Kicking

As Mom's pregnancy moves on inevitably things are going to change. The biggest change at the moment is that Twinkle is kicking. Kicking a lot and with power. Just two nights ago I was sitting next to Mom with my hand on her belly and was treated to a couple of really strong kicks. Mom seems to be commenting that Twinkle is kicking all the time. This is a big departure from Mom's pregnancy with Alyce. During that pregnancy Alyce would only kick on rare occasion and usually stop right after I started feeling for them.

Twinkle at this stage of development (23 weeks) is now 12 inches long and weighs around one lb. I believe his ears are now developed enough that he can hear what is going on. Not that what he can hear is all that interesting. Odds are he just hears the rush of blood and the gurgling of Mom's belly digesting a cheeseburger.

Speaking of cheeseburgers. That is another big departure between the pregnancies. With Alyce mom wanted nothing to do with meat. She forced herself to eat chicken, but couldn't stand hamburger. This time around all mom wants to eat is hamburgers and ice cream. Proof positive that no pregnancy is the same.

20th Week Ultrasound

Last week Mom had another ultrasound. Hopefully this will be the last one. This ultrasound is the one where most parent's get to see their baby for the first time. This is also the one where you can find out the sex of the baby. I'm am happy to say that we were able to confirm the sex of the baby. Twinkle is going to be a boy! Alyce is going to have a little brother and twinkle is going to have a big sister. This should make for some interesting dynamics later on in life.

The ultrasounds all looked great. The baby was progressing fine. Mom's placenta had moved up the wall of the uterus so we no longer have any fears of a placenta previa.

The above picture is of twinkle arching his back. The bright white lines are his skull and spine.

The picture above is of his foot. There is some toe detail.This is another profile picture. With this one he is turned a bit so you can see his legs and back.

And lastly another profile. He is quite the show off.

Moving On

I think it is safe to say that Mom has moved on from the initial stages of pregnancy. The all day morning sickness has left and her energy has improved. Last week she cleaned a bathroom, the kitchen, and did laundry in a single day! On top of that Mom spent the entire weekend hitting the outlet malls.

Mom's uterus is getting much larger now as the baby is now the size of a large apple. What is nice about that is Mom is starting to show a little bit which makes the pregnancy much more real for me. This is happening earlier than last time which I think is pretty common for a second pregnancy. Mom is enjoying it because now she gets to wear all of the comfy maternity clothes.

One thing that hasn't shown up yet is the baby kicking. Starting around 18 weeks you should feel a few little flutters from baby movement. Mom isn't too worried about it, but she said that she is looking forward to her ultrasound next week to make sure everything is fine.