Sunday, January 06, 2008

20 Weeks -- Officially Half Way!



How Baby Girl is Developing: She weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. She'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, measurements are taken from the top of the baby's head to her bottom — known as the "crown to rump" measurement. After that, measurements from head to toe are used. This is because baby girl's legs are curled up against her torso during the first half of the pregnancy and are very hard to measure.) A greasy white substance called vernix caseosa coats her entire body to protect her skin during its long submersion in amniotic fluid. (This slick coating also eases the journey down the birth canal.) Baby girl is swallowing more, which is good practice for her digestive system. She's also producing meconium, a black, sticky substance that's the result of cell loss, digestive secretion, and swallowed amniotic fluid. This meconium will accumulate in her bowels, and we'll see it in her first messy diaper! Hmmm...looking forward to that!

Everything has been going smoothly thus far! We began to look at names for Baby Girl this weekend, but, don't ask -- because we are not sharing before she's born! The next 20 weeks are sure to fly by with Chris's school now in full swing and plenty of projects with the house to keep us busy. We also start our Bradley Methods Childbirth class this week, and we are looking forward to that!

1 comment:

...carrie... said...

You are looking great!! Yay for being halfway there! :)