Welfare Baby- 18 Weeks

We are 18 weeks today and I must admit...I don't really have a clue what we're having or whether or not I've actually felt the baby move. We did decide to rent a fetal heart rate monitoring system and so now I can use it and hear the baby's heartbeat whenever I like.  It took us some time to find the heartbeat at first (much lower than both of us were thinking) but it's so nice to hear. Heartbeats at Home is the company we decided to use after thinking about it and debating if one company was better than another. My new supervisor and his wife use this company and another friend used another... in the end we decided it didn't really matter which option we chose and we are thrilled with the device and the opportunity to listen the little guy or girl. 

Barney did not quite know what to make of the peculiar sound coming out of the little speaker system. If he only knew the changes that are coming his way...

Here are the Week 18 Updates: Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and he weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.