Week 20: Cantaloupe

Dear Bun,

We are halfway there!  This week, you are about as big as a cantaloupe!  Your major develpments are that your genitals are fully formed and you have started producing poop.  That's right, this week, I learned that you are producing "meconium" which is a by-product of digestion, and will be the first thing we find in your soiled diaper.  Can't wait for that one.

You have been moving around so much lately! I was resting with my hand on my stomach the other night, and I even felt you move from the outside! I have still been feeling great. So far, pregnancy seems to be agreeing with me.  I have been reading "what to expect when you're expecting" and every week, I read about something that pregnant women may be experiencing at that time, but I have yet to experience any of the horrors that you read about (stretch marks, skin tags, morning sickness etc) I'm not done yet of course, but am happy with the way things are progressing.  I have gained 13 lbs so far, and am wearing maternity clothes all the time.  I even had to go buy nursing bras this weekend because my stomach has not been the only thing growing!

I have been working more on your nursery and started picking out paint colors.  I think the walls will be blue.  I have selected some of the furniture, and your dad is helping me tape everything off so we know how it will fit in the room.  I'm a big planner like that.   

As far as eating, I have started eating red meat again.  I made beef stew today and it tasted so good, it has been about 2-3 months since I have been able to think about red meat.  The biggest thing I miss (shockingly, it's not beer or wine) is deli turkey.  I think the first place I am going to go after you are born is Jersey Mike's to get a turkey sub!  I eat peanut butter or peanuts alot, and I was nervous after reading the study that came out last week about the link between peanut allergies and mom's that ate peanuts while pregnant.  I asked my doctor though, and she thought it was inconclusive, so she told me to keep on with the peanut butter, YES!

I still crave fruit, hot chocolate/chocolate milk, and cheese alot.  I have lots of aversions too, but they seem to change depending on the day, nothing really consistant.  I still have to carry snacks (usually nuts or crackers) with me all the time, because I will go from not being hungry at all, to needing something to eat right then.  Usually, as long as I have something in my stomach, we are both happy :)