20 Weeks

It's official...this pregnancy is half-way over! Ms. Parker should be here in 20 weeks! I can't believe I'm half-way through. Boy do I have a lot to do before she arrives! We went for our 20 week detailed ultrasound. Ms. Parker is perfect from her head to her toes. She's growing right on track, which is the best news, since that is the biggest worry (with all of the auto-immune/connective tissue disease symptoms I'm having). She's 13 ounces now and is very active. She showed off for my mom and Brad, who were both at the ultrasound. I even caught her giving me a hard elbow jab--I knew she was elbowing me in there. Not so bad now, while she's small, but in a few weeks, those jabs are going to hurt!

The mysterious cramps from last week have gone away and I'm feeling fine. They checked my cervix on ultrasound while I was at the Dr. and I'm not dilating at all, so they figure they are just really weird, really strong Braxton-Hicks contractions or some kind of muscle cramp from all the stretching of my uterus. Who knows?! As long as baby and I are OK, that's all that matters.

I've included a video clip from the ultrasound for those who would like to watch. And another belly shot, of course. I'm really sticking out there these days! I'm so jealous of my friends Andi and Brooke, two tall girls whose bellies were so cute and pretty--both of them have LONG torsos with plenty of room. Then there's my belly--a short, round bump that is already crowding my stomach and diaphragm and making me feel miserable when I sit down! Just wait--by the end, my belly will stick out like a torpedo! When I was at the end of my pregnancy with Aiden, I always looked like I was about to fall over forward, I stuck out so much!