This week, the little dude is an heirloom tomato. He now supposedly weighs over half a pound.AND! I've felt him thumping around in there a couple times! Like, out of the blue I felt this little push. And then it happened again!
So then I waited, and when nothing happened after that, I mooshed my stomach to try to get him to do something. Poke, poke. To no avail.
I suppose it's tantamount to bugging caged animals. Unfair. But he's got a lot of padding in his babyhouse, you know?
Speaking of confinements, I do feel kind of bad for the little guy. Because look at this 19 week image from babycenter.com.
Look how scrinched up he is! And it's only going to get worse.And something they said this week that I think is kind of gross. "A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid."
Prevent it from pickling!
I've been thinking about how the kid has to live in liquid for nearly ten months. Picturing a little person, floating around in what looked like viscous, yellow fluid when they sucked it out of me during the amnio. I have vivid images of ascaris and baby pigs and such suspended in jars in my science classroom in high school.
When I first started thinking about this a couple weeks ago, Nick said that actually, babies have this protective layer of skin on them that peels off after a couple days. I did not believe him.
What he was talking about was the vernix mentioned above.
But I misunderstood. And not having spent any concerted time around a newborn, in my mind, I totally pictured a moulting reptile. I used to be fascinated by how lizards and snakes could just shimmy out of their old casing and leave it behind.
But it was a bit much for me to believe that two or three days in, we'd reach into the crib to pick up the little dude, only to find he'd moulted.
And if you have any interest in seeing moulting in action, here you go.
Happy Friday! Happy first day of spring!
This is one of the things that makes me feel better about not thinking that brand-new newborns are not the cutest things ever. Miraculous? Sure. Loveable? No question. Attractive? Well, ummm... look.
ReplyDeleteNobody's at their most attractive when their skin is about to, or is in the process of, peeling off.
Now that's a baby belly! Congrats. Also, most of that protective stuff "moults" off pre birth as the boy is traveling the birth canal. Plus, the nurses are good at getting it off too. I don't remember Jess being all peely after she was born!
ReplyDeletei can just picture a baby shaped casing of dead skin just sitting there when you go to the crib. i like to compare the protective layer to sausage casing though, makes more sense to me.
ReplyDeletealthough that still doesn't sound nearly as creepy/gross as the whole belly button falling off stuff... uggh
i love these tummy updates. i have a couple friends who are pregnant, and for some reason, they don't want to show me their bellies. hmmm. anyway, that drawing from babycenter? is disturbing.
ReplyDeleteDagny - Agree. And, as a woman who ohsofoolishly used to get sunburned a LOT I know this to be true for a firsthand fact.
ReplyDeleteCheryl S - It feels like a roundy baby belly now! And I am GLAD to hear that. Nick said his nephew was all peely for a couple days.
notsojenny - I know! It would be kind of cool, in a super creepy way, if the baby did just leave a cicada-like shell behind.
And aaaaaagh! The belly button falling off! Aaagh!
diatribes and dish - Thank you so much for telling me that! I was worrying that people would get bored, but quite honestly, my parents and far away friends like them, and I love having a progression to look back on.
lisa - wait till you can see the little guy's footprint on your belly! and thanks so much for the cicada moulting - loved it.
ReplyDeleteAlmost halfway there, right? Yay for the little tomato-boy.
ReplyDeleteheirloom tomatoes come in various sizes - this week's fruit is useless to me. I demand a meat comparison!
ReplyDeletehahahahaha. Pickling. That is priceless. =-)
ReplyDeleteI don't remember Zeke shedding any skin post-birth, so I think it either comes off in the birth process or the nurses clean everything off before presenting you with the little monkey, all spiffy and wrapped up in a blankie. The kicks are the best - I remember feeling them early on and being so excited. You're getting into the fun part of pregnancy!
ReplyDeleteYou shoulda had seven more in addition to one you're carrying. Then you could get a reality show called, "Nick and Lisa make... Srebrenica." Make the Balkans look tidy.
ReplyDeleteHillary - I am not so much on the meat, but he's supposed to be around six inches head to butt. So maybe...a big pork chop? A squab? 8.5 oz. serving of poutine? My best guesses.
ReplyDeleteRyane - Pickling! Yikes!
Wendy - I like that idea. All clean and spiffed up!
It really is cool and you are right, this is getting fun. I'm dying for it to happen again.
Anonymous - That IS an intriguing suggestion! Or, I could ask Nick to stab me repeatedly with a rusty pitchfork. We wouldn't get a TV show out of it, but it might be almost as much fun.
LJ and Susan - somehow I missed you both!
ReplyDeleteLJ - That will be totally creepycool. And I am dying to see some concrete proof that he has feet. Even though I know they saw them both on the sonogram.
And I loved that cicada clip!
Susan - Yes!!! Almost halfway! Yay!
It's not so bad. It just looks like he has dry skin. Nothing reptilian.
ReplyDeleteHooray for feeling movement!! Congratulations! Isn't it the best? Have you had Nick listen to him move yet?
ReplyDeleteI'm imagining a little baby shell laying next to the baby...like when the snakes leave the little snake shape of their old skin...*shudder*
ReplyDeleteHi btw! I'm a new commenter, but I've been reading for awhile :)
You look fantastic! And yay for feeling movement!!!!! Awesome!
ReplyDeleteAmisare - Dry skin I can deal with. But reptilian - kind of fascinating.:)
ReplyDeleteLuna - I know - SO exciting!!!! He hasn't heard him move - says it just sounds like my stomach gurgling. I'm dying for the kicks that he can feel to start.
Jess - Hi! Welcome! Thanks for reading and thanks for commenting.
mrsmac - I can't believe you're online already! Congratulations to you - so excited about the news of little baby Betti!
Nick is slightly confused. It's not skin, it's really greasy stuff, like the uber baby version of people getting greased up to swim the English Channel. His nephew must not have been wiped off very well at birth. Or maybe he was over cleansed and his delicate new baby skin dried out too much and did peel. It is good to leave some of it on their skin though, since it is protective. I was told to wait at least 2 weeks to wash Benji because that would cut down on his chances of having eczema and other irritable skin issues. I have absolutely no recollection of him peeling or moulting even though he did remind me a bit of a dragon.
ReplyDeleteThat's where movies so often get it wrong; they show newborns all bloody and stuff, when the vernix looks more like Crisco. And here's something sure to start a debate, have you and Nick discussed the C decision yet? Or is it even a question?
ReplyDeleteIt may be weird a bit weird to live in fluid for 10 months and have to worry about being pickled, but the fluid part is why some people recommend teaching your baby to swim soon after birth--they remember being in the womb and it's familiar. No idea if it works, but something to think about.
ReplyDeleteMaude - Oh, interesting. I could totally see over-cleansing in the US, but who knows what the deal actually was.
ReplyDeleteJ - We haven't talked about it, but I'm only having a C-section if it's absolutely no question about it necessary.
Sarah - Hmm. That is something to think about. And would be kind of fun.
Eeeep! I'm glad I didn't know about the molting thing when I had Pinky and Stinky. I would have been looking for the waxy shell in the bassinet.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, seeing your belly move is awesome. It's like a loch ness monster sighting. I found myself yelling DID YOU SEE THAT?!? to random strangers about every ten minutes.
Lisa- I think she meant circumcision. Which is a really fun topic on som discussion boards.
ReplyDeleteIt is precisely because of the nurturing mother, only the prosperity of mankind. I hope you successfully produced the world from more of a sweet little angel. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat is Really Healthy-Health Blog
Humor & Fun World-Funny Blog
This kind of made me want to throw up and hug you at the same time. Well, not AT THE SAME TIME, because, well, ew. But.. you get it.
ReplyDeleteI am really enjoying the weekly belly posts. Your discoveries are bringing back a lot of pregnancy memories that I'd really kind of tucked away and forgotten.
ReplyDeleteOh, and the moulting happens when the baby gets this stuff called cradle cap. It's like a sloughing off of the scalp. I remember picking and combing at my kids' little heads peeling the stuff off in bits while I nursed them.
Okay - that was gross, wasn't it? Sorry.
Looking forward to the next post!
P.S. I just remembered I have pix of my babies before the vernix was wiped off them completely. It's like they're covered in a thin layer of Nivea cream.
lisa, lisa, i'm being a creeper and looking back at your tummy pics to gauge where mine is on the scale of normal to not at all normal. and i'm terrified because you were pretty freaking huge by the end, but at 19 weeks you weren't that big. i have a blog separate from carlyallgood for pregnancy stuff, you can check it out to see why i'm feeling horrified right now. http://lovemorebehappy.wordpress.com/
ReplyDeleteahh.. did you stomach go through a huge growth spurt later on?!!!