Sixteen Weeks

This week: Wolverine Baby is four and a half inches long or about the size of an avocado.

Development: This week, Wolverine has toenails, and her legs are much more developed.  She'll be doubling in size over the next couple of weeks, and her heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood a day.  (That seems like a LOT to me, but I don't really know a whole lot about how much blood the average person has, so maybe not?)

Are you craving anything? Bamboo House on Sixth Avenue.

Is there any food that turns you off? Eggs.  Yuck.

How do you feel? It appears that the nausea is now an every-other-day thing.  And it also seems that I'll have a day where I feel great, but at about 9 p.m., I suddenly feel very, very ill.  Whoever's in charge of naming pregnancy symptoms really needs to rename morning sickness.  It's not just in the morning.

How is your sleep? Some nights, it's awesome.  Others, I'm waking up six to seven times and struggling to go back to sleep.  But I am able to stay awake past 8:30 these days, so that's a definite plus. 

Most surprising thing you've noticed or experienced:  I got my nails done on Friday, and while I was there, I told the technician I was pregnant.  (I had a question about what to do about the fact that my fingernails are so very thin right now.)  This man, who was very nice, then proceeded to interrogate me about my pregnancy, my due date, my plans for breast feeding, my plans for returning to work after delivery, and even asked me when we conceived.  He also shared that he is from Laos (which I'm hoping was his way of letting me know that there are some cultural differences and that's why he felt the need to ask me so many personal questions?) and told me all about his wife's experiences with their first baby.  Finally, he noted that our little Wolverine is going to be born in the Year of the Dragon under the Chinese zodiac.  According to my nail technician, dragon babies are harder to conceive, harder to carry (he said this explained why I was so ill that first trimester), and very, very lucky.  He also assured me that we would "be taken care of" and "receive many gifts."  I found this article from The Wall Street Journal about dragon babies that I thought was fairly interesting.

Something you're surprised you haven't noticed or experienced: Nope!

Favorite/most comfortable article of clothing: Yoga pants

How is Ray doing? He is well.  He's perhaps overly concerned about my safety (and suggested that I should never have climbed on a ladder while he wasn't home), but he means well.