This is where I’m supposed to say, “Yay, halfway!”

But I like to be exact to a fault. You find out you’re pregnant at 4 weeks. {They even give you 2 weeks of that for free.} So really, I’ve only been pregnant for 16 weeks, so 20 isn’t quite halfway.

Plus, we’re just getting to the good stuff; I’m not ready to start counting down yet- I’m still counting up.

{I know, I know, horrible shirt for a belly shot. Lesson learned.}

How Big is Baby?

According to Babycenter, baby’s 6 1/2 inches long and weighs 10.5 ounces. The 20 week ultrasound showed baby weighing in at 13 ounces- more than a quarter of a pound. It’s starting to look a little a crowded in there, but it’s a luxury compared to the space baby will have in a few months.

Weight I’m Gaining

My weight was exactly on target at this appointment. The midwife I saw this time {you rotate} didn’t seem phased by the fact that all the scales at the office measured differently and even admitted to them not being calibrated frequently. She said as long as I weigh in each week on the same scale at home, it doesn’t matter what the office scale says. Gee, thanks other midwife for making me worry and feel guilty.

So I’m right on track, and the ultrasound confirms that baby’s growing perfectly well! He or she measured at 20 weeks- a day ahead if anyone’s counting, and 13 ounces is a good size baby.

How I’m Feeling

Kind of cruddy to be honest. Nothing like the early months, but the past week has definitely had me remembering what those weeks were like. I’m beyond exhausted for no reason, the nausea’s back {although not 24-7}, and I almost always have a headache. That sounds like it sucks, but I’m glad I’m not having tons of aches and pains and other problems yet; I’m mostly comfortable at least.

What I’m Eating

Everything. My eating habits aren’t really any different than they were before, I’m just eating a little more. I mean, I might have had fro yo for dinner last night, but that has nothing to do with being pregnant.

I’m slightly disappointed but mostly relieved that I don’t have any weird cravings. It means no funny stories of making the husband go on midnight grocery store runs, but at least nothing crazy’s going on. The only liquid that ever sounds appealing is Chick-fil-a’s lemonade, which makes me particularly upset on Sundays. It still makes my stomach hurt, but at least in a normal way- not a pregnant way. If you’ve ever had a giant class of tart lemonade you know what I mean.

How I’m Sleeping

Fairly decently, at least in comparison to stories I’ve heard. Sleeping’s not particularly easy, even though all I want to do is sleep, and even after I do sleep, I’m still has tired as I was before I went to bed.

I did confirm this week that’s it’s totally safe to still be sleeping on my stomach- my midwife assured me there’s plenty of protection in there for the baby. That makes me super happy because I’m a stomach sleeper through and through. I have no idea what I’m going to do when I’m too big for that.

 

Now on to the good stuff…

The Ultrasound

 

It’s a…

 

 

 

SURPRISE!

And I’m not just lying and saying that.

PS 76% of you think it’s a girl.

I was already on the table with the ultrasound gel on my belly before we decided. There were even a couple “are you sure”s thrown in throughout the hour, but in the end, we walked away with no more knowledge than we went in with. The only record of anyone knowing is that the tech took a picture of the money shot and taped it behind her cabinet door. It’s not even recorded in the chart. {Apparently people slip up on that one too much.}

That being said, there’s still one more chance to change our minds and find out the sex if we chose…

The purpose of the mid-pregnancy ultrasound is to check out the baby’s anatomy in detail. They look for abnormal growth of bones and organs, check that baby’s growing right, and look at every detail of the organs and body systems. They do some extra checking for Down’s syndrome, cleft palate, and spina bifida, and check for any possible gender-related problems.

All of that looked great- everything was in the right place and the right size, and there were the right number of all the necessary body parts. However, they did see a small cyst in the brain that they want to keep an eye on. It’s a tiny fluid-filled sac in the area of the brain that produces the cerebrospinal fluid that shouldn’t be there, called a choroid plexus cyst, or CPC.

{not our ultrasound}

It has a high chance of going away on it’s own, and since there were no other indicators of anything wrong, there’s no reason to worry about it. They’ll check on it again in about 2 months and see if it’s still there, better, or worse, and go from there. For now, it just means one more chance to look at baby’s beautiful face.

Past updates:

19 Weeks

18 Weeks

17 Weeks