20 week retreat

I have reached the halfway point! Babyb is moving and I can feel her every day at least a few times. 8 more weeks until she has a great chance of survival! Here is what is happening in the pregnancy at 20 weeks.

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Your Baby's Growth and Development
By pregnancy 20 weeks your baby is now practicing breathing and swallowing on a regular basis. Your baby continues to grow and fill out, with the head becoming slightly more proportional to the rest of the body.

Your baby's skin is becoming more complex at the end of pregnancy week 20, forming different layers. The epidermis, or surface of your baby's skin now has four layers that contain ridges for fingertips. The layers that form in your baby's palms and feet will provide him with his own unique fingerprint later in life.

Your Growth and Development
By pregnancy 20 weeks time you are at the midpoint of your pregnancy, and onlookers are definitely starting to notice your bump! After pregnancy week 20 your uterus has likely reached your bellybutton. Growth typically starts to become more regular from this point in time on, so you should be noticing regular changes in your belly.

Remember that you are halfway through your pregnancy by 20 weeks pregnant, only 20 more weeks to go! Some ladies will deliver slightly sooner than 40 weeks, while others will delivery shortly after. A typical pregnancy usually lasts anywhere from 37-42 weeks. Where you fall in this spectrum will depend on a number of factors, including the accuracy of your due date, the health of your baby and even your genetics!
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I got to leave my house this weekend to go on a women's retreat with my former church, and I feel like I am an outlaw. The drive here was about 2 1/2 hours and it is in a hotel, so the accomodations are nice. My room is right by the elevator so when we have meeting times I hop in the elevator and get into a reclining lawn chair so I can visit with people. Wow what a difference it makes to be out somewhere besides my own house. Of course I am still a captive to the bedrest but I am enjoying the freedom. I have to admit I was freaking out to come, but told myslef that since we are right in the middle of a town there is a hospital in case the worst were to happen. And the night before I had the reassurance of going to Labor and Delivery where they hooked me up to a monitor to see if my cramping was due to contractions. It wasn't! So now we have a baseline that if anything changes I have to go in, but the cramping is no cause for concern at this point. And my cervix has been consistenly measuring at 3 or at least close to it.... once even more than that.... since the surgery. They did find a urinary tract infection when we were at the hospital so they gave me some antibiotics. Hopefully some of the cramping will ease up once those kick in too. So overall even though I am having a hard time with my fears and emotions, there are a lot of positives and all I can really do is hold on to the positive things we have had so far. Even the first trimester was really touchy, so I never expected to make it even this far. I hope we get to meet this little girl in August. I expect I will be induced before my due date, so hang in there babyb, you're doing great so far.