The First Photos of Our Little One

If you want to see our little one more clearly, you'll need to click on each of the pictures at the bottom of this page to enlarge them (starting with the bottom one first since they were uploaded from the oldest photo to the most recent photos). I'm not completely satisfied with how they came out on the screen--they're a bit fuzzier than they are on the actual photos we have--but they show enough detail that I think you'll be able to tell that it's a baby (with, perhaps, the exception of the bottom photo :-))! Now, as an already proud mom-to-be, I'll do my best to explain the photos.

The bottom photo is perhaps the least interesting to you, but it was the first one we ever had of the life growing inside me so it's very special to us. This photo also represents the first time we saw our baby's heartbeat on the monitor--very exciting! The photo was taken when the embryo was 8 weeks old and was only 19.1mm (0.8 inches) long. It was then that we began affectionately calling it "Our Little Kidney Bean" since it was the shape and size of a kidney bean, but that didn't last long because just three and a half weeks later it no longer looked like a kidney bean, but much more like a little baby instead!

The next photo up shows our baby from "top down". Its head is in the forefront--see where its eyes are at the top and its tiny nose just below? You can also see its left arm and its left hand with five gorgeous little fingers! We could see its hand waving to us on the monitor as if to say "Hello Mom and Dad!" In this picture, our little one was about 11 weeks and 5 days old. The fetus was only 54.8mm (2.2 inches), but most of its vital organs from its kidneys and bladder to its stomach were already formed and were beginning to function.

The last picture shows our baby from the side. Its head is on the left side of the photo and you can see the profile of its skull pretty clearly. Then you can see its body and on the right side of the picture are its legs. The right leg is in the forefront and the little foot of the left leg can be seen just behind it. The umbilical cord is the other long, straggly thing you see in the background (further on the left). We have other pictures that show the baby's spine more clearly and one of its profile with its hand by its mouth (so cute!), but we decided to spare you from seeing every single photo we have.

The most exciting part of this doctor's visit was that right after taking this picture we got to see our baby do a backwards flip! The little gymnast wriggled its feet up and over its head and flipped completely around to land back in the same position in which you see it in the photo. Amazing! The movement was so fluid and graceful. We immediately tried to think of nicknames for our little one. We came up with "Tiny Astronaut" (because it's movement in the amniotic fluid was like a weightless astronaut), "Jumping Bean", and "Jack-in-the-box", but none seemed quite right. We're still trying to come up with the appropriate name!

The baby is 14 weeks old today! I'm already looking forward to my next appointment in two weeks when we get to see our little one again and possibly this time find out (tentatively) if it's a boy or a girl. I'm ready to leave the word "it" behind!