Week 6

I suppose I should tell people that I started blogging on this site, huh? Not that much has changed on my front this week. I still feel about the same, still constantly hungry and tired, and had my first experience with morning sickness in the morning!

I applied for food stamps, and we qualify for additional food health through WIC (Women, Infants, Children) to help with milk, cheese, eggs, bread, and some of the more expensive grocery items. Next week we have a nurse visit at home from the Mother Baby Center, an appointment at WIC, and on Friday the 7th we have an appointment with a doctor! I called just about everyone on the list, but pretty much everyone was already filled up with their regular patients for next july. We thought about going with a midwife, which would have been my preference, but with the rate of twins in both our families, we didn't want to risk being dropped half way through the pregnancy and then have to find a doctor! So I found just about the last female OB in Bellingham who would take a DSHS patient like me, and so that's who we're going to see. Since I didn't have a whole lot of control over that, I think I'm going to interview several doulas (who act as the natural/relaxation side of the midwife, but not the doctor portion) so I know I'll like her.

Development wise, here's what's going on!

Your baby and the yolk sac are about the size of an M&M's candy. A month after conception, your embryo looks something like a newt or a tadpole, and it has gills like a fish! Right now, the embryo of your future baby looks much like the embryo of any other animal—a bird, rabbit, or monkey. It has two tiny cups of pigment on the side of its head that will develop into eyes. Tiny buds that will form the lungs have appeared. The neural tube has closed. On end is flattening and expanding to become the brain, and the other end will become the spine. It's already 10,000 times larger than the fertilized egg. The embryo doesn't have gender characteristics yet, but has little dots where the nipples will be, whether it's a boy or a girl. The heart, a tiny U-shaped tube, will start beating between days twenty-one and twenty-four and is circulating the embryo's own blood. It has a small mouth and lips and fingernails are forming.