20 Week Ultrasound

We are half-way there! Cliff and I went in on Friday for our 20-week (4 1/2 months) appt & ultrasound. I have gained 2 lbs since my last appt, which is good news and Dr. Raverty expects that I will be up a few more lbs by my next appt. in 4 weeks. Overall, my health is really good, blood pressure is good, I'm feeling great overall. After checking over me, we went in for the ultrasound and it was truly incredible! I forgot to write down the exact measurements, but the baby is now between 6" and 6.5" long, and it looks like a real baby! We got several really great pictures - see above. ...and no, we don't know what it is! We're waiting until it's born to find out that exciting detail! It was fun to see it moving around on the screen while I could feel it moving inside my belly! The pictures are so clear, it is hard to believe that they're actuall your baby, and not some stock photos! We checked all of the major items and all looked good - head, femur, and overall length measurements were exactly consistent with 20 weeks gestation, placenta was perfectly positioned above the baby (not over the cervix), amount of amniotic fluid was adequate, heart had all four chambers, kidneys were present, brain hemispheres were equal in size and symmetrical, spinal cord looked good (no sign of spina bifida), umbilical cord looked good, baby's bladder was full, all internal organs were inside the baby, etc. The baby's position during the ultrasound was breech, which meant it was laying across my belly instead of up & down, but that's just fine at this point in the pregnancy. It's still doing somersaults, kartwheels, and back flips in there, so it's moving all the time. We're also beginning to work on some of the preparations for when we bring the baby home! We've talked a lot about child care options since I'll be going back to work shortly after baby is born. We've come up with a few childcare options, and a're meeting with Jo and Jim Dusek's family this Wednesday night to get a tour of their house and have a chance to visit with their family a bit. Jo did daycare for Nathan and we think they'd be a good fit for our baby too, plus they're close to home. We would like to do a combination of childcare providers to allow time for the baby to bond with family like grandmas and grandpas and cousins as well, so we're still trying to work out all of those details. We've received a few boxes of baby clothes and other things from my family and have started sorting through those and pulling out some things we know we could use. I also spent some time with a couple of friends and my sister Carrie at Babies R Us and Target to start choosing other things like carseats, strollers, crib bedding, bottles, and other necessities. They were invaluable in helping me decide what might work best for Cliff, Baby, and me and I feel so much better knowing that some of those decisions are made and I don't need to research the products anymore to determine what is safest, what is most comfortable, most convenient, etc. Our next appt is in four weeks and is just a check-up (no ultrasound or tests). Will update you when we have anything new to share! Thanks for staying tuned!