14 weeks

This week's big developments: The babies can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and suck their thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, their facial muscles are getting a workout as their tiny features form one expression after another. Their kidneys are producing urine, which they releases into the amniotic fluid around them — a process they'll keep up until birth. They can grasp, too, and during an ultrasound, you can even catch them sucking their thumb. In other news: The babies are stretching out. From head to bottom, they measure 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and they weigh 1 1/2 ounces. From my appointment on Monday we know they are longer than 3 1/2 inches now. Their bodies are growing faster than their head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, their arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of their body. (Their legs still have some lengthening to do.) They are starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over their bodies. Their liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and their spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though I can't feel their tiny punches and kicks yet, our little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

Here is a current picture of my ever growing belly.