And in the 21 st Week....

Our little girl is still growing although not as much now.

According to the ever faithful Pregnancy.Org -

• White blood cells are under production. Leukocytes (or white blood cells) form our body's defense system. They help fight infections and diseases.
• Her skin has changed from translucent to become more opaque.
• Her tongue is fully formed.
• Her womb and vagina are formed. Unlike males, females have a limited supply of eggs in their lifetime. At this point our daughter has 6 million eggs. This amount decreases to approximately one million by birth.
• She swallows more this week. When she takes in amniotic fluid, her body absorbs the water in the liquid and moves the rest into the large bowel. This is good practice for her digestive system!
• Wake and sleep periods become more consistent. Some research suggests that baby sets her internal clock to match the outside world's even before birth! My eating and sleeping habits as well levels of light and noise serve as her signals.
• She measures about 26.7cm from top to toe and weighs nearly 360g.

As for me, I'm doing really well. The headaches that were a problem for a while have all but gone and only make the occasional appearance. I've been handling the long trips to Melbourne well, although the next day I seem to pay for it and tend to want to sleep or laze around all day. Generally I'm able to stay up a bit later a night now although I'm still in bed pretty early. I think I have mastered the art of pillow placement to help me be comfortable - this will be an essential skill when I'm really big, as will the ability to roll out of bed to get up.

There are two things I things I seem to be having trouble with. The first is staying warm. For most people, pregnancy seems to make them heat up but I think the opposite has happened with me. I think I'm colder than ever and it wouldn't surprise me if Ernie turns out to be a cold fish like me, she is probably sucking the heat from me even now. The other thing that is a problem is my memory, particularly that related to vocabulary, spelling and what I have just said only seconds beforehand. I lose my train of thought very easily and have a lot of trouble remembering words. For someone who likes to talk this is a bit of a problem but is giving Jochen something to laugh about and tease me with. According to him, and his work colleagues, my memory will never come back. We call it 'placenta brain' as too much blood seems to have been taken from my own brain and is now headed for the placenta. Most of the time I can laugh about it but it can get frustrating at times.

I'm not really showing yet. People who don't already know I'm pregnant don't seem to be able to tell that I am.... I wonder how much longer it will be until people will look at me know that I am. It won't be much longer now until I really can't comfortably wear my current clothes.... it's not that I have put on much weight - only about 500g to 1kg so far but the waist is definitely expanding.

Ernie seems to be a very busy little girl. I'm constantly being kicked. In fact I suspect she may have some musical ability even now, as those kicks are really at quite a constant, even rhythm. Jochen thought for a long time that he was feeling his own pulse rate when in actual fact it was Ernie practicing her drumming. It is only now that the kicking has become stronger that Jochen has realised what he was actually feeling.

Finally I'm still having lots of vivid dreams. Not all of them are about the baby but I know I'm dreaming a lot. Normally I don't remember my dreams but at the moment I do. I think it must be hormone related.