GS Journey ~ Your Pregnancy: 5 Weeks (and Beta Update)

How Y & Q's baby is growing:

Deep in your uterus your embryo is growing at a furious pace. At this point, he's about the size of a sesame seed, and he looks more like a tiny tadpole than a human. He's now made up of three layers — the ectoderm, the mesoderm, and the endoderm — which will later form all of his organs and tissues.

The neural tube — from which your baby's 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 his skin, hair, nails, mammary and sweat glands, and tooth enamel.

His heart and circulatory system begin to form in the middle layer, or mesoderm. (This week, in fact, his tiny heart begins to divide into chambers and beat and pump blood.) The mesoderm will also form your baby's muscles, cartilage, bone, and subcutaneous (under skin) tissue.

The third layer, or endoderm, will house his lungs, intestines, and rudimentary urinary system, as well as his thyroid, liver, and pancreas. In the meantime, the primitive placenta and umbilical cord, which deliver nourishment and oxygen to your baby, are already on the job.

GS Journey #3 at 5 Weeks
GS Journey #2 at 5 Weeks


How many weeks today: 5w1d
How I am feeling: Not too bad the past few days. I was queasy on Friday night, but pretty good most of the rest of the weekend. Today I feel some deep cramping sensations, and a little fluttery queasy sensations, a little bit of mouth watering, and feeling a little hungrier than normal.
Cravings / aversions: I've been craving juice the past few days which is unusual for me. I don't drink a whole lot of juice normally. I've been keeping cranberry and strawberry kiwi juice in the fridge and cut it half and half with water when the mood strikes. I had some fresh squeezed OJ the other day that was amazing.
Baby: Size of a sesame seed - Nickname: Tiny Passenger

We had a repeat beta last week on Thursday, and have one more coming up this Thursday - beta recap:

GS #4
10dp5dt 469
13dp5dt 2289 (doubled in 31.5 hours, or 1.3 days)


How does this compare to my previous surrogacies:

GS #3 (TWINS)
12dp3dt 605
14dp3dt 1183 (doubled in 49.6 hours or 2.1 days)
19dp3dt 9151 (doubled in 40.7 hours or 1.7 days)

GS #2 (SINGLETON)
12dp3dt 110
16dp3dt 519 (doubled in 42.9 hours or 1.8 days)
23dp3dt 5129 (doubled in 50.8 hours or 2.1 days)

GS #1 (SINGLETON)
12dp3dt 198.1
14dp3dt 388.5 (doubled in 49.5 hours or 2.1 days)
17dp3dt 1264 (doubled in 42.3 hours or 1.8 days)
24dp3dt 7037 (doubled in 67.8 hours or 2.8 days)

As you can see, these numbers are MUCH closer to my twin numbers than my singleton numbers, but we did only transfer one so somehow we must just have an over-achieving high hcg producing embryo this time. Of course the word "splitter" has entered my mind on more than one occasion, but the chances of an embryo splitting are something like 1%, so still hoping for just one very healthy happy baby in there!

One more beta hcg on Thursday - we'll see if the numbers stay at a high doubling rate or if they slow down a little. Then we'll schedule the ultrasound for around 6 weeks - so could be just a week from now! Can't WAIT to see how this little one is doing!