20 weeks - YAY...we're halfway!!!!

This week baby is the size of a Coconut...

Here is what's happening with baby...

• Baby now weighes about 11 ounces and is roughly 7 inches long.


• Baby is 17cm long crown to rump, and weighs about 310 grams.


• The baby can hear and recognize the mother's voice.


• The mother will probably start feeling the first fetal movements.


• The toenails and fingernails are growing.


• The growth of hair on the rest of the body has started.


• The skin is getting thicker.


• The heart can now be heard with a stethoscope.

Your baby may react to loud sounds. Baby can actually hear noises outside of the womb. Familiar voices, music, and sounds that baby becomes accustomed to during their development stages often are calming after birth. This is an important time for sensory development since nerve cells serving each of the senses; taste, smell, hearing, sight, and touch are now developing into their specialized area of the brain.

Your baby now weighes about 11 ounces and at roughly 7 inches long they are filling up more and more of the womb. Though still small and fragile, the baby is growing rapidly and could possibly survive if born at this stage.

Note: Babies are measured from the crown (or top) of the head to the rump (or bottom) until about 20 weeks. After that, they are measured from head to heel. This is because a baby's legs are curled up against the torso during the first half of pregnancy and very hard to measure.

Length: (crown to rump) 6.5 inches - 16.5 cm (crown to heel) 10 inches - 25.5 cm.

Your baby has established sleep patterns akin to a newborn now. Many babies even have a favorite sleep position already. Some snooze with their chins resting on their chests, while others nap with their head flung back. Many babies at this age fall into noticeable cycles of sleep and activity, so you may know before she arrives whether you have a night owl or an early bird.

If your baby is a boy, the testes have begun descending from the pelvis into the scrotum. If it's a girl, her uterus is completely formed and the rest of her "parts" are in development. (Is that TMI?)

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).

From this point forward, your baby will put most of her energy into gaining weight and, not coincidentally, so will you!

Here's me at the HALFWAY MARK!!...

20 weeks down, 20 more to go! There is a part of me that can't believe how fast it's gone, and another part that thinks it is taking forever! I am really trying to enjoy every part of this pregnancy though, and can honestly say that it hasn't been hard to do so. So far, I have LOVED being pregnant! I have been around pregnant women for years and given countless advice and information, but to finally be experiencing it first hand is unbelievable! It is a truly priceless experience!

One of my favorite things now is feeling the baby every day. I feel him/her every day and it's getting more noticeable, especially when I'm sitting or am not moving around.

We had another FIRST just a couple days ago...and it was so exciting! Nathan actually felt the baby move for the first time!!! We were lying in bed on Friday night, and I could tell that baby was pretty active. So, I had him put his hand on my stomach and told him to leave it there and be patient. We didn't have to wait too long before I felt a pretty strong kick, and asked him if he felt it...he said he did and he pointed to right where he felt it. Then he felt it again!!

That was the first time we can definitely say he felt it!! Othertimes, he would think he felt something and say, "Was that it?" But I wouldn't feel it. Or I would feel it, and he would tell me he didn't. So, it was pretty exciting to share that moment together for the first time!!!