20 Week Scan

Everything looked great. The ultrasound technician checked all aspects of the baby - his heart, kidneys, stomach, bladder, umbilical cord, lip (to rule out the chance of a clef), bones, brain, spine, nose and many more parts which I can't remember.

First the brain and skull was checked and measured. We saw all the parts of the brain; some bits were meant to be black, and they were, and some bits were meant to be white and they were!!

Next she checked the lip to see if there were any signs of a clef, and also the nose for signs of Downs.

The spine was then checked to make sure it was correctly joined at the base of the skull and then was intact all the way down his back. Everything looked great.

Next was the kidneys, stomach and bladder. The kidneys had to be very pale and gray and the stomach and bladder had to be dark as they were both meant to be very full, and they were!

The stomach was then measured and the umbilical cord was checked and also the length of the femur. All bone measurements are based around the femur; if that's the correct size, then all other bones will be too.

The 4 chambers of the heart were verified and checked and we got to hear the heartbeat again - 150bpm.

The placenta and cord were both checked to make sure they were both in the correct position; both were.

Finally came the part of reconfirming the babys sex; something the baby was not very happy about. We had one very uncooperative baby, however the sex was reconfirmed at what they had told us at 16 weeks! She was 100% positive!!

Based on the measurements from the machine, he currently weighs 12 ozs and was measuring at 20w3d (October 4th) though my due date remains at October 6th.

The first kick!!!!

For the past few weeks we have been in England. Josh returned after 8 days there and I stayed on another 6 days.

I was nervous about flying as I knew I had to get up and walk every 30 - 60 minutes (doctors orders) to keep the circulation going to the baby. This meant no sleeping on the plane or extremely short naps. We left when the baby was 17 weeks 1day and I returned at 19 weeks 1 day.

One of the most exciting aspects of the whole trip was when I finally felt that first kick. I had been feeling odd sensations for a week or so but that definite first kick was on Sunday May 9th, 18 weeks and 4 days. Since then I have felt kicks everyday. Each kick feels a little different to the previous one. Some are little slight popping sensations in my belly, like popcorn, some feel like a little wiggle and some feel like a definite kick. They all feel so amazing and incredible. There are some kicks that make me feel a little nauseous. Strange as it may sound, some feel like how you get turbulence on a plane or that roller coaster ride feeling. I think it must be when the baby is turning!!

Next step is Thursday when we have "The Big" ultrasound. They will measure and check every aspect of the baby and we get to take a recordable DVD with us and they will record the whole ultrasound - can't wait!!