Over halfway done...

I'm 21 weeks already! Yes the picture is from last weekend...sue me.

At this point, in yet another confusing aspect of obstetrics, they no longer measure baby from head to butt, they measure from head to heel. So Baby is about 10.5 inches right now. That's only about 1/2 inch difference from 19 weeks, but baby has been bulking up as opposed to getting longer. Kiddo weighs somewhere around 12 oz and my belly has gone from 17 cm to 22 in the last month, which my midwife said is great growth. Baby's digestive system is fully functioning now, and s/he is swallowing and eliminating amniotic fluid now...at least it's all sterile! As for looks, s/he is basically a mini version of what they'll look like at birth. All traces of "alien" are gone...we hope.

I can say this kid is a bit of an acrobat. I get feel kicks and squirmies all day, and am enjoying it immensely. The kids have gotten to feel a kick here and there, and since they know the baby can hear, they've starting having conversations with my belly. Zack has described in great detail the tour of the house he will give the baby once s/he is born. :o)

Once out of the first trimester, I really do enjoy being pregnant. I (praise God) do not have difficult pregnancies, and am just trying to remember to enjoy these moments as they are going to be over sooner than I think!

We're still waiting to find out what the new insurance situation is going to be...hopefully that will be resolved soon and I can have one less stress to worry about!

19 weeks

So I'm almost halfway there...it's pretty strange to think about that, actually.

At 19 weeks the baby is about 6 inches from crown to rump, or 10 inches from head to toe. Hair is growing, and if we were having an ultrasound, we'd be able to tell if it was a boy or girl. Teeth buds are developing, and if it is a girl, she'd already have 6 million eggs in her ovaries...although from what I've read, about 2 million will disappear before birth. I'm curious as to why, but I'm not curious enough to explore Google to find out. Apparently this is also the point where the baby starts producing poop. This just goes to show you learn something new all the time. In four pregnancies, I never knew that. I kind of thought it was later, but it makes sense as this is the time the baby begins to digest amniotic fluid. I also found it interesting that on three of the four websites I looked at to get the info for this paragraph, the authors felt this was important enough information to include it...some of them going into great detail, which I will spare you.

We did get some frustrating, and potentially costly, news this week, and that is that Joe's company is changing insurance carriers starting in May. The new one does not cover home as a place of birth (unlike the insurance we have now). The new insurance will cover licensed midwives in birth centers, but I have absolutely no desire to drive anywhere while in labor, and it would be at least 1/2 hour to get to one. We're hoping our midwife's new billing service (which she is signing up with in the next couple of weeks we think) will be able to work some magic and get them to cover it. Right now we're left waiting until she meets with them and they contact the insurance company. Oh, and the cherry on top is our chiropracter, whom we've been seeing for three years, is not in their network either.

I'm feeling fine, although feeling much bigger than the pictures of the typical 19 weeker I see. My energy level is getting better, and I think I'm starting to nest really early this time. Decluttering has been going off and on for about two weeks...except the basement. I haven't had the gumption to go down there yet. The baby is pretty active and I can feel him/her multiple times a day. It's been so long since I've been this pregnant that I'd forgotten what it feels like. It seems like there is so much going on, I've had to force myself several times to just sit and enjoy feeling the baby moving around for a few minutes.

The weather is getting warmer, the kids and I are getting more time outside, and we're all almost completely healthy. All in all, things are pretty good with us right now, and I hope it stays that way. :o)