Yesterday was a good day! We had our official ultrasound at the clinic. The baby's heartbeat was up to 139 beats per minute, which is excellent! Baby measured at 7 weeks 2 days, which moves our OFFICIAL due date to July 17, 2011!
The surface layer of Punkin's skin will be formed during this month; the tongue is recognizable; the nasal pits are beginning to form; the lymphatic system, which filters out bacteria and other foreign particles, is beginning to develop; the arms and legs look less like flippers and more like paddles. The hand plates will appear by today and the foot plates are beginning to form. The elbow and wrist regions on the arm are becoming identifiable. Punkin's body cavity now contains all the tissues needed to develop his/her reproductive structures, beginning with the ovaries (if Punkin is a girl) or testes (if Punkin is a boy). The mammary gland tissue is beginning to develop into breasts, in both females and males.
The spleen, the organ that produces antibodies and removes worn out red blood cells and bacteria from the blood stream, is beginning to develop. The liver is now large enough to produce a bulge in Punkin's abdomen.
During the next week, Punkin's brain, body, and head will undergo a period of particularly rapid growth. The head grows faster than other organs, mostly because of the rapid development of the brain and face. Punkin's brain has organized into the 3 main parts possessed by all human brains: the forebrain, the midbrain, and the hindbrain. The hindbrain contains regions that help regulate heart rate and breathing and coordinate muscle movement; the midbrain is a relay station (routes "messages" to their final destination in the brain) and contains emotion centers; and the forebrain has specialized structures called lobes that translate input from the senses, play a role in memory formation & storage, and engage in higher-order processing like thinking, reasoning, and problem solving. By now, the division between the cerebral hemispheres, the right and left halves of Punkin's brain, is well marked. The cerebellum is beginning to develop. The pituitary gland is beginning to form in Punkin's brain. It produces growth hormones and other hormones that regulate the function of other glands, especially the thyroid, adrenal glands and gonads. The olfactory bulb is beginning to form in the brain.
Punkin's hypothalamus-a structure critical to the regulation of thirst, eating, sexual behavior and temperature-has begun to form. Cups are formed that will cradle the eyeballs. The pigment is beginning to form in the retina of the eye, making the eyes easy to spot. A primitive version of the mouth appears. The mouth looks large in relation to Punkin's clearly defined jaws. The primitive version of the palate is forming on the roof of Punkin's mouth. No skull plates are in place yet. The esophagus has started to develop. The trachea, larynx and bronchi and tooth buds that will be the baby teeth are beginning to form.
It takes 5 weeks for the main organs and systems in Punkin's body to get their start. Ribs have begun to project from the tiny backbone to protect the developing organs in the chest. By the end of this month, the embryo in Amy's womb will look like a tiny baby!!! And Punkin's body reflexes to touch. This means that Punkin's developing nervous system is communicating with the primitive muscles and the muscles are beginning to contract in response to the systems commands. All of Punkin's behavior, both in Amy's uterus and after birth, originates from the basic capacity to form reflex responses.
The muscles that will surround the bones of Punkin's arms and legs begin to migrate into those regions sometime this week. Nerves also grow into the developing limbs. And the muscles that control Punkin's eyes are forming.
Punkin's nasal pits are now prominent. His/Her heart can now be seen through the chest wall. The kidney's have been formed.
Amy has only gained 1 lb so far, which is good. The goal is not to gain more than 5 lbs in her first trimester. She's still been emotional (the Dr informed her that Progesterone shots will increase the "hormonalness" of being pregnant).
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