Going Bananas!

:-) Well after several months of sitting around wondering when to say anything on the Internet, I decided today was the day. We are having a baby in February! Today marks my 20-week mark, the halfway period in the pregnancy. Hooray! Fingers crossed that everything in the second half goes as smoothly as the first.

According to Babycenter.com, at 20 weeks the baby is 6.5 inches crown to rump, about the length of a banana. We only have one banana.

The journey so far: We went on my birthday vacation to Wisconsin and Chicago in May. Soon after we conceived. Turns out that beer and bratwursts make for good babymaking. Who knew?

About a week or so after conception I got a fever. Looking back, I think it was the implantation period. Didn't feel a twinge or anything, just was feverish one day. Drank lots of water and it passed.

We had our first appointment at 8.5 weeks, the day funnily enough of the rescheduled Cubs/Giants game in Chicago. The Giants scored 13 runs that game and won by 6.

Had blood drawn on Bastille Day for my First Trimester Screening Test, and the NT ultrasound for Down Syndrome on July 27. Our risk levels for genetic disorders looked good but not great.

After that we spilled the beans to some family and friends. I was at 14 weeks then and my first trimester was coming to a close.

Another doc appt confirmed that my cervix length hadn't changed that much if at all (apparently readings can be difficult in an ultrasound) and I was safe to travel to Hawaii for our one-year anniversary. That was a great trip. Relaxing, some walking, some snorkeling. Technically it was the babymoon too. We had another u/s and the anatomy scan the morning after our return.

All continues to look normal, although the Second Trimester Blood Screening Tests show elevated Inhibin-A, but I am screen-negative for Down Syndrome. That means the hormone elevation may be a precursor to hypertension, preemclampsia, or pre-term birth later on in the pregnancy. And there isn't anything to do about it really so worrying will get you nowhere. >sigh<. So I need to continue to relax, do some prenatal yoga with my friend Jen, and maybe get more prenatal massages to help keep my blood pressure steady, too. (Last visit it was 100/70 and hadn't changed that much from the previous appt which I think was a bit low actually.)