7 Weeks: It's Not Easy Being Green

And no not in the eco-friendly sense.  The green I'm referring to is the stomach wrenching, nausea producing variety.  At the 7 week mark the nausea and sickness has definitely kicked things up a notch and is more regular much to my dismay.  And here I thought I would be spared!  HA!  Wishful thinking on my part.

Oh well.  I've still managed to smile for the camera here for my 7 week belly picture.  After all, each weekly belly picture puts me one week closer to the end of 1st tri and that is my goal right now.  Less danger, less nausea, more energy - I'm all for that!

Things besides nausea picking up have been pretty status quo as far as symptoms go.  My belly is still pretty much the same though depending on the day is in various stages of bloat.  Jeff still doesn't understand why we're doing belly pics this early but as soon as there's the slightest difference I want to catch it - and in the meantime I'll just track the bloat.  Actually it's starting to feel like tracking my expanding boobage at the moment.  Good grief.  And that reminds me - anyone have any ideas how to convince the cats that walking on my fire boobs in the middle of the night is NOT really the best thing to do at this point in life?  Cuz so far I've been unsuccessful and I don't know if I just notice because it hurts so bad or if they're doing it more frequently on purpose but I'm decidedly NOT a fan regardless.  Little monsters.

In other news, I start working on Monday.  This should be interesting with the increase in sickness I'm having each morning and off-and-on nausea throughout the day.  My first appt is Tuesday (finally) but is mostly just a history and probably some labs.  I'm hoping they do *something* that would give me some sense of relief in checking the little bean is okay but I'm thinking I'll have to wait until our 10 week ultrasound for that.  Sigh.

So at 7 weeks it now looks like I'm growing a little alien being instead of a salamander (sorry sally salamander!) though baby still has a tail (hehe).  Apparently week 7 is a very busy week for baby and involves a growth spurt that will cause the size to double over the next week.  On the baby-size-to-food chart, week 7 is a blueberry.  Aww blueberry baby.  :-)

One of the neatest things I've found on this growth spurt is a series of pictures that show the development of the hands this week.  It's really amazing how quickly some of these things happen.  This first picture is of the hands at 48 days (7 weeks).

You can see there's a 'hand plate' where fingers will be but it's still not really formed into fingers yet.  But another picture taken only 3 days after this (which for those who are counting would be Saturday for me!) baby has recognizable fingers!  How cool is that?!  I also think it's weird that

arms develop before legs and hands develop before feet.  I wonder if the logistics have to do with proximity to the heart and blood flow and all that but I definitely think it's interesting.  Look at those little fingers!  :-D

Those who didn't know me in school probably are wondering if I was a science nerd or something - and while I always enjoyed my science classes (apart from physics that is) I can't claim science nerd status.  This stuff just seems so neat though.  I love looking up what baby looks like at different stages since it's not like these sorts of ultrasound images are even remotely common at this point.

But all in all the 7th week is shaping up to be a busy one for baby and for me.  Back to work after 3 months off will be quite an adjustment for me - especially with this newfound lack of energy.  It will be good to make a bit more money though and my unemployment is set to run out in the next week or two anyway.  Soon we will want to begin shopping for baby and that of course requires money!  And to anyone wondering - no I haven't allowed anything other than book purchases at this point, though both Jeff and I are very eager to start picking things up.  There's just so much uncertainty with 1st tri that it's really just too soon I think.  Perhaps after the first ultrasound when we see everything is fine in there we will feel more comfortable telling the world and letting ourselves prepare more.

And speaking of books - new books this week: Healthy Child Healthy World: Creating a Cleaner, Greener, Safer Home by Christopher Gavigan; The Pregnancy Book by William and Martha Sears; and The Birth Book by William and Martha Sears.  Jeff is convinced with the arrival of each new book that I'm planning on an 18 month gestation period or like 5 babies.. hahaha.