End of the Beginning

I'm in the last week of my first trimester!

Nausea is decreasing and the appetite, for better or for worse, is increasing! A trip to Camden Yards last night proved this: A few weeks ago, all of the mingling ballpark smells forced me and my stomach to leave the stadium before the game ended. Last night, all of the smells simply made me day-dream about cheese fries, funnel cake and Boog's Pit Beef. I think I'm back to normal!! Go O's!

Daddy and Mommy are already enjoying a rather obvious belly-bulge...Mom Mom Wilson had to take me maternity-clothes shopping this past weekend. Elastic waists are a wonderful thing.

What's going on during week 12? The baby has almost doubled in size in the last 3 weeks; the crown-to-rump length is nearing 2 to 2.5 inches, and weight should be around 0.4 ounces. (I wish that we could follow Tom Cruise's example and buy our own personal sonogram machine to keep up with the baby's growth from day to day, but I suppose we'll have to be content with reading what it probably is at this point!)

Few structures are left to be formed in the baby (it's been a busy 11 weeks!!) but those that are already formed continue to grow and develop. Fingers and toes are separated and have tiny nails on them, hair is beginning to grow, digestion and glucose absorbtion is possible, the production of hormones will begin soon, and it is becoming more apparent whether this little one is a girl or a boy! Of course, if all goes according to plan that little tidbit of information won't be revealed until the last push in March!

The baby's nervous system continues to mature, and as the sonogram revealed to us already, the baby already reacts to some stimulation. I wish I could feel all those tiny kicks and flips!