20 Weeks!
Wow - I can’t believe this pregnancy is statistically half over. It’s gone so quickly! Today I was invited to be a ‘belly’ for some Level II Midwifery students at my local university - what fun! They were split into groups and there were different rooms with pregnant women of different gestations. I was the earliest, and obviously Love Bug’s not terribly big yet, so they couldn’t palpate fetal postition or anything, but it was fun nonetheless.
There were two groups rotated through my room. For the first group, I was the first real pregnant woman they’d ever interacted with, the first fundus they got to feel (measuring right at the umbilicus), the first time they used the doppler and found a baby’s heartbeat. It was so much fun not only to hear Love Bug’s heartbeat all morning but also to see the looks of awe and wonder on the students’ faces as they palpated my uterus and listened to the heartbeat - still a very strong, slow 140 - 150 bpm 
I feel honoured to have been a part of their experience … and I remember very well what it’s like to interact with a real, live patient for the first time!
I also got to show off my varicose veins to the two groups - heehee - it was kinda funny seeing them be shocked by the extensiveness of the veins - my secondary midwife, B, who was there for the session assured them that mine were likely to be some of the worst they’d seen. At least it’s a learning experience for them!
Love Bug is about 6.5 inches long and weighs aboug 10.5 oz. He/she was moving up a storm early this morning while I was lying in bed and was enjoying stretching out and kicking the doppler while we were at the session! I’m definitely feeling more and more movement, although not nearly as much as with Gwen - stinkin’ placental position! I’m sure that it doesn’t help that I’m chasing Gwen around for most of the day and not really thinking too hard and fetal movement.
I’m getting more and more excited to see who is in there and meet this baby!
