18 weeks 6 days

Man I'm excited for this little stinker to be born now.  Like I'm really psyched about it.  I just can't wait. :)

But since I have to wait, I thought I'd share a few pregnancy tidbits from www.welcomebabyhome.com:

**Your total weight gain at this point is between 8 and 14 pounds. Of this weight, only about 7 oz is your baby. The placenta weighs about 6 oz, the amniotic sac weighs another 11 oz. The uterus weighs 11 oz; your breasts have increased in weight by about 6½ oz each. The rest of the weight you have gained is your increased blood volume and other maternal stores. Your heart is working twice as hard as it did during your pre-pregnancy days due to your vital organs increased needs for blood. Your uterus and skin need twice as much blood as they did before you became pregnant and your kidneys need 25 percent more.**  (My weight gain is probably around 8-10 lbs at this point, depending on what time of day you measure it.)

**Your waste system is working doubly hard and that includes your sweat glands. Progesterone will increase your sensitivity to CO2. Your body responds by working harder to expel CO2 from your system and so your rate of respiration increases.** (And yes I do sweat a lot now!!)

**Your body is retaining more fluid and that means more weight to lug around. The volume of your blood increases by around 40%. The increase in blood volume can be more from blood plasma than from red blood cells. Feelings of tiredness can be attributed to pregnancy anemia known as physiological anemia. You will need more red blood cells to maintain your hemoglobin levels and for that you require sufficient iron.**  (Ooooh.  Interesting.)

**Lower blood pressure is very common during pregnancy. This is the result of your heart having to pump larger volumes of blood each minute to keep up the extra demand on your body. Dilatation of blood vessels causes the lower BP.**  (Yup, I got the low blood pressure.  105/53 when I was sick, about 2 hours after nearly passing out.  I wonder what it was when I almost passed out!)