Week 17/ 18 updates and how our visit with the avocado went...

How your baby's growing: - WEEK 17

Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.

How your baby's growing: Week 18

Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long, and he weighs almost 7 ounces (about the size of a bell pepper). He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.

So, last week during the avocado stage, we got to hang with Electra and the avocado. Before we got together though, they went to the Grand Canyon which was pretty great for Electra and her family and pretty funny to think that our baby has been there before we have. We could have gone, but just didn't make it happen.....maybe this summer. Anyway, after their visit, they came to spend a few days with us and we had fun relaxing in the warm weather and enjoying each others company. 

Ms. Electra was showing which was fun to see and I had a hard time not invading her space too much and touching the baby bump! She looked great and healthy and still had no complaints so that was good. She also let us know that she felt the baby moving now and that is just too awesome  Her whole family, our whole family, is so amazingly great about this whole process and everyone is doing their best to take care of her and baby. It melts my heart really. We took a baby bump picture in front of a beautiful flower bush at the zoo which I will add later. 

Now we are in week 17 and yesterday, we heard the heart beat again. As always, I was holding my breath, thinking the worst but of course, it was there, nice and strong! It was beating about 155 beats a minute this time and the measurements were all "looking great". He or she is growing quite nicely! Oh and by the way, I will be finding out, but because Dan wants to be surprised, I can't tell anyone...... so, until the birth, I have come up with the name "Ginger". This is because both the donor and Dan have Irish blood and I am thinking we will have a little red head pop out! ;)

So, now that the ginger is 17 weeks, they are beginning to listen to sounds around them. Remember the website I was telling you about before that Electra set up? Well, it is really great! We can upload anything to the site and she can download it and put the sounds on an MP3 player for baby to hear. How cool is that?!? Anyway, I got really excited about it all and sang a couple songs, read a few books and added music that could be soothing for the baby yesterday. I hope to continue adding stuff each week. I tried just talking to the baby but it made me want to cry so that was hard. 

It is still so odd and while I am starting to get excited, I am not sure I am as excited as I should be. I am still living my normal life NOT pregnant but in reality, a baby is coming. (Since I am doing the breast feeding protocol, I am acting pregnant.) I am not sure how to explain it and I know that in the end, none of my feeling now will matter because I will be so thrilled when that little ginger is finally in my arms!

As someone wise recently said to me, this is God's plan, he is orchestrating this whole thing and it is really out of our hands now. As long as we trust and believe in him, everything will be alright in the end. :)