Week 20

Hello!

A TON has happened since I posted last. We found out the sex of little Tiddle finally!

Last time I left you, we were getting ready to meet our little one in Hi-Def and finally find out if Tiddle is a boy or a girl. Tuesday morning, April 12, bright and early we made our way up to Arlington Perinatal Associates (which is in the same hospital where I'll be delivering) for our appointment. We anxiously waited to be called in and then were brought into a large room with a huge flatscreen on the wall where we would get to see the ultrasound. The technician came in got me all ready to go. It was weird, because they put that jelly stuff on your belly which is normally freezing, but she said, "Okay, now this might be kind of warm." Haha and it was! That was refreshing :)

She placed the wand thing on my stomach and immediately found the little face and head. She showed us the brain and all of the different chambers, then moved to the face where we saw some amazing views of the eyes and nose (the baby TOTALLY has by nose by the way), then down to a view of an arm that was held up and kind of cradling the head. She then moved down to the chest and the beating heart, pumping away. She zoomed in on the heart beat and we could heart it pulsing along at about 150bpm. Then the tech showed us the back and all of the little ribs and spine that are now in place. It is so surreal to see all of that when last time we had an ultrasound all we could see was a little blob on the screen. Then it was down to the tummy where we saw a black spot that, the tech explained, is full of fluid that the baby has began to swallow and process thru its body. Then she moved down and crossed over the bottom area. She didn't stop there for long, but Russell and I both caught a glimpse of what we knew were little boy parts! Russell sqeezed my hand with excitement, but the tech kept going down the rest of the body to the legs and feet. This baby has exact replicas of Russell's feet :) The tech had a hard time keeping the camera on them because they were so wiggly. She finally got a shot of them where we could see little toes and then they went back to wiggling.

She moved back around again and stopped between the legs. Sure enough, what we thought we saw was there. Plain as day. Little boy parts!! She asked us if we wanted to guess at what it was, and we both laughed and said together, "boy!" She then proceeded to show us more of the body and turned on a view of the body where we could see the blood flowing from the umbilical cord thru the baby's body. That was so crazy. And it made me think how incredible it is that my blood is flowing thru me, then thru this little life growing inside of me.

Here is the video that we got from the doctor. There was no sound on it, so I kind of gave commentary throughout the whole thing:



After all of that, the doctor came in and told us that our little boy looked great and had no signs of any diseases or anything like that. He said that the heart was beating just fine and he looked healthy as could be :)

Here are a few pictures that the ultrasound tech took for us:






The one of the face from straight on is kind of creepy looking! haha. I love this little guy so much already and I can't wait to meet him!

So a few days after the ultrasound we hit the 20 week point. At our appointment, he weighed in at 11 ounces. The tech didn't tell us how long he was, but the average length right about now is around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of his head to his bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, he's measured from head to toe.)

He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).

As for how I'm developing, at the 20 week mark I'm officially half way! My uterus is about at the top of my belly button and I've gained around 10 lbs.


Here's about what the baby looks like at this week:



And here is how I'm looking:

Weeks 18 and 19

Hello all :) I have been really busy and just plain pooped the past couple of weeks, so I've been kind of behind on my posting, but I finally have some time to catch up!

As of the 18th week (April 1), Tiddle was about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and weighed almost 7 ounces. At that time, he/she was busy flexing its arms and legs — movements that I'm pretty sure I've started to notice more and more. I have felt little flutters here and there, but I'm not totally sure if that's the baby moving or not. His/her blood vessels are visible through thin skin, and the ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from its head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around the nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he/she's born. If we're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If we're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from us during an ultrasound. I sure hope the little one isn't shy when we go in for our ultrasound!

Our appointment to see the doctor and find out what we are having is THIS TUESDAY! I am soooo excited I can hardly stand it :) In a couple of days, Tiddle will have a real name hehe. The first appointment (when we will have our ultrasound) is going to be at 7:45 am in Arlington at the hospital where I'll be delivering, then it's over to the Mansfield office for a follow up with my doctor at 1:15 pm. They said that we can bring a DVD and they'll put the whole sono on it for us, I can't wait!

As of yesterday, I was 19 weeks along and can tell I've grown significantly since last week. If you look at the difference in my belly pics from last week to this week (below), you can definitely tell. About this time, our baby's sensory development is exploding! His/Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that he/she may be able to hear my voice now, so I might turn into one of those crazy pregnant ladies you see talking to her belly :) Tiddle now weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. His/Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of the body now. The kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on the scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on its skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.

In the past week I've also realized that I'm hungry WAY more often than I normally have been. I still haven't had any weird cravings I guess, other than when I had to leave work yesterday to go satisfy my need for a lunchable! haha. And for all of you moms out there, gotta love that round ligament pain. There are ligaments that stretch to support the growing weight of the uterus, and they sometimes cause shooting pain in my stomach when I move really sharply. The other day I was lying in bed and Russell made me laugh at something, which made my stomach instantly hurt due to the jabbing pain, which caused a loud "OUCH!" from me, which made me laugh harder, which confused Russell, which made me laugh EVEN harder! It was definitely funny, but I was glad when I finally quit laughing and hurting haha. So here are my pics for this week. The first two are what the baby is looking like over the past couple of weeks (you can tell it's getting cramped in there):

Week 18:

Week 19: And here are my latest belly pics. Starting to really grow now!