed, the most critical period in development has passed.

Our baby, just over 1 1/2 inches long (size of a fig), is now almost fully formed.

Week 10

Our baby is the size of a kumquat this week, it is a little over a inch long and still weighs less than a ounce. This week our baby graduated from a embryo to a fetus. It's vital organs are beginning to function even making its own red blood cells. It's toes and hands no longer look amphibious but more like tiny fingers and toes and even finger nails.

We are really excited for next Friday, we have another appointment and hope to see baby Hertel again.

Week 9

Week 8

New this week:

While the arms and legs are lengthening webbed fingers and toes are poking out from our baby's hands and feet, its elbows are forming, eyelids practically cover its eyes, breathing tubes extend from its throat to the branches of developing lungs, and the "tail" is just about gone. In its brain, nerve cells begin to connect with one another, forming early neural pathways. Our baby is the size of a kidney bean and is constantly moving even though I can't feel it. It is .63inches long and weighs around a gram.

Alex and I went for our first Prenatal appointment on Friday and got the babies first picture taken, everything looks average at this point. We got to see the babies heart beat and hear it through ultrasound (not true heartbeat sound). It was truly amazing to hear the fast heartbeat (145bpm). We are scheduled to go back September 4th to get another ultrasound and get checked out.

Baby Hertel's First Picture

Week 7

Baby week 7:

Our baby has doubled in size from last week, it is approximately 1/2 inch long and weighs less than a breath mint. If we had a super sonic microscope we could see its eyelid folds, tip of nose and outlines of its hands and feet. Internally our babies brain hemispheres are growing, along with the liver making red blood cells until bone marrow can do its job, and the appendix and pancreas that make insulin to aid in digestion. Another big step is that our babies umbilical cord now has blood vessels that will carry oxygen and nutrients to and from baby. Possibly the most interesting is that every major system in the human body is now present in its early form in Little Hertel Baby.

Alex and I had the pleasure of telling all our closest family and friends this week either in person, over the phone, or by letters in the mail. It was a big sigh of relief and happy times to see the joy in others eyes and hear exuberation in voices.

Sickness hasn't plagued me, I guess I am lucky... or maybe I shouldn't count my blessings just yet :) I am however craving all kinds of foods like okra, V8 juice (I have at least a glass or two a day) eggs, and chocolate fudge ice cream bars (fat free kind) oh yeah and I can't keep enough water around me, drinking two to three liters a day is nothing.

Week 6

Week six is already here...can't believe it. Our baby has been with us for a whole month!

Baby Developments Week Six:

Measures 4 to 6mm (up to 1/4 inch).

Not very big, but definitely bigger than last week!

There are dark spots where the baby's eyes and nostril are going to be, tiny buds that will form into arms and legs, bones have made an appearance - no joints yet.

Possibly the coolest thing to me this week is that our baby's heart is beating at a rate of 100-160 bpm (beats per minute).

Moments I am super excited for: Telling Everyone, Getting First Ultrasound, Listening To The Heartbeat.

With Love,

Alex, Jessica & Baby-to-Be

First Post

Join us during this exciting time of our lives...growing a baby. It is officially the coolest science experiment we have ever conducted.

Alex and I are now 5 weeks pregnant. Most of you have no clue yet and won't until the 7th of August. I decided to start a journal of sorts to keep me distracted and thought this might be a cool way of doing it.

It all started last Tuesday (July 14th) when I got a slight positive line on a home pregnancy test, then I took one each day and as they got darker and darker I decided to get an official test. Monday July 20th I took a blood test and Tuesday the 21st we found out we were in the 4-6week range of pregnancy. By my calculation it makes us 5 weeks. Our first Dr. Apt is on the 7th of August and at that point I plan on telling everyone if it looks good. Oh yeah and the picture of the sesame seeds...that is the length of our baby right now. It is hard to believe something so tiny makes your body and life change in an instant!

With Love,

Alex, Jessica, & Baby to Be