How’s Baby #5 growing?

As most of you know by now, I am expecting baby #5 in the fall should be around November 5 or so. I am scheduled to see my doctor for the first time this week and will have an official due date then. Last fall I participated in Samantha’s Body After Baby Challenge and I really enjoyed it. While I know that I will gain weight during these nine months, I want to be as healthy as possible. So, I have decided to blog weekly about our babies growth, how I am feeling, and what good choices (physical activity, eating, sleeping, etc) I have made this week. So, here is the first post….

• Well, this week I will be 8 weeks along. I am still battling on again off again morning sickness. It is not as bad this time as it has been with other babies but it is present none the less.
• I am not as tired as I have been with other pregnancies. I still have days where I am on the couch most of the day so tired I can’t lift my head (all the while carring for 4 children and schooling 2 of said children), but those are just some days where as other times I have felt that way for 3 months straight!!
• I am still planning on gardening this summer. That will give me consistant activity and it is something that saves us money and that I thoroughly enjoy!
• I am trying to only allow myself one treat a day. Some days that is ice cream other days it is chips, it just depends on the day and how I feel.

Here is what the baby looks like at this stage –

Marveling over a baby’s tiny fingers and toes is one of the joys of the first day of life. Those fingers and toes are just beginning to form this week, and the arms can even flex at the elbows and wrists. The eyes are becoming more obvious because they’ve begun to develop pigment (color) in the retina (back of the eye).
Also, the intestines are getting longer and there isn’t enough room for them in the baby’s abdomen, so they protrude into the umbilical cord until week 12.
By now, the beginnings of the buds that will develop into your baby’s genitals have made their appearance, although they’ve not yet developed enough to reveal whether your baby is a boy or a girl.