15 Weeks with Baby Beach #3

Here I am 2 days late again.....I think that maybe Friday might just be our "normal" posting day until I get more caught up here at the house and with my business!
It seems that there are a lot of different comparisons to what size the baby is this week. (From softball to apple to pear!) I think that they are fascinating & since this is the last baby for us, I am including them all for posterity sake.

Dear Baby,
Daddy and I have 2 boy names picked out and will probably have an easy decision if you are a boy.
We do not have anything but a LONG list of girls names. It will probably be another long struggle just like it was when we picked out sissy's name!
You have Mommy craving ANYTHING pumpkin pie related BUT especially pumpkin pie milk shakes from Sonic. There has only been a few other occassional cravings.....onion rings (which mommy doesn't eat normally), Wendy's french fries, and a few other odds & ends.
Mommy is EXTREMELY grateful to be off of the plain spaghetti noodles, ramen noodles, rice, & butter toast diet that we were on earlier!
We are looking forward to the next 5 weeks flying by so we can see you again and hopefully clear your heart!
Love you already!!
I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apart.....Jeremiah 1:5

Your baby's crown-to-rump length is approximately 4 inches and she now weighs approximately 1.75 ounces. Your baby is close to the size of a softball and you can easily tell that you are pregnant now! If you wear maternity clothes or a swimming suit, other people will be able to tell that you are pregnant also. You can probably feel your uterus about three to four inches below your bellybutton.

Your baby is growing at an amazing rate and looking more like a human every day. Because your baby's skin is so thin, you are able to see blood vessels through the skin. Lanugo hair covers your baby's body, but it will be gone when your baby is born. The hair on the eyebrows and head continues to grow. Some babies are born with little or no hair and others have a head full of hair! If you have an ultrasound at this point, you might be able to see your baby sucking its thumb. Even though the eyes continue to move to the front of the face, they are still widely separated. Your baby's ears look like normal ears and continue to develop externally. The bones that have already formed continue to get harder and retain calcium. The baby is very mobile and flexible at this point. She can bend her arms at the elbows and wrists and she can also make a fist with her hands.

How your baby's growing:


Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple).

She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste buds.

At 15 weeks pregnant, your baby is 4 inches long from crown to rump - approximately the length of a large pear. He or she weighs more than 2.4 ounces now!

If you were to peek inside your uterus this week, you would still be able to see your baby's blood vessels through his or her paper-thin skin. In fact, the blood vessels forming in your baby's body may closely resemble a road map!

At 15 weeks pregnant, your baby will start producing lanugo, which is fine hair that will cover your baby's body up until a few weeks before birth. Lanugo covers every part of your baby in utero, except for the palms, soles of the feet, lips, penis, nails, and inner fingers and toes. Typically babies will shed this hair by the eighth month of pregnancy, but it can persist in some newborns for a short period of time. Pre-term babies are more likely to be born with lanugo than full term babies.
The bones in your baby's body are also starting to get harder at 15 weeks pregnant, and they will continue to do so throughout your pregnancy. This is called "ossification."
At 15 weeks pregnant, your baby is passing the time with practicing breathing, by inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid. Believe it or not, the very act of doing so will help your baby's air sacs develop during pregnancy. Your little one may even be sucking his or her thumb, while the tongue is continuing to form taste buds.