Becky is 14 weeks pregnant as of today, which means she’s officially in her second trimester — and little Baby Loy has officially graduated from “jumbo shrimp sized” to “lemon sized.” Here’s some of what BabyCenter.com says about Week 14:
Head to bottom, your baby’s 3 1/2 inches long  about the length of a lemon  and weighs about 1 1/2 ounces. Her body’s growing faster than her head, which now sits upon a more well-defined neck. By the end of this week, her arms will have lengthened and will be in proportion to the rest of her body. … You still can’t feel your baby’s movements, but her hands and feet (which are now half an inch long) are more flexible and active. Thanks to brain impulses, her little facial muscles are getting a workout as she squints, frowns, and grimaces. She can grasp now, too, and she may be able to suck her thumb.
As an aside, what’s the rationale behind using “her” instead of “him” in gender-nonspecific writing? I understand the objection that always using “him” is sexist and patriarchal, but how is using “her” any better? Is it, like, linguistic affirmative action?
P.S. Baby Gaga (which prefers the gramatically incorrect “their” to the politically incorrect “his” or “hers”) has more on Week 14: “[T]heir little body and limber limbs are coordinated enough for loads of complicated motions. In fact, their whole body is moving right now!â€â€only their current size is still a bit too small for you to notice. … Your baby is also starting to develop the ability to move their eyes this week, although the eyelids still remain fused shut. What’s more, they can make all sorts of fun facial expressions as they practice squinting, frowning, and grimacing.”
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Categories: Our baby
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July 2nd, 2007 at 8:38:11 pm
I’ve noticed that “her” is often used in reference to children, while “him” is usually used in reference to adults.
July 2nd, 2007 at 8:45:47 pm
Could it be that, until the testosterone part of the development kicks in, we all started out as reptiles, then fish, then female ? Then, if sufficient testosterone kicks in, we ascend to that pinnacle of maledom ?
{/me mallards, grinning}
July 2nd, 2007 at 10:13:23 pm
Unless they’ve changed, you should find that Baby Center alternates each week between the masculine and feminine.
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:58:02 pm
(nonspoiler) we interupt this thread to celebrate the birth of Transformers. It was awesome. A-. It only get’s a minus because there were a few areas that could have been trimmed (the Witwicky household “searching” scene) and a couple of too-cheesy moments. The independence-dayey plot structure actually added to the enjoyability of the movie. So go in expecting independence-dayey stuff. Shia Labouf deserves every last dollar of the 20$m per movie he will be commanding in a few years. every last cent. Even Stevens 4-VR !
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:04:54 am
BabyCenter will alternate each week–one week him, one week her. You’ll start to notice it in your emails you get.
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:50:03 am
Brendan…
Are you and Becky going to find out the sex of the baby? (Sorry I don’t feel like searching to see if this was mentioned before.)
When my son was born we didn’t want to find out the sex of the baby. It was a nice surprise.
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:58:31 am
“When my son was born we didn’t want to find out the sex of the baby. It was a nice surprise.”
Wait, I’m confused — did you find out the sex of your baby, or not?
You say it was a son, so it would seem you know he’s male. In which case, apparently you DID find out. And it was a surprise when you found out.
Of course, none of that depends on whether you find out on Birth Day or at an ultrasound. :)
“BabyCenter will alternate each week–one week him, one week her. You’ll start to notice it in your emails you get.”
Indeed, PenguinSix. See here:
http://www.brendanloy.com/wp/2007/07/14-weeks.html#comment-504631
July 3rd, 2007 at 10:54:49 am
Brian…obviously we DID find out…but not until he was born.
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:13:25 am
Thanks for reminding us that your comment was first, Brian. We can all rest a little easier now.
July 3rd, 2007 at 1:42:52 pm
Yes, we intend to find out the sex of the baby from the ultrasound, if we can.
July 3rd, 2007 at 4:20:46 pm
I’m all about figuring out da baby’s sex. That way I can start obsessing over baby names for the proper sex and then I can know whether or not get all teary eyed over those little USC song girls outfits or some little boy clothes that admittedly, just aren’t as cute as the little girls’ stuff. Sorry boys.
Of course, knowing my luck, they’ll tell us we’ve got a boy on the way and then, on the big day, we get a girl and I’m like, well, shit.
July 3rd, 2007 at 4:27:27 pm
We just picked out a name for a boy and a name for a girl, painted the room a neutral green, and took it from there.
There are plenty of cute little boy clothes…especially sneakers…I remember buying him his first Chuck Taylors…which he grew out of in about 2 weeks.
July 3rd, 2007 at 5:42:20 pm
“We can all rest a little easier now.”
And of course, that was my chief concern.
July 3rd, 2007 at 5:46:54 pm
Frankly, I was a little disappointed at first because I have only nephews. But then you find the joy in little boys clothes: little suits and polo shirts, caps and shoes. Boys look like little men when you dress them! It’s totally adorable! Of course, either way I look forward to shopping for your baby!
July 3rd, 2007 at 6:05:40 pm
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Boys are way cuter! If you have a boy, he’s going to have Bills gear for every stage of life. Consider yourselves warned. Auntie Kristy (Or Auntie Kiki, and V has decided I will be named by the youngin’) is on the prowl…
July 3rd, 2007 at 7:39:39 pm
Little boys are not as thrilled as you think to be turned into your own personal dress up dolls :p
July 5th, 2007 at 10:56:48 pm
Little girls are not universally as thrilled, either, to be turned into anyone’s dress-up dolls …