Dear Baby 2, You're here!

Well, goodness gracious, you're here!  I've taken more than a couple of pregnancy tests this year so when I took one on Friday night and saw a positive, I was pleasantly surprised!  Your brother and I were having a Mommy and Me weekend so there was no one to tell!  I couldn't tell Daddy because he was hunting with your Uncle Heath, and Daddy is terrible at keeping secrets from him so I just had to wait until Daddy got home.  My plan was to put your brother in his Big Bro t-shirt (which I optimistically bought this summer) for Daddy to see when he got home, but Bo wanted to take a nap, so I had to settle for texting Daddy a picture of him in the shirt.  Daddy was pleasantly surprised, too!  You're arrival date is August 8, 2012.

Here's what you're up to this week (5 weeks, taken from here):

You're about the size of a sesame seed, and you look more like a tiny tadpole than a human. You're made up of three layers — the ectoderm, the mesoderm, and the endoderm — which will later form all of your organs and tissues.  The neural tube — from which your brain, spinal cord, nerves, and backbone will sprout — is starting to develop in the top layer, called the ectoderm. This layer will also give rise to your skin, hair, nails, mammary and sweat glands, and tooth enamel.  Your heart and circulatory system begin to form in the middle layer, or mesoderm. (This week, in fact, your tiny heart begins to divide into chambers and beat and pump blood.) The mesoderm will also form your muscles, cartilage, bone, and subcutaneous (under skin) tissue.  The third layer, or endoderm, will house your lungs, intestines, and rudimentary urinary system, as well as your thyroid, liver, and pancreas. In the meantime, the primitive placenta and umbilical cord, which deliver nourishment and oxygen to you, are already on the job.

These are my prayers for you this week:

That this is a much less eventful pregnancy than my last one.  That you're perfectly implanted in the right spot so that we can keep you.