The Catch-up Post

Depending on who you talk to, they will tell you that are at different times of your pregnancy. My Dr in NE said my due date is July 22. Using this information, BabyCenter.com claims I'll be 6 weeks on Wednesday; another site says I'll be 6 weeks on Thursday; my sister's chart says I'll be 6 weeks a different day. It's all so confusing. When we were pregnant w/Izzy, we used a daily pregnancy journal called, "The Pregnancy Journal: A Day-to-Day Guide to a Happy and Healthy Pregnancy" by A. Christine Harris, Ph. D. We've decided to use this same journal (revised) this time around, so we'll be going by whatever the journal says as far as how far along we are, until we get our "official" ultrasound on the 29th to determine our true due date. Therefore, today we are 22 days pregnant. I'll be recapping everything we've missed below.

DAY 1
*Conception took place.
*Did you know that it actually takes the sperm about 12 hours to reach the egg?!

DAY 2
*The first cell division takes place today. A 2-cell ball is formed from the single cell created by Amy's ovum and Ben's sperm. This cell ball floats freely into the uterine tube, pushed along by gravity and the movement of the cilia that line the tube. How cool is that?!
*Amy was already starting to notice that she was more emotional than usual.

DAY 3
*In the last 24 hours, two cells became four, four cells became eight, and eight cells became 16 and they took the shape of a tightly packed, solid ball.
*Punkin's cells are manufactured now by relying on the nutrients-called the yolk-stored in the ovum Amy produced.
*Amy noticed today that her breasts were so sore, but she chalked it up to getting her period soon.

DAY 4
*The 16-cell uterine ball has reached the end of Amy's uterine tube. It will enter Amy's uterus either today or tomorrow.
*In addition to sore breasts, she was experiencing an achy low-back, bloating and nausea. Again, she chalked it up to getting her period soon.

DAY 5
*An important change took place today in the cell ball. Fluid secreted by the cells passed into the center of the ball and divided the cells into 2 groups: those on the outside will support the pregnancy, and those on the inside (called the embryonic disc) will form Punkin.
*If the cell ball hadn't already entered Amy's uterus, it did so today.
*In addition to all the symptoms listed, Amy is very sensitive to smells and is beginning to get suspicious about possibly being pregnant. However, she still doesn't take a pregnancy test.

DAY 6
*The fluid-filled cell ball is resting on the sticky surface of Amy's uterus. It now contains several hundred cells, some of which group together to form a bump on the inside of the ball.
*Implantation begins today. The cells resting on the surface literally fuse together with the cells on the surface of Amy's uterus. Implantation protects the cell ball and provides it with oxygen and nutrients from Amy's blood stream.
*Amy took a pregnancy test today, but it turned up negative!

DAY 7
*Punkin is 1 week old today!!!
*Implantation is continuing. The actual size of Punkin is .004 inch or 0.1 mm.
*Amy took another pregnancy test today and it turned up POSITIVE!!!

DAY 8
*Amy & Punkin are officially intimately joined and Amy's body has begun to mobilize to support Punkin's growth.
*Implantation is finishing today and the "ball of cells" is now referred to as an "embryo".

DAY 9
*By now, Punkin or "the embryo" has actually sunk beneath the surface of Amy's uterus. The amniotic sac & amniotic cavity have begun to form. It will take the next 6 days to complete their formation. The yolk sac has been emptied of its nutrients and a primitive version of the umbilical cord, call the umbilical stalk, appears.
*The placenta has started to form at the implantation site. The main exchange between Amy's blood and Punkin's blood takes place through these walls.
*The yolk sac fills up again, this time w/fluid and eventually gives rise to Punkin's digestive tract. (Punkin is just 9 days old is recycling already!)

Day 9 is when Amy started this blog, so you can go back and re-read the posts leading up to this one to see what was happening each day w/Amy and with Punkin!!!