21 weeks

Your Baby
Chances are good you're feeling someone performing a round-off back handspring in your uterus by now. Is there any other feeling this cool? Other highlights this week:

By now your baby looks like a mini-version of what she'll look like when she's born. All her facial features are formed and hair is growing on her head. She's even acting like a baby and will occasionally suck her thumb or yawn. Aww ...

Baby's heartbeat is getting stronger and can be heard using a good old-fashioned stethoscope. Ask for a listen at your next prenatal visit! By 21 weeks, fetal bone marrow starts making blood cells—previously done by the liver and spleen. This may not sound that exciting, but it's good news.

The amniotic fluid that has been cushioning your little bean now serves another purpose: Your baby uses it to "practice" chowing down. Yes, it sounds gross (as many aspects of pregnancy do), but it's an important step for your baby toward being able to chow down in the real world. Your baby has been swallowing amniotic fluid for a while now, but now the intestines are finally developed enough that she's absorbing small amounts of sugars from it. And let's face it, being able to effectively digest sugar is important at every stage of life.

Your baby now weighs between 10 and 11 ounces and is approximately 7 inches long—the size of a delicious, cold, frothy bottle of root beer. Float anyone?

21 weeks

Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. You may soon feel like he's practicing martial arts as his initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to his activity as you get to know him better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now.

movement

I really do think I am feeling the baby move. That weird bubble feeling has happened every day since Saturday - mostly on the lower left side of my belly, but sometimes in the middle and other times and the right.

The way to describe it as a little bubble or bubbles gently popping inside my belly. Little tickles... It is lower down on my belly then I expected. (o:

Feel you/shopping

Dear Baby,
I am almost 21 weeks pregnant with you - which means you are about half way done cooking. In some senses, time is flying, but I really can't wait to meet you in person. Yesterday, we went to see a showing of Rent, one of mommy's favorite musicals, in the movie theater. On the way home, I thought I felt a funny, irregular throbbing in the bottom left of my belly. Was that you? Were you trying to tell me you liked Rent, too?  I felt it a few more times during the day, always in the same place.
Today, I am going to go shopping to start trying to figure out what we need for you. My friend Katherine is going to take me to tell me what she found useful with her daughter, Brooklynn.  Then daddy and I are going to make some final decisions.
By the way - your daddy is SO excited about you. He kept trying to feel my belly last night to see if he could feel you move at all. (Not yet. Maybe he should sing to you?) Daddy's specialty is research, and he has done a lot of it to help find the very best stuff for you - stuff that is safe for you, and easy to use for us!
Love you,
Mommy.

20 weeks - 1/2 way!

 Your Baby
This is the week most women get that ever-important gender-revealing ultrasound. If your baby isn't shy, the genitals can be clearly seen at this point. Will the baby pee standing up or sitting down? Well, that depends on how you potty train—but if you're interested, you could leave the appointment knowing if you're carrying a boy or a girl. Other highlights this week:

Your baby has established sleep patterns akin to a newborn now. Many babies even have a favorite sleep position already. Some snooze with their chins resting on their chests, while others nap with their head flung back. Many babies at this age fall into noticeable cycles of sleep and activity, so you may know before she arrives whether you have a night owl or an early bird.

If your baby is a boy, the testes have begun descending from the pelvis into the scrotum. If it's a girl, her uterus is completely formed and the rest of her "parts" are in development. (Is that TMI?)

From this point forward, your baby will put most of her energy into gaining weight and, not coincidentally, so will you! Right now your baby weighs approximately 10½ ounces and is about 6½ inches long, about the size of a can of Red Bull (which has way too much caffeine for a pregnant woman to be drinking).

*´¨)
¸.·´¸.·*´¨) ¸.·*¨)
(¸.·´ (¸.·´*Bobbi Jo*
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Coming Feb. 10, 2009
(Well, that's an estimate, really!)

Kids say...

Last night, I was talking with Andrew - Angie's son.  We told him that we were having a boy, and that his name had to start with G. Grant asked him, "Don't you have any friends that have names that start with G?"

Andrew says no, only girls. Then he says, "Well, I guess there's God and Jesus."

Grant tells him, "Jesus starts with a J, but God works."

"Yeah," I said. "We could name him God. How's that?"

and Andrew says, "No. I don't think you can name him God. I think the name is copyrighted or something...."

Cool! Grant might be able to hear the heartbeat!

Baby Boy

Dear Baby,
Well, Mother's instinct won this time! You are indeed a boy! And you have daddy's nose (trust me, this is a good thing - except that I may never stop giving that cute little nose little kisses once you are here!) We also think you have daddy's feet.
You are quite the contortionist right now - your legs were bent so that your toes were right up to your head! So cute! We also got to see all four chambers of your heart, which was incredibly cool. You certainly don't have as much room as you had last time we saw you!
You are the perfect weight and all of your measurements were just what they should be. Your heart beat was 159 BPM, and you weigh 9 ounces. I am so excited that you are a healthy baby boy! Now everyone wants to know what we are going to name you! It's not a decision I am going to rush into, let me tell you! Besides, we still have a good 21 weeks, give or take, to figure it out!
So, you keep growing, little one. Stay healthy, grow strong, get bigger (um, but not too big, if you please...) and we'll see you soon!
Love,
Mommy

Boy or Girl?

Dear Baby,
Something you need to know about your Mom is that I am very bad at some kinds of decisions. Not that I make bad decisions - just that I don't like to make them - especially in situations where there probably isn't a right or wrong choice. Right now, I am being very indecisive about whether or not I should find out if you are a boy or a girl. Silly, huh? I mean, I'll find out some day soon, right? But I have an ultrasound in a few minutes and I am wondering if I should find out. Silly, huh? I mean, I am so convinced you are a boy already. That dream I had the night I took your pregnancy test really sort of began my whole gut feeling. In fact, in one sense, I think so strongly that you are a boy, that I wouldn't be at all surprised if they said you were a girl. I am getting excited! I want to know. Is that ok? I am silly, I know.
See you soon!
Mom

Dr.s appointment

Dr.'s appointment today! Baby's heartbeat is nice and strong - 154 beats per minute. According to the doctors scale, I am at 169 pounds. Yikes! But that is okay, apparently! Mom (Grandma Galliez) and Grant came to the appointment with me. Everything is looking good. Most exciting news? Ultrasound on Friday to find out the gender!!!