20 weeks!

I seem to remember starting a post during the pregnancy with Elisa, stating that she was now "half baked." Little did I know that she was, in reality, 3/4 baked and determined to come 9 short weeks later.

I've been traveling this week for my last trip of this pregnancy. So I don't have too much to report from home.


Most of our communication has come through Skype. Elisa has come a long way with her "understanding" of Skype. She hasn't tried to run behind the computer to see the back of my head as much. And she also will point at the screen and point to "mommy" or "daddy" or "Deda" (Elisa). And tonight she even kissed the screen when she saw me, said "bye-bye" and "I love you!" when we hung up. Can't wait to get home and see my little goober.



So here we are at 20 weeks.



I feel "huge" even though I know I'm not. I just compare it to where I am when I'm not pregnant. I've made up the 3 lbs I lost when sick, finally and will hopefully keep gaining. When I went for my shot before leaving town, I asked them to run a test for a UTI as I suspected I had one. The test came back negative for a UTI but positive for dehydration (?), protein and sugar. Huh? Dehydrated after drinking almost a gallon of water a day. And protein and sugar?? Protein was only a trace and apparently normal. They didn't really comment on the sugar other than to ask what I had for breakfast this morning. But asking around, it seems I shouldn't have sugar coming up in that test...so it got me wondering. Dehydration when I'm drinking all of that water, sugar in my urine and always thirsty?? Something wasn't adding up. My risk for gestational diabetes is higher due to the p17, so I'm starting to think I may actually be getting it. :-/. So I've proactively put myself on the diabetes diet and will be asking my doc to run a diabetes test at 22 weeks instead of 24.

Baby is "looking" good though. I feel tons of movements, which I love. I can't believe I've been feeling them for as long as I have now. Almost as long as I could really feel Elisa's. It's great! So here's the update:

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).

Kinda ewww...but oh well. I don't remember Elisa's first poop. Must have happened before I saw her or over that first night after I left. Hoping to get to see this little one's first poopy diaper. :)