Half Way to Birth Day

We've reached the 20 week mark, the half-way point of this amazing journey. We figured we'd better start preparing the way for little Molly by making a trek to Target and Babies-R-Us to register for baby items. What an experience! It was so overwhelming to be standing amongst aisles upon aisles of onesies, washcloths, diapers, carseats, and blankets. There were at least 5 varieties (if not 50 varieties) of every item on the "checklist". How do you choose? We eventually completed the task and, I think by the end, both Eric and I had more questions than ever about what exactly a baby needs, what is an absolute necessity and what is a complete waste of time and money.

After this week, I believe we're destined to raise a future olympic gymnast. This child does not stop moving for anything. She kicks, flips, twists and somersaults her way through the day. I think she's found every inch of my belly, back, bladder and stomach at some point this week. I told Eric that it feels like I've swallowed a big live fish that's flopping around in my belly...kind of a Jonah-in-reverse situation. Molly even had the midwife laughing this week at my check-up. She was trying to use the Doppler to find Molly's heartbeat. She would finally find it, but no sooner than she started counting beats, we'd hear this thunderous "WHAP!" as Molly kicked the Doppler away and moved to a new location. It took several tries before we got her to sit still long enough to count her heartbeat for 10 seconds. I fear we may be in line for a spirited child :-)

Our baby girl has hit quite the growth spurt this week. She now weighs about 12 ounces. She's around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. Now that her leg muscles and joints are fully formed, she can fully stretch out, a motion I can definitely feel. Her uterus is fully formed and her ovaries are holding about 7 million primitive eggs. My uterus, on the other hand, is growing larger all the time to accomodate Molly's growth. It has now reached the height of my belly button and is pushing my stomach and intestines into new positions, a change that has resulted in some nagging heartburn. However, this is a small price to pay for providing our little girl a safe and warm place to grow and mature until we meet her in July.