Sunday, July 6

Sooooo . . . in about 31 hours I'll know something more concrete. The waiting is killer, but there's nothing to do but wait. I go through these physical spurts where I feel great - and therefore start to worry more. Then I have moments where I feel a little ill and I'm thrilled about that. I know it's all common stuff. I just wish tomorrow afternoon would come on already!

Right now I'm just at 6 weeks along. So tomorrow I anxiously want to see a heartbeat. I think I'll be devastated if I don't see it. Crazy stuff is supposedly going on inside me this week.

This week's major developments: The nose, mouth, and ears are beginning to take shape. There's an oversized head and dark spots where eyes and nostrils are starting to form. Emerging ears are marked by small depressions on the sides of the head, and arms and legs are now protruding buds. The heart should be beating about 100 to 160 times a minute — almost twice as fast as mine — and blood is beginning to course through the little body. The intestines are developing, and the bud of tissue that will give rise to lungs has appeared. The pituitary gland is forming, as are the rest of his brain, muscles, and bones. Right now, the baby is a quarter of an inch long, about the size of a lentil bean. I'm learning all this from www.babycenter.com.