Week 20 of the JellyBean Progression

Look! A Bump!

Week 20

So first off…officially, IT’S A GIRL! Yayyayyay! Pink frilly things! Pigtails! Sugar and spice and everything nice! Time to start thinking of names that aren’t Wilma.

We had our 20 week anatomy survey on Tuesday. Everything looks great; all the pieces parts are where they should be. Additionally, all my blood work and tests have come back with good numbers, so as with Fletch we will not be doing any more testing (like amnio, etc.) unless it becomes necessary. Despite my ADVANCED MATERNAL AGE of 37 (not enough rolleyes in the world) all is well and JellyBean progresses apace.

JellyBean is finally stretching out and should now measure about 10 inches long from head to toe, and weighs about 10 ½ ounces. You may compare her to a banana if you like. We are now halfway through the pregnancy – very hard to believe! It seems like July is zooming up on us quickly. I’ve gained about 8 pounds and can expect to gain another pound a week from here out. However, with Fletch, I only ended up gaining about 15 overall, so that’s more like what I’m expecting this time around. It is recommended I eat plenty of steak to keep up my iron – I can get on board with that! (Never mind that I take an iron supplement and eat plenty of spinach and soy…I will happily take some extra steak! Pass the filet.)

Interesting (for me alone, no doubt!) to note that by this time with Fletch, I had already started experiencing the low back pain that plagued me throughout the pregnancy, and which ultimately turned out to be a sign that he was “sunny side up” – or in the less-desirable for birth occiput posterior (OP) position. Basically, he came out face up instead of face down like most babies do. The back pain (and resultant back labor, which OMG DO NOT WANT AGAIN) comes from the back of the baby's skull putting pressure on your lower back and pelvis.

Despite all the measures we took during the last trimester to turn him, Fletch stayed stubbornly face up and made for a long, ouchy labor (much of which I spent eating popsicles in the bathtub) until it was finally time for the epidural. (Bless!)

All this to say, my back is fine so far, yay! Near the end, I was living on the heating pad and spending as many 10 minute intervals in the hot tub as Mr. Fantastic would allow (and accepting as many backrubs as Mr. F could give before his hands gave out) in an effort to relieve the back pain. Hopefully this lack of back pain now is a good indicator that JellyBean will not be as obstinate as her big brother and behave in there.