9 weeks!

How your baby's growing: Your new resident is nearly an inch long — barely the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce, but he's poised for rapid weight gain now that his basic physical structure is in place. He's also starting to look more and more human. His embryonic "tail" is now completely gone and his body parts — including organs, muscles, and nerves — are kicking into gear.

His eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. He has earlobes, and by week's end, the inner workings of his ears will be complete. His upper lip is fully formed, too, and his mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The tips of his fingers are slightly enlarged where his touch pads are developing. All major joints — his shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles — are working, enabling your baby to move his limbs. As for his heart, it has divided into four chambers now, and the valves have started to develop. External sex organs are there, but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks.

How your life's changing: You still may not look pregnant (although your belly will probably pop earlier if you've been pregnant before), but emotionally you may feel like you're on a roller coaster ride. Mood swings are common now; it's perfectly normal to feel alternately elated and terrified about becoming a parent. This feeling can persist throughout your pregnancy and well after your baby's born. Try to cut yourself some slack. Almost all expectant parents worry about how a new baby will change their lives, but the vast majority later say that becoming a parent was one of the best things they've ever done.

You may be feeling extra gassy or bloated now, too. That's primarily because the major doses of progesterone your body produces early in pregnancy relax smooth muscle tissue throughout your body, and that includes your gastrointestinal tract. This relaxation slows your digestive processes, which can cause more gas, bloating, burping, flatulence, and generally miserable sensations in your gut, especially after a big meal. Find out how to get relief.

If you're over 35 or have a family history of a genetic illness, such as cystic fibrosis, you may want to consider genetic counseling or a prenatal test called chorionic villus sampling (CVS), which is given between ten and 12 weeks and screens for certain birth defects and abnormalities.

How I'm doing: I'm doing well. Most of the nausea is gone. I still struggle to eat some meals and some foods turn me off but the queasiness has mostly left. I do find it hard to cook meals since handling raw meat is still a little rough. It's getting better every day though. My biggest problem right now is staying awake. For the past week I've been sleeping 10 hours on average each night. Even with all that sleep I still feel tired all day. So if you see me yawning, you're not boring me, I could just really use a nap. Even simple daily activities like taking a shower tire me out. Most mornings I lay down for a few minutes after I get out of the shower to recuperate. It makes getting ready in the morning a slow process. So I take things slow. Thankfully a large part of my day is spent working at my computer and so far I haven't had problems falling asleep sitting up. I'm anxious to get out of the first trimester (3 more weeks to go) since my energy should return fairly soon after that.

My clothes are getting tighter and tighter as the days pass. I only have a few pairs of pants that I can't button anymore but more of my clothes are feeling uncomfortable. Debi and I went shopping for some maternity clothes last weekend and I picked up a few more pieces (Thanks Debi!). Including a couple of pairs of pants with adjustable waistbands that will work through the in-between stages. I also picked up a belly band so that I can wear my regular pants a while longer unbuttoned and no one will be the wiser (or they wouldn't have been until I mentioned it now). It's hard to say for sure, but I think I've only gained about 3-4 lbs so far. Nothing really noticeable. But my uterus has doubled in size and is now as big as a tennis ball. There's lots going on, no wonder I'm so tired.

My first prenatal appointment is Tuesday. I'm excited to meet our provider. Hopefully we'll get off to a great start with this little one. We're excited to get some advice and make sure everything is going well so far.