APRIL 2008 - 8 week scan
Dear Grandchild,
Last night we went to visit Mark and Tammy and they showed us a scan photograph of you taken at 8 weeks. You now look more like Casper the ghost than a tadpole!
I Googled 8 week embryo and this is what I read:
This week, your baby graduates from being an embryo and becomes a foetus. Up to now, your baby's framework has been made up of cartilage. From the 47th day, the first bone cells begin to replace this cartilage. The bones for arms and legs begin to harden and joints begin to form.
The face and jaw is formed, but teeth and facial muscles are only just starting. All of the vital organs are in place: heart, lungs, brain, intestines. However, they are all still immature and will develop further. The genitalia begin to form. Your baby will develop webbed fingers and toes this week. Wrists, elbows and ankles are clearly visible, and your baby's eyelids are beginning to form. The ears, upper lip and tip of the nose also become recognizable. As your baby's heart becomes more fully developed, it will pump at 150 beats a minute — about twice the usual adult rate. Starting to look like a real human being now.
The face and jaw is formed, but teeth and facial muscles are only just starting. All of the vital organs are in place: heart, lungs, brain, intestines. However, they are all still immature and will develop further. The genitalia begin to form. Your baby will develop webbed fingers and toes this week. Wrists, elbows and ankles are clearly visible, and your baby's eyelids are beginning to form. The ears, upper lip and tip of the nose also become recognizable. As your baby's heart becomes more fully developed, it will pump at 150 beats a minute — about twice the usual adult rate. Starting to look like a real human being now.
Dear, dear baby - when I read this sentence, "From the 47th day, the first bone cells begin to replace this cartilage. The bones for arms and legs begin to harden and joints begin to form." I wonder if the bones are osteogenic or not? There is no way of telling.
Your father has a 'mild to moderate' type of OI. His is a single gene defect, the result of a new mutation of the gene for collagen protein. This means that there is no history of OI in our families and that he did not 'inherit' OI from us. It was a freak of nature, a change in the gene and I often called him my 'unique freak"!
You won't understand this but collagen forms the tensile strength in bones, the reinforcing, similar to steel mesh used to build a concrete wall. If the steel mesh is weak or faulty, the wall will not be strong. It won't matter how strong the concrete is that is used to build the wall, a weak, faulty framework will result in potential cracking in the wall.
Osteogenesis Imperfecta. Os = bones Genesis = in the beginning Imperfecta = imperfect. Imperfect bones from the beginning. In the old orthopaedic books it was also called Fragilitas Ossium (fragile bones).
So, that is the bogey-man that haunts me.
Hang in there little one,
Silly
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