Our 4D experience – Baby Mills at 32 weeks

So we paid out and treated ourselves to a 4D scan at a little husband-and-wife run imaging centre in Basingstoke “Baby Debut” – http://www.babydebut.co.uk/index.htm

The experience was around £90 for an hours peek into my tummy to meet baby in all his 4D nakedness. He certainly showed us his best features; mooning us and flashing his willy aplenty (just like his daddy). We didn’t get to see much of his face though as he was in a breech position, very high, and hiding behind the umbilical cord. In situations like this, Baby Debut offer you a further scan free of charge to get a decent pic of your little one. So we went home a little disappointed armed with exercises to try to get His Royal Highness to turn around.

One week later – he graced us with a little peek at his perfect face. He’s got mummy’s pout, mummy’s cheekbones, daddy’s dimples and daddy’s bum – a formidable combination. Result? We’re smitten.

 

Strike the pose!

 

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Week 19 – 21

Catch up cont’ed…

Week 19 – the 2nd trimester!

Your vital stats: 6.5″ / 225-250g

At this stage, all of your development can be checked on an ultrasound scan including your brain, spine, stomach, bladder, kidneys, hands and feet (as you know – mum has already done this and you’re perfect in every way). If the books are right, you got a little more devious this week and started performing new tricks. As more of your nerves became covered in fatty ‘myelin’, the nervous system started to work more quickly and efficiently (myelin helps impulses flow smoothly along the nerve cells). As a result your movements may well have become stronger and more complex. You may have tried to grasp the umbilical cord or even sit cross-legged! Keep this up please as I really want daddy to feel you move soon.

The part of the brain that governs the senses developed greatly this week too. In fact, you may have started reacting more strongly to different tastes, touches and sounds. Although I can’t say for certain if you are at this stage yet, the books give a few examples… “Your baby may stop sucking if a bitter taste in the amniotic fluid is sensed… or kick vigorously if prodded through your bump”. I can tell you it’s true that you seem to calm down when daddy strokes you. I’m not sure how his touch differs to mine but I guess his hands are warmer and bigger. It’s this that usually settles you back to sleep after you’ve woken mummy in the night.

Apparantly braxton hicks can start any time from here on in (practice contractions)! That’s a little worrying!

Week 19

Week 20 – Halfway there!

Your vital stats: 7″ / 310g

This was the week of our scan (see last post) so no pics needed as yours is the most perfect one on the web right now!

From here on in, your growth began to slow to allow for your lungs, digestive and immune system to mature. From a development point of view… your permanent teeth began growing behind your milk teeth, you can now recognise mummy’s incessant whining, and you started producing meconium (less said, the better I reckon as this is your poo). The nerve cells serving each of the senses began to develop ito the particular areas of the brain. The increase in number of nerve cells slowed but the complex connections required for the development of memory and thinking funtions began to form.

Other than that – the news is pretty scant to be honest!

Week 21

Your vital stats: 9″ / 350g

Although the umbilical cord is still your main source of nutrients, something new happened this week and your deveoping digestive system allowed small amounts of sugar to be absorbed from the amniotic fluid you regularly swallow (about 500ml in a 24 hour period). Also, although your red blood cells were most commonly produced by the liver and spleen, your bone marrow began to help with this too this week – all good news for when you enter our world.

Your heartbeat is also banging away now. A midwife no longer needs a doppler and you can you hear your heartbeat using a stethoscope. Your heartbeat is currently between 120-140 beats per minute – much faster than mine!

Again this seems to be a slow week so not a whole lot to report.

21 weeks!!!

So there we are – all caught up. This has been an epic post so time to sign off and have a cuddle with Daddy. I promise to write some more this week xx

What a neglectful blogger I am!

The last update on progress we had was week 15! That means I’m 6 weeks behind! Here’s a mini summary based on email reports from Emma’s Diary, SMA, Cow & Gate,  Bounty and Huggies…

Week 16

Your vital stats: 4.5″ / 80g

Your tiny arms and legs completed forming and began retaining calcium (ossifying). Your nervous system also beganoperating and your muscles started to respond to stimulation / messages sent from your brain (cerebral cortex). This means you have some control now over your movements (so next time mummy begs you to stop wriggling when she’s trying to sleep – pack it in). We’ve seen some evidence of your gymnastic skills on our last scan already so you’re clearly a happy boy in there!

Week 17

Your vital stats: 5″ (9″ if you could stretch out)/ 100g

You grew to the size of a small melon this week and entered another growth spurt. Your skeleton continued to harden from rubbery cartilage to bone, and brown fat (adipose tissue) surrounded your tiny frame. This brown fat is crucial for body heat generation so it’s not that you’re a porky baby! These fat deposits will make up about 3/4 of your total bodyweight at birth.

My umbilical cord (your lifeline to the placenta) thickened and strengthened a great deal this week also as you’re demanding more sustenance from me. In fact, it’s almost the same size as you at this moment and contains thousands of weeney blood vessels to provide you with the oxygen you need to keep growing (you’ll overtake this in the next few weeks but I bet it was slightly cramped in there for a while). A layer of protective myelin also formed around your spine to keep your shape, and your intestines began to function on their own. On a less scientific note, you grew your eyebrows xx

You grew much more responsive to sound and mummy can testify to this; She felt you vibrating in the cinema this week (it’s okay, we watched Iron Lady which was boring so you didn’t ruin the film). Mummy also got a little more unstable on her feet and has to be careful when she stands up from sitting on her bum. Daddy pulls mummy up now to stop her crushing you (this is because the uterus is now level with my belly button). Luckily there’s been no sign of the dark patches on my face that some books predicted – a few new spots though which mummy is none too pleased about.

Here’s a 3D image of another baby (just like you) at week 17.

Week 17 3D Ultrasound

Week 18

Your vital stats: 6″ / 200g

At this point you still had a fair bit of room to play in and kept on rolling around. Books say this was your most active phase but your were too tiny for mummy to feel it. Perhaps the most amazing thing this week is that your ‘boy bits’ formed (well… your prostrate gland)! When you eventually get around to reading this you’ll want to kill me – but in 16 or so years time you’ll be thanking week 18!

You retinas became more responsive to light also so you’re now vaguely aware of the difference between daylight and night time (although mummy isn’t quite sure you have this nailed yet). Some books say you’re now settling into a routine – I sincerely hope this isn’t true! Daddy bought mummy a special pillow right about now. This moulds to mummy’s tummy to protect me rolling on you. Although this helps, mummy wakes up around 4 times a night still from shooting pain. I’m hoping this isn’t too indicative of your routine in a few months time!

Inside your lungs, tiny air sacs called alveoli began developing. Your fingerprints also began to appear on your finger pads and vernix (a white waxy covering) formed on your deicate skin to protect it. More amazingly, your eyes began to move beneath your eyelids. Your ears also moved into position and began to stick out (oh dear! Daddy has big ones so let’s hope yours are more like mine). This little fact made me well up a little – you began to go through the motions of crying but no one can hear you as you have no real air to breathe… aww – how cute. You can also yawn and frown now xx

Another 3D imaging scan - week 18

(Full catch up over 2 posts due to editting problems)

We’re halfway through!!!!!!!!!

We had our mid-term scan this week which was great. Baby had grown so much. I saw a beautiful face and lovely nudey body stretching and rolling. It’s amazing I can’t feel these movements more given baby seems to never stay still! I was a little disappointed that this scan was over so quickly. Typical Gemma asked question after question in an attempt to prolong the experience, but the nurse wasn’t having any of it. She was pleasant, but very ‘business as usual’ – not a patch on Doreen who did our 12 week scan (coincidentally – she passed her exams and is now a fully fledged sonographer – I’m delighted for 2 reasons; it’s nice when people succeed, it means her readings are more likely to be accurate!).

We were always going to discover the sex. I completely understand why some people choose to keep this as a surprise, but for us it was never in doubt. So we’re having a gorgeous and perfect little boy! I was secretly pleased as I suspected this all along; to have discovered otherwise would have thrown me completely! So now it’s struggling with names! What was once a list that comprised of a single name (‘Jake’) has now grown to 12 and counting! We’ve got some gorgeous ones, but none that have stuck and we call baby something new every week! It has to be cute enough for a baby, but ‘adult’ enough for a young man; unique enough to ensure there are no other same-named children in his school classes, but not ridiculous; not stolen from a friend, but not made up… so much to consider and such a MASSIVE responsibility.

So here he is – the latest Millsy, the most perfect little man in the world, and most important person in my life xxx

 

Introducing my Little Man xx

Mummy and Daddy at Christmas

Mummy and bump (that’s you!)

Struggling with you after we've both eaten!

You! Aged nothing on Christmas day!

We saved the tags from our presents – these are locked away in a memory box for you when you are older xxx

Xmas tags

Daddy on the champers xxx

Daddy on Christmas day morning hitting the bottle early!

 

Week 15

Not too much to report for you baby, but mummy has had loads happening this week. She’s been feeling you move around and hiccupping inside her belly. It’s not exactly painful, more surreal. Interestingly you have a routine already and will wriggle and jerk just when mummy is trying to sleep, and straight after she’s eaten. Just so you know, this is when mummy is at her tiredest so thanks for that! 🙂 We’ve tried to help with this by adding 2 more pillows to the bed – this makes 6 in total. Mummy has always slept on her front so it’s going to be tough adjusting to sleeping on my side. If I accidentally flip onto my tummy then don’t hate me! Mummy will get used to it.

I’m getting tired again too. My heart is pumping approx 20% more blood around my body to get you the essential oxygen and blood you need. This places a bit of strain on mummy and makes her sleepy. You’re also quite heavy which tires mummy out even more!

You’re quite noticeable now and mummy looks enormous carrying you around. People have begun to comment, and some have started to guess at what you might be; a boy or a girl. Only 1 person has said girl so far, the rest all seem to agree with mummy that you’re a boy.

I’m also sneezing a lot more, suffering with a stuffy nose, and coughing a little. This is where mummy’s immune system is in overdrive looking after the two of us. Nevermind, I’d rather suffer than you so hopefully I’m sheltering you from the colds and viruses making the rounds. My memory is also a little rusty and I’m a bit slower that I used to be. The books all say this is natures way of making sure I de-stress and take it easy – here’s hoping it comes back though as mummy has lots to do in December at work.

More importantly, mummy and daddy are getting along much better. We were never really angry at each other, there was just lots going on and mummy’s hormones were making her horrible to be around.  Now things are back to normal and we’re happy again. This is just in time as I know you can pick up on my moods now.

Baby at 15 weeks

Now onto you…

• You’re now about 7 inches long and weigh in at 2.5 ounces – this makes you the size of a grapefruit!
• You’ve grown soft, downy hair all over your little body. Mummy and daddy won’t see this hair as you’ll have shed it before you meet us. This is to protect your skin from the constant exposure to fluid, and help regulate your temperature inside mummy. Just as well as it’s freezing outside at the moment! You brand new seat glands will also be helping with this
• Speaking of hair, if you are going to be born with a full head of hair, this is already decided. As mummy and daddy have dark hair, I suspect you’ll have lots of this!
• You also now have eyebrows to frame your eyes
• You can grasp things now, although there’s not much around to grab hold of! You can also suck and swallow and (as pictures before have shown) you’ll most likely be sucking your thumb xx
• Your little leggy’s are now growing longer than your arms so you’re looking more like mummy and daddy
• The bones in your ears have hardened, further improving your hearing. You are supposedly fascinated by my voice and comforted by the sound of my heartbeat. We’ve heard somewhere that if we start singing to you now, there’s a good chance you’ll recognise the tune when you’re born. This frightened me a bit – we’ll have to watch our p’s and q’s and avoid pop music with swear words!
• Your salivary glands are also now starting to produce saliva. You’ve started moving your tongue and lips quite freely. Hopefully you won’t exercise these quite so much when you’re born as mummy and daddy will need plenty of sleep whilst we adjust to having you in the world

That’s all from a development point of view. It’s also been a big week for daddy as he turned 41 on Friday. Mummy will post about this tomorrow. Love you baby xxxx

 

 

 

 

Some major milestones – we’re into the second trimester!

Hi Baby,

Hope you are thriving in my tummy. We’ve reached 14,5 weeks now but there is little to report on mummy’s symptoms. My tummy is still growing and there’s a few tell-tale stretch marks, I’m visiting the toilet regularly and having to ramp up on vitamins to provide you with the right nutrients you need. But you! You’ve had a busy few weeks!

At week 12, here were your major milestones:

You at 12 weeks!

You became fully formed! The next six months will be spent maturing, growing and gaining weight dramatically.

You reached a whole 2 inches in length!

You weighed a whooping 14 grams

Your face started to look more human; your eyes have moved closer together and your ears have taken up position on either side of your head

Hair began to grow and fingers and toes grew soft nails

You grew 20 small buds in your mouth which will become baby teeth

 

You sucked your thumb for the first time! And you’re now a very active bunny, opening and closing your fingers and generally having a good old boogie!

Your vocal cords finished developing, but unfortunately we can’t hear you yet!

You started practising breathing on your own using amniotic fluid from my tummy to prepare your lungs for air respiration

Then quickly onto week 13:

Beautiful you at 13 weeks

You grew a whole extra inch! That’s 3 inches in total (the size of a peach)

You weighed an impressive 25 grams

Your little body began to elongate so proportionately you looked more human

Your ears reached a critical stage in development where you can now hear mummy and daddy! (Daddy’s started to feed you the odd stat on Man Utd)

The diaphragm started being exercised and strengthened by teeny hiccups

 

Your bone marrow began making white blood cells needed for fighting infection after birth

Tiny intestines began moving to your tummy from the umbilical cord where they were patiently waiting

Tiny hairs started to cover your body and your sense of taste and smell became further refined

Amazingly, your unique fingerprints are now perfectly formed!

If you are a girl you will already have around two million eggs in your ovaries (mummy and daddy will know your sex on the 11th January)

If you are a boy – you started growing your winkle!

And where are we right now? Week 14:

Well mummy can first report that she’s starting to feel fluttery movements (that’s you kicking and punching!). Nothing is strong enough to share with daddy yet but he’s rubbing you regularly! Mummy’s uterus is also now the size of a grapefruit and my tummy feels hard to touch. I’m now making use of Aunty Sam’s old maternity clothes, and will have to go shopping for more work clothes soon.

Your little face right now at 14 weeks

• This is possibly the last week where you will fit into the palm of mummy’s hand (you’re 9 cm long now)
• You’re 45 grams!
• You have a tiny button nose that has a slightly upward tilt (like a piglet) – this makes it easier for you to breathe when mummy breastfeeds
• Your cheeks have filled out lots where you’re sucking frequently
• Your tiny head is now covered in peachy coloured fine hair (not quite baby hair yet)
• Your spleen is now functioning, removing old red blood cells from the blood and producing antibodies to fight infections

 

 

So you’ve come a long way. You are getting huge and looking every inch the baby we’ll soon be meeting. From now on we can communicate better with you and will make sure we talk to you everyday – if you hear us, give me a good old shunt and daddy might get a feel.

Love you baby! Sleep tight and keep up the great work. You’ll get plenty of opportunity for sleep when you’re here with us xxxxxxxxxxxxx