Halfway There

I've slacked on updating the blog. Linda told me that I needed to post something! I guess I've just had writer's block.

There's been a lot of developments over the past week! Linda has been feeling Nugg kick more and more strongly everyday. In fact, she started to feel Nugg kick from the outside of the womb. She woke me up a few mornings ago to see if I could feel Nugg...but no luck. The next night, I was at work and Linda was home with Truman. Truman loves to snuggle and had his head resting on Linda's belly...when Nugg decided to give a strong kick...probably because Tru's big head was crushing them! But Linda said that Tru jolted up and looked at her like she had done it on purpose. I was bummed that the dog got to feel Nugg before me! But then, the other night, I had my hand on Linda's belly and felt the slightest, faintest little kick. When I felt it, I had figured it was just Linda tightening a muscle or she had a muscle twitch...but she said that was Nugg kicking...and that from her perspective it was a pretty strong kick...

The day I've waited for since we've found out we were pregnant has finally arrived! Kind of appropriate it's scheduled right smack in the middle of pregnancy. I think today and the day Nugg arrives will be the most exciting of the entire pregnancy! We get to find out if our first born will be our son or our daughter! We go in for the big ultrasound appointment today at 3:30...and it can't get here soon enough! Our poll shows an exact 50/50 split for what our friends, family and blog readers think Nugg might be. So much for a strong lead one way or another. Me, personally, from all the wives tales and myths, I'm expecting a girl...but hoping for a boy. It really doesn't matter either way really, as long as Nugg is healthy, that's all that matters to me.

This week we are in the exact smack-dab middle of pregnancy! Twenty weeks behind us, and twenty more weeks to go! (Even though at the moment, technically, we're closer to 21 weeks...) Nugg would weigh about 10 ½ ounces and is about 6 ½ inches long from crown-to-rump. This is the last week the baby is measured from crown-to-rump, due to the first 20 weeks the baby's legs are curled up against the torso and are hard to measure length. Nugg's length from head-to-heel is about 10 inches, which is about the length of a banana. Nugg is gulping down amniotic fluid for both nutrition and the practice of swallowing, which is good for the digestive system. The taste buds actually work too... Anything that Linda would eat, Nugg can taste! Supposedly tests have been done and studies show that babies respond to tastes they've already had via the amniotic fluid. Meconium is being produced in the bowels, which will be deposited into the first dirty diaper. If it turns out that Nugg is a girl, her uterus is now fully formed and her ovaries are holding about 7 million primitive eggs of her own! If Nugg turns out to be a boy, his testicles have begun their descent from the abdomen to the scrotum. Nugg's skin should also have begun to thicken this week and will develop into four layers.

Here's hoping the next 20 weeks fly by!! I'll be sure to update the blog with a video of the ultrasound!