8-20 week comparison

Fabulous News!

I just got a call from the genetic counselor. The FISH test came back and Baby doesn't have Downs, Trisomy 18, or Trisomy 13. Still need to wait to get the full results back to see if there is a genetic anomaly on any of the other markers.

How weird though to be excited that Baby may "just" have a hole in its heart?

20 Weeks

Your baby has grown as big as a banana. (Length: about 6 1/2 inches from head to bottom, and 10 inches from head to heel.)

20 Weeks- Development

Your Baby This Coming Week

Your baby weighs about 10.5 ounces (300g) and measures about 7.2 inches (18cm) from crown to rump. He still moves about freely in amniotic fluid.

Your baby may respond to external sounds, such as the music you are listening to or your voice.

Your baby has developed some red blood cells already. The white blood cells that your baby needs to fight infections are being manufactured.

He is developing taste buds on his tongue.

His digestive system is sufficiently advanced to absorb water and sugar from the amniotic fluid that he swallows and pass it to his large bowel.

Your baby has lanugo hair on his forehead and upper lip and his eyebrows are thickening.

Vernix (the waxy substance that covers and protects your baby's skin) accumulates on your baby's eyebrows.

Your baby's eyes are still sealed shut.

Your baby continues to grow and develop and his kicking is getting stronger now.

Your Body This Coming Week

In the next ten weeks your weight gain will increase more rapidly as your baby grows and develops layers of fat. This is when you will gain about half of your total pregnancy weight.

You need to eat about 500 more calories per day now to support you and your baby. You will probably notice an increase in appetite during this time to keep pace with your increased needs and metabolism.

Try to avoid unhealthy snacks and try to choose snacks with the most nutritional value for you and your baby. You may experience uncommon cravings. A pregnancy condition known as pica, causes some women crave eating things that are not even edible (such as soil).

Your skin may itch. This is because it has stretched to accommodate your growing abdomen.

The top of your uterus has risen further and is now parallel with your belly button, probably making your belly button flat.

Your lower legs may be swelling somewhat, though this is improved when you are able to stay off your feet for part of the day.

You may experience heartburn or indigestion. Many antacid tablets are safe to take during pregnancy, but check with your doctor or pharmacist first.

20 Week Journal

How far along? 20 weeks. Halfway there!!!
Total weight gain/loss: Down .4 pounds. Odd. Thought I ate a lot this week.
TP test: Back down to 10 squares. I keep fluctuating in the 10 square range.
Food cravings/ aversions: No.
"Morning" Sickness: No.
Signs of Pregnancy: A little bit of round ligament pain. Also bending over to tie shoes or pick something up is sometimes uncomfortable.
Stretch Marks: Not yet.
Sleep: Decent. Although when I've woken up, my belly has often been very hard and somewhat painful.
Big things this week: Well, there have been a few additional posts over the past week which will let you know what's been going on. The "biggie" is yesterday's update to go along with the new ultrasound photos.
Gender prediction: I had a dream recently about the gender. But otherwise trying not to guess one way or the other.
Movement: Can't feel it, but based on ultrasounds we know that Baby is moving all around.
Labor Pains: Too early.
Belly Button in or out? Still in.
Wedding rings on or off? On.
Weekly Wisdom: Try not to stress about the unknown. Yeah, I know. So much easier said than done.

More Ultrasound photos

For those of you keeping track, yes, I had a second ultrasound today. Why? Well at the last one they discovered that the head was measuring small. So what's the big deal? Doesn't that make delivery easier? It turns out it's an indicator of some other, potentially serious, issues. So my doctor said, it's probably nothing, but she recommended that we go for another ultrasound.

The tech asked why we were there, and we told her. She did her thing, but she also seemed to be looking at the heart a lot. She looked at other areas as well, so we didn't think about it too much. And she seemed much more personable pointing things out to us. And she even did a 3D image for us. So cool to actually see what Baby could actually look like.

Then the tech went to share her results with a doctor. The doctor came in. Why are you here? Again, we mentioned the head. She said the head really didn't look bad. It was still measuring small in one measurement, but the overall measurement was normal so she wasn't concerned. However...

The tech thought she had seen a hole in the outer wall of the heart. Really? She had told us that the heart was the size of the tip of our pinky. And you can see a hole on that? Not only were there the heart concerns, but there also was an issue with the feet. Instead of being flat or curving downward, they were curving upward. Rocker feet. And finally, Baby kept clenching his/her hands. This was an indicator of some brain issues. So all of these things combined made them a bit concerned.

They thought that all of these things could mean a genetic abnormality. In particular they are concerned about Down's Syndrome, Trisomy 18, and Trisomy 13. They encouraged an amniocentesis. Based on the results of this they will be able to determine if Baby has one of these three (results in a day or two) or if it's a different genetic anomaly (results in about 2 weeks).

So at this point, we don't know. It could be something, it could be nothing. And if there is no genetic anomaly, there's still that issue with the heart. So please keep us in your thoughts and prayers over the next few days.

Ultrasound photos

So last Tuesday we got a peek at the little alien growing inside of me. Here it is- both photos with its hand in front of its face. Wish we had gotten the full profile shot, but this is better than nothing.