14 weeks and a bag of prunes

14 weeks today… It still seems unbelievable that I have a new life growing inside of me. The physical changes aside, I don’t feel any different.

Still, the books say that by now the baby’s “pieces and parts” should all be in place – the cells have all differentiated and the little one already has everything you can see on your own body – from fingernails to its first hairs. The body is now growing faster than the head. The heart has been beating for weeks. The baby makes random movements that I cannot yet feel, and is swallowing amniotic fluid and peeing it out again. For the next 26 weeks, the baby will grow in size and the massive neural network will make all of the necessary connections. Last but not least, the lungs and other organs will mature and prepare themselves to function “out in the world”.

A few weeks ago, Lucas sat on my lap and told me he was very worried about something and needed to ask me about it. Then he said, “Mommy, what if something is wrong with the baby?” “Like what?” I said. “Like maybe its heart won’t work right.” “Well,” I responded, wondering with amazement at the depth of this child’s thought process, “hopefully the doctors would find out about it right away and fix it.” “What if they make it worse?” he said.

I decided to try a different tactic, which I think was more successful. I explained to my lovely son that I thought it would be better for the baby if he tried to think positive thoughts. I told him that I could not promise him that the baby will be perfect. I explained to him that if something turns out to be wrong, he would be able to say I was a liar if I told him now that there would not be. I said that sometimes God decides to share special children with special needs with the world, and these children need special homes. If we have such a child, we would be blessed to have the opportunity to raise him or her and spend time with that person. He seemed quite content with the answer.

Wow, that was heavy! A big change from the “how is the baby getting built in there?” discussion.

So, here I sit, happy that it’s Friday and happy that spring is filling the air with warmth and our house with Easter decorations. I believe today will be the last day until at least Christmas that I’ll be able to wear these jeans. Next week I’ll have to search for something a bit more comfortable, but I don’t want to end up feeling dowdy and old. I want to be that beautiful, glowing pregnant woman people are always talking about…. (HA – THAT would be a first!)

In the meantime, I’ll try to find some recent photos of the boys…. I want to include them here too!

Have a terrific day!