Week 23

The pickle is a baby doll at week 23! By this time we're measuring a full 8 inches from the top of the head to the bum and at long last weighing in at one pound. These dimensions (coupled with the now well formed features of eyelids and eyebrows) have the pickle closely resembling the kind of baby dolls that toddlers carry around.


AWWWWWW!

In the 23rd week Kasha and her belly flew to the US. She was in mourning over the loss of her Grandma K, but what an opportunity to introduce the belly bump to her entire extended family. Um, by my last count there are seven hundred and thirty-five Krupanskys strewn all over the US and abroad!


The pickle also got a chance to "meet" some new friends! It was a real pregnant belly showdown in Detroit during week 23.


Here's Kasha and her high school/ MSU pal Carrie (who's due date is fast approaching!) Carrie is responsible for introducing Kasha and I all those years ago.


And here we have Kasha and sister-in-law Andrea (who is due in June) going back to back.

Have another look at these pictures, will you? They say you can glean some info about the sex of a baby by the way the mother is carrying. Now, that sounds like a big pile of codswallop to me, but perhaps there's a nugget of non-BS in there.

Another thing to consider is that individual mother may carry very differently so what can you infer from that? Carrie and Andrea are both seasoned mommies. Carrie has a daughter, Emmy, and Andrea has two boys, Henry and Victor.

Still, we're playing a game of 50/50 here, so why not roll the dice?

Looking at these pictures I think it's gonna be like this:
Carrie- boy
Andrea- boy
Kasha- girl

But I don't have any insider info, and I don't know how to interpret the pictures of how these ladies are carrying. It's not even a hunch. I actually just flipped a Wu Jiao coin. Heads (5) it was a boy, and Tails (flower) a girl.

There's no shame in my game. Say what you will, but my contention is the old coin toss is just as accurate as any old-wives-tale! Then again, old wives have had babies, and guys like me are idiots. We'll see in the coming months, and until the final word is in, I welcome dissenting opinions.

Shall we move on?

What is notable about the pickle's development in this 23rd week is that the fetal pancreas is formed and functioning. In the earlier weeks, the pancreas was learning to fabricate insulin. Now, however, insulin is actually being deployed to break sugar down into useable bits and, indeed, to fine tune the amounts of insulin that are released. Learnin', yo! now, take a look at this pancreas. Just take a look and tell me I'm not crazy.


Whoa! Who knew the pancreas was so wienery? Sheesh. We all know how the camera catches us best (not me... I'm ambidextrous in terms of my photogenic "good side") and, seriously, if I was the pancreas I'd've been like, "hey, don't draw me from that angle... it makes me look like a dick!"

What!? Did you want me to just let that one slide? You don't know Wesley R Smith that well, I guess. I could've said that in week 23 the lanugo hair is turning black... but I didn't really get too much positive feedback the first time I brought up Lanugo.

How about this... I will leave you on a high note. In week 23 the pickle's face and body have finally acquired the cute baby appearance of an infant. Better?