9 weeks and slowly preparing for bar leaning

Today is day number 64, I am 9 weeks and I am starting to look more and more human:

My essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. My heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do my tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" from my last week is now completely gone.

My organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. Gonads have become testes (for boys) or ovaries (for girls). Although the external sex organs are there, I won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks.

My eyes now are fully formed, but my eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. I have tiny earlobes, and my mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. Toe rays are present as the toes begin to form. I can move away if touched through the uterine wall, and can spontaneously move as well.

The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that my basic physiology is in place, I’m poised for rapid weight gain. Hardening of the bones may begin.

And… I have elbows! Yupiiii! I can start practicing leaning my elbow on a bar, my dad says I will need it in 18 years from now!

I have 216 days or 31 weeks left, and we are 22.1% of the way there. I probably weight around 1 gram now and I am about a size of a grape.

Yey! I am a fetus now!

Week 8 and I graduated from embryo. I have grown rapidly from last week and I matured into a fetus (foetus).

The outline of my face is now more apparent and the two halves of the face grow together and meet in the middle which is why you have two different profiles. The organs that have been developing up until now are starting to function: the brain produces its first impulses, the kidneys pass out waste and urine, and the stomach produces digestive juices.

I am starting to make small, erratic arm and leg movements. That is how I actually practice to flex the limbs I’ll be using once born.

I am about the size of a kidney bean!

Today is day number 57 and I am 8 weeks!

Webbed fingers and toes are poking out from my little hands and feet, my eyelids practically cover my eyes, breathing tubes extend from my throat to the branches of my developing lungs, and my "tail" is just about gone. In my brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways.

You may be betting on my sex, and daydreaming about me as one sex or another, but the external genitals still haven't developed enough to reveal whether I will be a boy or a girl.

Either way, I am about the size of a kidney bean now, and I am is constantly moving and shifting, though my mom still can't feel it.

I have 223 days or 32 weeks left, and I am 20.4% of the way there.

Today is day 51!

This is day number 51 and I am 7 weeks “old”!

The big news this week is that my hands and feet are emerging from developing arms and legs — although they look more like paddles at this point than the tiny. Technically I am still considered an embryo and have something of a small tail, which is an extension of her tailbone. The tail will disappear within a few weeks, but that's the only thing getting smaller. I have doubled in size since last week and now I am about the size of a blueberry.

If you could see inside the womb, you'd spot eyelid folds partially covering her peepers, which already have some color, as well as the tip of his/her nose and tiny veins beneath parchment-thin skin.

Both hemispheres of my brain are growing, and my liver is churning out red blood cells until my bone marrow forms and takes over this role. I also have an appendix and a pancreas, which will eventually produce the hormone insulin to aid in digestion. A loop in my growing intestines is bulging into my umbilical cord, which now has distinct blood vessels to carry oxygen and nutrients to and from my tiny body.I have 229 days or 33 weeks left, and I am 18.2% of the way there.

My weekend in Trpeica

My mom and dad took me to Ohrid Lake this weekend. We stayed in Trpeica, the Macedonian St. Tropez, and I really enjoyed it! This was officially my very first weekend out of hometown.

Our apartment was on the beach and only 3m from the lake! I ate lots of, lots of fish, I slept a lot, I played with Marko during the day, and most of the time – I just enjoyed the amazing view!

I really had a great time!

P.S. My mom’s physician recommended staying at home for the next several weeks, so I guess I will wait for another weekend like this…

My weekend in Trpeica

My first concerts

Mom and dad took me to my very first concerts last week.

I saw concert of Lilit vs. Amon Mra.

And the night after that they took me to Foltin gig on the OXO roof party.

I am growing!

Today is day number 44 and I am 6 weeks!

My nose, my mouth, and my ears are beginning to take shape and my facial features are starting to form, the nostrils are becoming distinct, and the retinas of the eyes are forming. My heart is dividing into chambers and will start beating in a more regular rhythm, about 100 to 160 times a minute — almost twice as fast as my mom’s heartbeat — and blood is beginning to course through my body.

This week my intestines are developing, and the bud of tissue that will give rise to my lungs has appeared. My pituitary gland is forming, as are the rest of my brain, muscles, and bones.

My major organs - including the kidneys and liver - begin to grow; the neural tube, which connects the brain and spinal cord, will close this week; and my embryo's upper and lower limb buds begin to sprout, which will form the arms and legs. The intestines are also developing and the appendix is in place.

Right now, I am quarter of an inch long, about the size of a lentil bean. I have 236 days or 34 weeks left, and I am 15.7% of the way there.

The 5th week

This is day number 37 and I am 5 weeks "old"!

I have 243 days or 35 weeks left, and I am 13.2% of the way there.

My age since conception is 23 days or 3 weeks. My due is on 3/3/2009.

In a week my parents will hear my first heartbeat. It's amazing how much is happening so quickly.

My Diary

Hi there, and welcome to my diary!

My temporary name, or my ‘working title’, is Mogly, cause my parents these days feel too excited and confused to think of a real name for me. I guess it is fine, since there are 7-8 months until they should officially name me.

The name Mogly actually came from my aunt Maca, who believes that I will have my dad’s hair and my mom’s eyes.

However, I am a real person, although my mom and dad will see me for the first time at the doctor’s tomorrow.

According to some internet pregnancy calculator, my due date should be March 3, 2009. According to aunt Jinju, I will be Pisces in horoscope for sure. My 10 y.o. cousin Ina is positive that I will be a girl, and her 5 y.o. brother Ivo will do everything to have a male cousin to play with!

My mom is trying to quit smoking (and she is doing well so far) and my dad is talking to me through my mum’s belly. I don’t really understand what he is saying, but I am pretty sure it is something nice cause I can feel his love.

I will write this diary whenever I can, or whenever my mom has time to help me typing.

And if you have better suggestions for my name than Mogly – please, please do help my parents!!! :)