18 Weeks

Baby's now the size of a sweet potato! Baby's become amazingly mobile (compared to you, at least), passing the hours yawning, hiccupping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, sucking, and swallowing. And baby is finally big enough that you'll soon be able to feel her movements. Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and he weighs almost 7 ounces. 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.

Today I wore a green shirt to our doctors apt. We went to the perinatal specialist to get a sonogram of the heart. I wore green because it is my favorite color. Today we were also hoping for the specialist to tell us the gender. Well we are not team BLUE or team PINK. We are still TEAM GREEN! Baby Higgins would not open its legs and let us take a look. However, we did get some great feedback:

Heartbeat: 145 bpm
Weight: 7 ounces

I went in and our specialist name was "KIM". What a coincidence! She was sweet. They told me to come in with a FULL bladder so I drank about 40 ounces before I came in. I was about to bust! She said she would take a few of the most important measurements and then I could go to the bathroom. I ended up going to the bathroom THREE TIMES in hour and a half. She took all the measurements and baby looks healthy and right on track. The NT scan looked normal as did forehead, eyes, and back of neck. Saw Baby Higgins tummy, heart & chambers, legs and arms. We got to hear the heartbeat and also got see the baby wave at us.

I will be setting up another appointment with Dr. Martinez who did my baseline check up on my heart when I was 30 years old. They just want to make sure my heart is handling the pregnancy fine and that my heart is ok. When you are pregnant your heart is pumping twice the amount of blood than when you are not. They just want to make sure everything is doing fine. I will do whatever the doctors say to make sure that the baby is getting the best care possible.

As for my weight, I am right back where I started before I got pregnant. I had lost about five pounds during the first trimester. Well, thanks to pasta and eating back to normal, I gained five pounds back. I will get an official weigh in at my next OBGYN apt in two weeks.

Doctor's Office:


Here is a photo of Baby Higgins waving: