Week 20!

Oh my goodness.… 5 months… and 50% of the way through this pregnancy!! Unbelievable. Sorry my post is a few days late… you lose track on time when you’re on the beach

The Baby:

*He’s producing meconium now – the black, sticky by-product of digestion that will appear (most likely) in his diaper after birth. Some babies pass it in the womb or during delivery though.
*He is covering his ears with his hands in response to loud sounds or getting excited/relaxed to different voices and types of music.. I’ll need to experiment with this
*Permanent teeth are forming behind the baby ones
*He is beginning to differentiate between morning, afternoon and night.. and will develop sleep cycles (I haven’t figured these out yet, but he definitely feels more active late at night and early in the morning)
*10.5 ounces!
*10 inches!! When I read this I thought “what?! last week he was 6.5!!” … apparently during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, the baby is measured from “crown to rump” and the legs aren’t included because they’re all curled up and hard to measure. Now that we’ve hit 20 weeks, the legs ARE included… making the jump to 10 inches!! I was shocked.. that’s huge!
*How huge? The length of a banana!

The Mom:

*I feel him (so nice to use a pronoun instead of “it” or “the baby”) moving a lot more often, but it’s still the soft, fluttery movements. He kicked a couple times the night before I left for FL so Steve actually got to feel it by pushing on my belly at the right spot. No such luck since then.
*Top of my uterus is about even with my belly button and will continue to grow upward at 1 cm/week
*Uterus is slightly bigger than a cantaloupe
*Weight gain is normally around 10 lb… I’m up about 2 lb from pre-baby weight, but since I originally lost weight, I’m up about 7 – 8 lb from that. Making up for it!!
*It’s harder to sleep, especially because I can’t sleep on my stomach and I’m not supposed to sleep on my back. I constantly wake up on my back (because my body is telling me to move). I desperately want one of those maternity body pillows, but they’re like $50 – 60!
*Foods: I still love ramen, but this trip to FL has broken my daily streak (although I did still manage to eat it while here!!). I think I’m getting better with being able to eat more types of food.

Right now I’m sitting in the hotel lobby in FL waiting until it’s time to leave for the airport.. I don’t mind because I’m a bit sunned-out and it’s nice to be on the internet again!

Did you know you burn faster/easier when you’re pregnant?! I’ll post later about this FL trip…

The Dad:

*Could the 2 boys I currently have in my life be any cuter?! This is my DH, Steve, with one of our cats, Oscar. Awww..
*Steve and I (okay, really just Steve) moved everything to our new home in IL last weekend and is now back in Iowa finishing out his internship. I’ll be without him for 3 weeks!! I bet I look like a huge mess by the time he’s back For one thing, I’m losing my belly button!
*He’s still job searching in the civil/environmental engineering area around Rockford,IL – can anyone out there help?!
*He’s really excited for our little “cookie monster,” as Steve has named him.

Alright, off to the airport!

I’m working on a baby bucket list for the next 20 weeks… any suggestions?!

You might also like:

1. Week 7
2. Week 16
3. Week 11
4. Week 17!