The Halfway Point!

YAY! We've made it to the middle of our journey to bottles, baby blankets, and binkies! Yesterday I was looking on iTunes for tracks of baby noises (so Miss Maddie doesn't freak out when she suddenly finds herself big sister to an unfamiliar noise maker), and came across a whole bunch of kids' music that made me realize we have no clue the ways our lives are about to change.

So now that I'm at 20 weeks, the belly is supposed to start growing by leaps and bounds. I've already started feeling little baby movements closer to my belly button (which is oddly not quite front and center anymore...I just hope it finds its way home once this is all over!). It won't be long before the baby is taking up space previously dedicated to things like breathing and digestion!

Anyway, below is the info on Baby this week, as always, borrowed from babycenter.com.

20 Weeks
You've made it to the halfway mark — congratulations! Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now (Elizabeth's Note: LAST week we were told ours weighs 11 ounces already! Yipes!). She's around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom, and about 10 inches from head to heel. (For the first 20 weeks, we use measurements taken from the top of the baby's head to her bottom — known as the "crown to rump" measurement. After that, we use measurements from head to toe. This is because a baby's legs are curled up against her torso during the first half of pregnancy and are very hard to measure.)

A greasy white substance called vernix caseosa coats your baby's entire body to protect her skin during its long submersion in amniotic fluid. This slick coating will also ease the journey down the birth canal when the time comes.

Your baby is swallowing more, which is good practice for her digestive system. She's also producing meconium, a black, sticky substance that's made up of dead cells, digestive secretions, and swallowed amniotic fluid. This meconium will accumulate in her bowels, and you'll see it in her first messy diaper (although a few babies pass it in utero or during delivery).