Babycenter.com Update: Week 20

We had our 20-week checkup today. So far, so good! We go back in four weeks.

I’m feeling a little bit of movement. The doctor told us that my placental wall is up against the outer side of my uterus, so when the baby kicks, she is kicking an extra layer, so it might take longer for me to feel regular movement. But she was very active last night while we were watching “American Idol.” Maybe she’ll be the American Idol champ in 2025 or so!

P.C. is wondering when I'll get crazy cravings. I think he was afraid I'd be waking him up in the middle of the night looking for ice cream and pickles. I wonder if he'd prefer that to my snoring waking him up! (Apparently, pregnancy hormones cause nasal passages to swell.) Poor guy...

So far, I haven't had any wierd cravings, although I eat so many different foods that I haven't felt the urge to eat anything particularly wacky. Tonight, though, if someone would just bring me a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard from Dairy Queen, I would pay them a thousand dollars.
:-) Of course, this craving can't be too bad, because I'm not willing to get in the car and drive fifteen minutes to get one. But if anyone is going to be driving by the Northridge Mall in the next hour...

Also, my blood pressure is great—about 107 over 72.

Here's this week's update from www.babycenter.com:

How your baby's growing: Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. She's also 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 her entire body to protect her skin during its long submersion in amniotic fluid. (This slick coating also eases the journey down the birth canal.) Your baby is swallowing more, which is good practice for her digestive system. She's also producing meconium, a black, sticky substance that's the result of cell loss, digestive secretion, 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).