lil' Gherkin's 17 weeks

I'm feeling better all the time. Or at least I seem to be having more good days than bad and even the bad days aren't as bad as they were before. I'm not taking the Phenergan as often and that's encouraging to me. The evenings are when I feel the worst, so I take one then, but not during the day unless I'm not feeling good. I can tell that I'm far better hydrated and am even starting to eat more, which is exactly what the doctors want to see happen. OK, so I'm a little late this week in getting a post up about lil' Gherkin's growing. Once I figure out how to download pictures from my new digital camera to my computer and then upload them to here, I'll put a picture up of my little belly (it's not very big yet, but it's bigger than my belly's ever been). Hopefully you'll all be kinder than my mom who said it looks like my behind (Jeremy took a picture with his phone and sent it to her and Carol on Sunday....Carol said it was cute and mom said she thought it was my bottom). Let's see, according to babycenter.com, Lil' Gherkin weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and it's around 5 inches long. It can move its joints, and its skeleton — until now rubbery cartilage — is starting to harden to bone. Its sense of hearing is also developing. The umbilical cord is growing stronger and thicker.

In other news, Jeremy started volunteering on Saturday and had so much fun that he went back on Sunday. On Saturday he spent the day with another volunteer who is going to train him on different hikes and stuff in the area. Other than the weather was supposed to be warm and it turned out to be rather chilly and falling in a creek, he really enjoyed himself. On Sunday he spent the day in the visitor's center learning the ropes and then went around picking up trash. I'm hoping that as the weather warms and I feel better I can spend some time up there with him. I have no interest in falling in a creek or picking up trash, but it'd be fun to do some of the hikes (they're only like a mile or two long, so nothing difficult) and have lunch. The dogs would surely enjoy it too!