11 weeks!

My newest talent is giving my host headaches.

I am the size of a large lime, and if you were using a Doppler machine you could hear my heart swoosh-swooshing. I can swallow, too. And I have genitals and fingernails now!

This is all terribly exciting. I think I need a nap.

Status Report: 10 Weeks!

Hooray! I've reached the ten week mark, which means I've graduated from "embryo" to "fetus."

[Cue "Pomp and Circumstance" graduation march music]

It also means most of the time for scary developmental defects to happen is behind me. Sure, things can still happen, but I'm getting more comfortable with the idea that I'm here to stay now.

I'm about the size of a strawberry now, somewhere between 1.25 and 1.5 inches. But next week I'm supposed to suddenly be the size of a large lime, so I have some growin' to do. Between that and all the neurons, no wonder my host is eating six meals a day and catching catnaps at every opportunity (in the parking garage; at the side of the road; on the magic couch; at the bike shop; in the middle of dinner parties).

Also, I have ankles and wrists now, and am starting to use them to kick and thrash around a bit. But I'm still so tiny that my host supposedly can't feel it. I sure try, though, and sometimes I think she knows I'm here.

Brilliant

I am developing over a quarter million neurons a minute this week!

Oh, and losing my tail.

Tadaa!

I have a heartbeat!

It's really fast, like alittle hummingbird, just a flutter on the ultrasound screen.
Made my host very emotional, I think she might have been worried there wouldn't be one. My progenitor, too -- he didn't show it as much, but I think he was excited to see me on that little screen.

I am roughly 10.4mm in head-to-rump length, just over a centimeter.

My features, even the big ones like my head, weren't very distinguishable using the ultrasound. Still, it was my first time showing myself to the outside world.

I think I pulled off a good performance.

Nebulous

For anyone that might be curious, no, that picture on the right isn't me. For one thing, it's a lot bigger -- I'm only about 3/4 of an inch long at this point, and that thing is the "Embryo Nebula," an emission nebula in the area of Casseiopeia.

From Wikipedia: "An emission nebula is a cloud of ionized gas (i.e. a plasma) emitting light of various colors. The most common source for ionization are high-energy photons emitted from a nearby hot star. Among the several different types of emission nebula are H II regions, in which star formation is taking place and young, massive stars are the source of the ionising photons; and planetary nebulae, in which a dying star has thrown off its outer layers, with the exposed hot core then ionizing them."

So I guess my geeky host was interested because of the name and shape of the nebula, and because it may be the result of star formation taking place.

As for my own development, in theory I now have arms and legs, and much less of a tail -- I am coming out of the sort-of-reptilian-looking phase. My head is pretty round and has eyes and the beginnings of ears. This is a pretty exciting time.

Also, although I am counting my age from -- like I said before -- the uniting of my DNA, I am informed that "gestational age" is calculated from roughly two weeks before that. So that means although I am a 6-week-old embryo, my "gestational age" is 8 weeks. I don't know why they make it so complicated, but I'm glad I got that sorted out.