14 weeks

This week's big developments: Our baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if I have an ultrasound now, we may even catch him sucking his thumb. In other news: Our baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches (about the size of a lemon) and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Our baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though I can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, our little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.