Going on week 14....

14 weeks, 4 days

Growing by leaps and bounds, our baby is leaping and bounding. He or she is on the move almost constantly — and those movements are a far cry from those jerky twitches of last trimester (though I won't feel any of them for weeks to come). They are now ballet-like, smooth and fluid. If you could catch a glimpse of our fetus now, you'd see a baby the size of your clenched fist (a skill, by the way, our little one now has). Our baby also has the coordination, strength, and smarts to wiggle his or her fingers and toes and even suck a thumb (how cute is that?).
It'll be years before we'll start nagging our offspring to stand up straight — but unbelievably, he or she is doing it right now, without any prodding! No slouch anymore, our baby's neck is getting longer and his or her head is getting more erect (giving a more straightened-out appearance). And speaking of that head, our baby could be sprouting some hair (though the final color may not be determined until birth) and the eyebrows are filling in, too.



Hair growth isn't limited to the baby's head, though. He or she is also covered with a downy coating of hair called lanugo, largely there for warmth. As fat accumulates later on in my pregnancy (the baby's fat, not mine — though that will accumulate, too), most of the lanugo will shed — though some babies, especially those born early, still have a fuzzy coating at delivery (it sheds soon afterward).