15 weeks...or well, 13, really.

It's amazing to think that we're 15 weeks along now... which really means that the baby is 13 weeks old, counting from conception.

I recognize that most people don't know the exact day they ovulated, but still, the method of counting pregnancy from the last menstrual period seems somewhat silly to me. Not only are is the average textbook woman decidedly NOT pregnant for the first two weeks of her cycle until ovulation occurs, but for real people the two weeks between start of period and ovulation could easily be one week or three weeks or more, since so many women have different cycle lengths and different luteal phase lengths.

Regardless of which method we count by, we're less than 7 weeks away from the earliest viability, and 9 weeks from the point at which 50% of preterm infants survive. Pretty amazing that medical technology has advanced to that point... but here's hoping we don't get to meet the little one as an outdoor baby for much, much later than that, such as after the end of spring quarter!

Our baby will be considered full term just as we reach finals week of next quarter on our academic calendar. Thinking about that way makes it seem much, much sooner, because ten weeks really flies in the context of teaching a course! The entire timing of the arrival of the baby is pretty perfect because it gives us maximum time at home with the baby during the summer (which I have off), without my having to worry too much about Stephanie going into labor while I'm a long commute away.

Incidentally, I'm teaching anatomy, physiology and development this quarter, and I am extra excited about it because it's really relevant to what's going on with the baby! As someone who is not deeply moved by physiology normally, this whole expecting a child thing was definitely the extra stimulus I needed to become excited about the course material.