14 weeks [praying for baby J]

I am officially into the second trimester!  Sound the bells and raise the banner!!  So thankful I made it through the first trimester. :)

This week's big developments: baby J can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his/her thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, facial muscles are getting a workout as tiny features form one expression after another. Baby J's kidneys are producing urine, which is released into the amniotic fluid around him/her — a process until birth. Baby J can grasp, too, and if I were to have an ultrasound now, we might may even catch baby J sucking his/her thumb.

Development Prayers:
Baby J is stretching out. From head to bottom, he/she measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and weighs 1 1/2 ounces. The body's growing faster than the head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck, so pray the development is right on track and baby J is adjusting well to his/her shrinking home. By the end of this week, his/her arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of the body. (Legs still have some lengthening to do.) So pray for arm and leg growth and development.  Baby J's also starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair all over the body. And baby j's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right (so pray that it is in fact)— and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells (so pray for a healthy spleen).

Symptoms:

• definitely less nauseous overall, and can go without eating every 2 hours
• food is becoming more appealing
• craving hot soups (gumbo in particular) -- but I also chalk this one up to the cooler temps. :)
• experiencing what I'm guessing is ligament pain that is a soreness in my right groin area when I stand up--it goes away when I sit or relax, but it's still weird nonetheless