20 weeks

Here's what's going on this week according to babycenter.com;

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.)  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).  Congratulations! You've hit the halfway mark in your pregnancy. The top of your uterus is about level with your belly button, and you've likely gained around 10 pounds. Expect to gain another pound or so each week from now on.  Make sure you're getting enough iron, a mineral that's used primarily to make hemoglobin (the part of your red blood cells that carries oxygen). During pregnancy, your body needs more iron to keep up with your expanding blood volume, as well as for your growing baby and the placenta. Red meat is one of the best sources of iron for pregnant women. Poultry (especially the dark meat) and shellfish also contain iron. Some common non-meat sources of iron include legumes, soy-based products, spinach, prune juice, raisins, and iron-fortified cereals.

As for me; I'm still feeling good, still growing, and still hungry.  There really hasn't been any change in my symptoms the last few weeks, just in the size of my belly.  I can feel the baby move around a lot, and Jeremy has now been able to feel the movement on two separate occasions.  We've narrowed down our names to our top favorite boy and girl name and now we're just waiting until Wednesday to find out the gender of our little one.  I'm still not much of a sweet person, but I did really enjoy dessert for the first time in months when I had some Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle today (I will definitely be making this soon!  And yes, I'll post the recipe when I do).  I'm still loving and wanting all things meaty and am really starting to wonder if I'll ever be a vegetarian again after having the baby.  This evening I got the biggest urge for orange juice at 8 pm and Jeremy was nice enough to indulge my craving.  We ended up on a spontanteous drive around Uptown listening to music and picking up my orange juice (that's the first time that we've run out to get something that I was really wanting, so far I've just ignored any major cravings that I had if they were for anything that we didn't have at home).  Cucumbers have also become one of my favorites lately and I love snacking on them at work.  That's it for this week, more to come after the ultrasound on Wednesay!

Shannon