Week 7

This excerpt came from Babyfit.com, one of my all time favorite websites!

Your baby's growth spurt is officially beginning, though it's not something you can see or feel. At the start of the week your baby measures between 0.16" to 0.2" (4 to 5 mm), but by the end of the week he or she can be half an inch (1.3 cm) long!
Your baby's heart is growing larger-from all of your love-creating a small bulge on his or her tiny body. The right and left chambers of the heart begin to form, along with air passages to the lungs. Although your baby's eyes and nose are still on this side of his or her head, they are beginning to develop. The brain is also starting to partition itself into chambers. While the appendix is already in place, the intestines remain partly in the umbilical cord and won't ascend into your baby's abdomen for a few more weeks. Tiny buds that will become legs begin to form, and the arm buds begin growing. These are already dividing into two sections--one that will form the hand and another that will form the arm and shoulder.

I am still having virtually no symptoms whatsoever. I have a few friends who are about as far along as I am now, and they are really battling the morning sickness, so I am very thankful that it seems as though I will be skipping that particular joy again with this pregnancy. My only real issue is that I am very tired all the time. This is magnified by the fact that James is not sleeping well lately. Last night I spent several fitful hours on his bedroom floor so that he would stay in his bed. This too shall pass!

We know it is early in the game, but we have begun to look at our birthing options for this new blessing of ours. We think we have narrowed it down to either having a homebirth with a midwife, or going to a freestanding birth center which is also attended by midwives. Of course, this is with the assumption that I continue to have a normal, healthy, risk free pregnancy. I cannot begin to describe how elated I feel at the prospect of giving birth naturally, freely, and at home, the way I have dreamed of ever since James was born! Please join me in praying for my health and that of the baby, that we can accomplish this goal! I am working hard at mitigating whatever risk factors I can to work toward that end. I have begun regular exercise and am being careful about my diet, as well as decreasing my daily soda intake significantly, and working hard towards cutting it out completely. Any and all encouragement and support you can offer is most welcome.

God's Blessings, Heather