What’s Happening With Mom?
Congratulations! You are half way through your pregnancy! In another twenty weeks, or thereabouts, you’ll be holding your newborn baby. It’s been an exciting twenty weeks so far, and there’s plenty more excitement and changes in those twenty weeks, so read on!
This week, you might feel a tiny fluttering in your belly when your baby moves. Moms who have been pregnant before can usually feel their baby’s movements earlier. First time moms may have to wait a few more weeks until they feel their baby.
A standard ultrasound is often performed this week, which is great fun but is really for medical purposes. It’s to check on your baby’s development and to look for any anatomical abnormalities.
Despite being a medical procedure, seeing your baby, who will look just like a tiny baby, is an
incredible moment. The ultrasound technician will be able to show you your baby’s tiny face, fingers and toes, and also look at the shape of baby’s heart, kidneys and other organs, and take measurements of baby’s skull, chest and legs to evaluate baby’s growth. The technician will take several images, and you should get to take some home. Get the photo album ready – it’s your baby’s first photo!
And this is also a critical week for nursery planners who can’t wait to start buying pink or blue. The ultrasound technician will probably be able to tell you if your baby is a boy or a girl, as long as baby is not coy about showing off their equipment (or lack of).
What’s Happening With Baby?
As you’ll see on your ultrasound, your six inch long baby looks very much like a baby. Your baby’s skin thickens this week, and forms layers, and baby’s hair and fingernails grow more.
At the half-way stage, your baby is just six inches long, and weighs 8 ounces, half a pound. The average newborn baby is 20 inches long, and weighs 7 pounds. Your tiny baby, almost fully formed, has got to do one thing now, and that’s grow.
Tags: boy or girl, gender, movement, nursery planning, Second Trimester, ultrasound
