20 Weeks

Today I went back to my midwife for my regular 20 week ultrasound and to get the official results of the ultrasound. First things first, everything looked at by the ultrasound looked and measured perfectly. Our little one is growing and developing beautifully. Praise God.

As for the routine appointment stuff like weight, blood pressure, heart beat, etc... again everything was perfect. My belly is also measuring right where it should be for 20 weeks. Heart rate was in the high 140's. And I'm saving the best for last, my weight gain. Now as of my last appointment four weeks ago, I had not gained any weight. But between then and now... was Christmas. When I saw Christmas I mean Linda Morgan's baking. I tried not to go nuts, but I definitely ate my fair share of fudge and cookies. After today's appointment I decided it must have been magic fudge this year, because I only gained three pounds {and that was with a very full bladder!}

One of my pregnancy books, Your Pregnancy Week by Week, breaks the weight down at 19 weeks. I'm going to go ahead and quote the entire paragraphs. "Your total weight gain at this point should be between 8 and 14 pounds. Of this weight, only about 7 ounces is your baby. The placenta weight about 6 ounces, the amniotic fluid weighs another 11 ounces. The uterus weighs 11 ounces. Your breasts have each increased in weight by 61/2 ounces. The rest of the weight you have gained is due to increased blood volume and other maternal stores."

Add all that up and you get 48 ounces, divided by 16 (ounces in a pound) and you get 3lbs. Knowing that my baby is growing and measuring on track, my weight gain so far is only what is required for the baby and what not. As you can probably tell, I am very pleased with a total weight gain of 3 pounds at 20 weeks.

And as a side note, you may have looked at the 3D ultrasound picture and thought you were seeing 'gender predicting parts.' I assure you... you are not. What looks like a male indicator, to put it politely, is not that. My understanding during the ultrasound is that its either the umbilical cord, or the upper thigh bone.

We are still so full of joy that our tiny little miracle is growing and that in another 20 weeks... we will holding holding our child.

*Oh and again we saw a bit of our baby's personality. Today, while my midwife took a listen for the heartbeat... he/she immediately, I'm talking two seconds after she placed the probe on my belly, started squirming and kicking. Apparently this one does not like to be disturbed. We'll see how that plays out.*