21 Weeks!

This little baby of ours is growing rapidly, as is my belly! Check me out:



The crazy thing is, I still have a long way to go... approximately FOUR more months! I'm still feeling great, but I have to say that nine months is beginning to feel like an awfully long time to be pregnant! Hopefully I will continue to feel good and will enjoy the rest of my pregnancy as much as I've enjoyed it so far.

From BabyCenter:

How your baby's growing:

Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. You may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to her activity as you get to know her better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now.

And, by the way, I'm already positive that she is practicing martial arts in there, or maybe gymnastics!

20 Weeks and Growing

Banana Baby

We're 20 weeks along now - halfway through the pregnancy. About 20 more weeks till our baby girl is here! I can feel her moving around every day now. Jeremy hasn't been able to feel the movement with his hand on my belly yet, but I bet he will be able to before too long. She's getting pretty big now - BabyCenter says she's about the length of a banana!

I've been feeling pretty normal lately. Sometimes I forget for a moment that I'm pregnant, until I feel her move or my back and hip start aching as a reminder. Or, of course, until I look down and see my round belly :-). I noticed last night that my belly button is starting to change already and is looking a little bit stretched!

From BabyCenter:

How your baby's growing:

Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also 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.)

It's a....

GIRL! It's a GIRL! It's a GIRL! My intuition was right!

The ultrasound tech and the doctor pointed out her brain, spine, rib cage, heart & the four chambers, stomach, kidneys, bladder, eye sockets, nose, mouth, arms, legs, feet, hands, and lastly her girl parts. And everything looks as healthy as can be! We saw one picture of her face from the front, and I thought she looked like Jeremy! It looks like she has his lips and chin.

She moved around some while we were peeking into her private world in the womb. She had her little legs crossed at the ankles at first (already a lady, according to Devon!). She hiccuped. She put her feet over her head. She put her foot in her mouth (must have gotten that from Jeremy). Then she started lounging like Jeremy does - with one leg crossed at the ankle over the other knee. You can see this in her picture below! She is going to be such a fun little girl; we can't wait till she's in our arms!!

19 Weeks

According to www.babycenter.com...

Your baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.

Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.

And I absolutely love this picture from www.i-am-pregnant.com:



At this point, the baby is basically a tiny version of what we'll see in November!

The Results Are In...

We got the results of the quad screen test today: negative for everything (including Down syndrome, other chromosomal birth defects and neural tube defects)! Of course it's just a "screening" test, which means that they can't exactly rule anything out, but negative results are a very good sign! Thanks for your healthy baby prayers, and please keep them coming!!

Doctor's Visit

My doctor's visit went well today. I was weighed (I'm up 6 lbs - I was right!), we listened to the baby's heartbeat, she felt my uterus (it's up to my belly button now!), and I got to ask all my pressing questions about my recent aches and pains. She said the hip pain is normal, and that some women get it so bad that they have to go to physical therapy. I certainly hope mine doesn't get that bad.

When she listened to the heart beat, she made her gender prediction... for a girl! She said she was just going by the old wives' tale that a baby girl's heart rate is consistently higher than 140. Our baby's is always in the 150s or 160s. We will find out for sure next Thursday!