20 weeks.

Week 20

Your halfway there!

The rapid growth stage is about over. While things have slowed down, this next stage is vital to survival.
The baby's heart grows stronger. Find a quiet place, lay flat on your back. Locate your own heartbeat by finding your pulse. Next lay your hand on your belly. You may be able to distinguish the two heartbeats!
His legs are reaching their relative size. With the increase muscle develop occurring as well, you will start feeling much more than tiny flutter kicks soon!
Immunities are being transferred from you to your baby now. These immune cells will protect her from viruses you've already had for up to six months after birth!
The nerve cells for taste, smell, hearing, seeing, and touch are now developing in specialized areas of the brain. Production slows down as existing nerve cells grow larger and make more complex connections.
Your baby may startle in reaction to loud sounds. Amazingly, she can actually hear noises outside of the womb. Familiar voices, music, and sounds that baby becomes accustomed to during her development stages often are calming after birth.
If your baby is a girl, her uterus is starting to develop. She has approximately six million eggs in her ovaries. About one million will remain at birth.
Baby is about 6.46 inches (16.4cm) and weighs around 10.58 ounces (300g).

ITS A BOY!!

and...is name will be... 'Carter James Thomas' :)

I know i'm the mummy and i'm meant to think no matter what that my baby is the most beautiful thing on earth, but it really wouldn't matter if i was or not, this little guy has the cutest profile i have ever seen! lol. look at that little button nose and those little lips?? I just know i'm going to have to turns girls away from the house when he is older :P
Anyways...it turns out everyone around us apart from 2 people were all wrong. We are having a little boy! Everyone had been convinced it was a girl, Aaron was still convinced he was having a son, and i was still going backwards and forwards not knowing, just hoping.We wanted a boy, from the word go, we wanted a little man.And we got him! :) We could not be more happy about it.We had our anatomy scan this week and everything looked perfect, he seems right on track, and healthy and just really doing great in there on his own.We confirmed it was a boy, (after me seeing ti the other day at my Dr's office) and it hasn't changed.it was fantastic, apart from the fact that Aaron and i HATED the tech nothing could be faulted.He was moving around so much.The tech had a bit of trouble trying to get all the detail she needed for the heart etc.He has decided he likes to lay exactly like mummy does...he was head behind my belly button, legs going down near my bladder, and feet crossed, arms up near his ears. it was so cute!I had to empty my bladder and then twist to get him to move.he was comfy!lol.we saw him breath in fluid a few times which was great to see too.Aaron, mum and Iain were all there for this and were very pleased to see him healthy and doing his thing.We got some good pictures from it.In other news, i got myself a nasty Kidney infection this week and had been in a good fair amount of pain with it for 2 nights in a row before i couldn't take it any longer(the pain can be really unbearable!!) and took myself to the Dr and he gave me some antibiotics for it.Hopefully it gets better because it is really horrible.We did some more shopping this week also and bought alot more stuff for little Carter, we saved a bit of money although we spent alot too.We really wont buy too much more stuff now until after the baby shower (which is pending, waiting on me to get the all clear to travel down to my home town in a month or so first).I am definitely feeling him move now!! i was sitting on the lounge and felt something then lifted my shirt and could actually see the kicks move my belly.This has been constant now since that day and its very reassuring, even if its hours between the movement, it tells me he is there and doing stuff at least.The reason i may not have been feeling him by now is because we determined ta the u/s the other day that i have an anterior placenta, which means that the placenta is in the front not the back so basically he has more to kick through, so i wont feel as much.Outside of all the baby stuff, Aaron managed to finally get himself a job which could not have come at a better time, we were running out of savings, and everything is getting more and more expensive now. Things are turning around again and its great!

Week 19
Your baby has the same awake and sleep patterns of a newborn. He has a favorite position for sleep and recognizable active and rest periods. Throughout baby's body, nerves are being coated with a fatty substance called myelin, which insulates the nerves so that impulses can flow smoothly. Scalp hair becomes apparent this week. It has sprouted and continues to grow. The milk teeth buds have already developed and over the next few days the buds for the permanent teeth will begin to form behind the milk teeth. If baby is female the uterus starts to develop. If you're having a girl, the vagina, uterus, and fallopian tubes are in place. If it's a boy, the genitals are distinct and recognizable. Your baby is swallowing amniotic fluid and his or her kidneys are making urine. Your little one's size is around 6.02 inches (15.3cm) and 8.47 ounces (240gm).

Week 18

This week made for alot of ups and downs. I had been having alot of pain in the pelvic area this week, so much so that i got worried enough to get pushed into my Dr for a checkup.He slotted me into the morning and checked me over, cervix was still looking ok, still not what he would like to see but still better than it could be.At the end of measuring my cervix he quickly scanned over some other stuff just to see if anything looked weird or out of place...Then, baby was there... all i saw was two legs, completely spread, with the clearest shot of the obvious gender it was...My Dr grinned, and said "i'm sure you can guess what that is...did you want to know?"It really didnt matter if i did or didnt, because i knew what it was.lol.But i'm not saying anything until after Monday when the "official" scan is done to confirm it...He then proceeded to stay on the "bit" and he was really curious...which got me thinking something was wrong.Turns out the Dr was trying his hardest to get an image of the baby peeing.LOL.H said in his entire career he has never been able to catch it in the action of it.This time was the same.After the scan he did an internal check, which of course was absolutely unpleasant. I bled for 2 days after it and it worried the shit out of me.I went to my GP to get my all clear for working, which centrelink have wanted, to know how many hours a week he thinks i'm ok to do with all thats happening and all the risks.He put down zero. He does not think i should be working and should not have been working from the start.I cant say this is exciting for me, i hate doing nothing, i hate feeling like a cripple and i HATE not having money each week from getting paid.I want my baby to be healthy and alot of that requires me to be healthy so Dr knows best and i am going to have to suck it right up :(At least i can go to my mums shop and annoy her sometimes if i need to feel useful.lol.

Week 18
Vernix (a white cheese-like protective material) forms on baby's skin with the lanugo (soft, lightly pigmented hair covering the body and limbs); both serving to protect your baby's skin during the months in water.
Your placenta continues to grow and nourish the baby. Don't forget those prenatal vitamins!
Tiny air sacs called alveoli begin to form in lungs. He'll be putting these lungs to good use in just a few months!
Her vocal chords are formed. She goes through the motions of crying but without air she doesn't make a sound.
Features of your baby's heart, including ventricles and chambers, should be visible during an ultrasound.
Your baby measures about 5.59 inches (14.2cm) this week and weighs about 6.7 ounces (190gm).

Week 17

We had a nice surprise this week when my mum realised that she had $140 in gift cards for a few stores that she had gotten from her suppliers at xmas and had forgotten to use them...these got given to us to spend on the baby :)
Turns out, after Mum, Aaron and i jumping in the car, most of it went towards much needed clothes for me since i am really struggling to be comfortable in anything i already have.
So i got my very first maternity clothes.We got some good bargains and i'm quite happy with the things we ended up walking out with.Its a least a bit more comfortable for me to live in now.lol. btw, Aaron has decided they are "fatty" clothes. Yes, he is a charmer thats for sure.haha.
We now have about $50 left on the cards to get something special we think we would like for the baby next time we go out. It was so nice of Mum and Iain to just give them to us, without even a reason. Very appreciated thats for sure. I was not looking forward to the shopping trip buying maternity clothes because they are not cheap at all.
So that was shopping this week.
In other news, there may be some movement being felt from the baby, but its just too early to really say yes! thats what it is.
We have had 2 times now, that we can very distinctly tell where the baby is in my belly though, due to laying down and there being an obvious "lump" and me having a lopsided tummy.lol.
Aaron is forever telling "secrets" to the baby now, i'm sure he is trying to turn it against me.lol.
I have really popped now and my stomach is getting quite round all around and by the time night comes around there is not alot of room for anything else and my skin is very taught.
Just over a week now till we see baby again and it cant come quick enough for me.I worry too much that the baby is not even alive, and of course, am DYING to know if we are have a son or a daughter. (COME ON BOY!!!)...yeh, i really want a boy....really....really.

Week 17
By week 17, your baby weighs about 4.97 ounces (140gm) and is 5.12 inches (13cm) long.
He or she has a much more normal "human" appearance now. She holds her head more erect and her body and limbs are longer in proportion to her head.
Pads are forming on his tiny fingertips and toes. Soon those individual swirls and whorls will be apparent.
Her eyes are looking forward now, but they are still firmly closed.
Meconium (composed of products of cell loss, digestive secretion and swallowed amniotic fluid), is accumulating in the bowel. This black gooey substance will become your baby's first poop!
The umbilical cord is growing thicker and stronger and continues to rush blood and nutrients to your growing baby.
If your child is male the prostate begins to develop.
Her skeleton is transforming from cartilage to bone. The bones remain flexible to make the journey through the birth canal easier.

Week 16

This week we decided to drive to the hospital to have a look around and book in since my Dr had given me my referal letter.
Yeh thats wasnt going to happen.lol.There was seriously no parking anywhere, and even if there was we really didnt know where to go.
We went shopping instead :) We managed to get into a little bit of a sale at Target, and we got my nappy bag, which is great and has everything, plenty of space and pockets etc, and we were quite happy to find it and purchase it. I just hope it matches the pram :S We also bought the babies first "toys". They are two hanging animals (a turtle and a duck) to hang from the pram to keep babies eyes occupied. They are very very cute.
Anyway, after a lonnnng day out and heat that we could not handle any longer we came home and i booked in with the antenatal team at the hospital on the phone and am now waiting for them to phone me back with my first appointment with them.We also booked in to see Dr Dunn after the Anatomy scan is done for him to check my cervix and see how thats going and to book all of my appointments in advance now since i'm technically half way depending on what baby does.

Week 16
Fat begins to form underneath skin, providing your baby with insulation for the coming months.
Did you know that both baby and placenta are now about the same size?
Your little one has reached 4.57 inches (11.6cm) and approximately 3.53 ounces (100gm).
His head and neck are held straighter now.
This is a week of "mights!" You might hear the tiny thumps of his heartbeat with an external monitor now. The genitals are developed sufficiently that an experienced sonographer might be able to determine if your baby is a boy or a girl.
Her heart is pumping as much as 6 gallons of blood a day and beats at a rate about double your heart rate.
If you could take a peek inside, you would witness your child's reflexes in action! (Sucking, swallowing and blinking are now evident.) She is probably even hiccuping even though you don't feel it yet!
Your baby has learned to breathe! This is apparent from the regular movements of his chest. Isn't it amazing that he is able to breathe "underwater," inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid? These actions help the lungs to develop and grow.