20-20

I've reached the midway point of my pregnancy - 20 weeks down, 20 to go!  Jan & I went to the doctor for an ultrasound yesterday and I'm happy to report the baby is perfectly, boringly normal. Which is exactly what we wanted to hear! The picture above is one of many views we got to see of her, a cute little profile pretty similar to Freja's, although admittedly, it's also pretty early to start making guesses about what she will look like.

I continue to be obsessed with baby names, and I'm certain I am driving Jan crazy with all of my suggestions, especially late at night, in the middle of the night, etc. With Freja we pretty much knew we were going to name her Freja as early as when we found out she was a girl. Which is only adding to the self-imposed pressure I'm feeling to come up with just the right name this time around. Anyone? Any ideas?

What's little Secondi up to at 20 weeks?

Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. She's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against her torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of her head to his bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, she's measured from head to toe.)

She's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for her digestive system. She's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in her bowels, and you'll see it in her first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).

20 Months Old!

Sweet Freja is 20 months old today. Time is going so fast and we are constantly surprised at how fast she seems to be growing up. And yes, I suspect I will still be putting pictures up on Facebook marking the months even when she is 240 months old. Mamma-razzi!

The Name Game

Well it's been about a week and a half since we found out - finally! - that we are having another girl.  I think I've spent all of that time obsessing about, researching and trying out different names for little Secondi. It's a daunting task! Jan & I have talked about all the different directions we could go in, such as another goddess name, another Scandinavian name, something that starts with F, something that ends in A, or something just so off the wall that it would still jive with the name Freja. There are a lot of websites where - trust me - you can spend way too much time looking up names and their meanings & origins. As with the first time around, we are open to suggestions if anyone has any ideas!

Freja still has no idea that we are expecting a new addition. We had a fun week of gorgeous fall weather, walking around & playing at the park and enjoying the changing leaves. Today is cold and rainy so we read just about all of her books this morning, and are planning to make pumpkin muffins when she gets up from her nap.

What's baby up to at 19 weeks?

Your baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.
Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.

Secondi

The Koorn family took the show on the road last week, and visited all three sets of parents plus extended family in Indiana (including my 100-year-old Grandma Elsie, in the pic above). We had a great time watching Freja show off all of her best tricks, and letting everyone get in lots of QT with her.

A few people asked me when am I going to start blogging about baby #2, which made me realize just how remiss I have been in keeping up with baby updates here on the blog. As you can imagine I don't have quite as much free time this time around, as I did when I was pregnant with Freja! That said, we are super excited about the new addition coming in March, and I will do my best to keep the blog current with updates about both babies.

Jan & I have been calling this baby "Secondi," as in second, in the tradition of calling Freja "Primo" when she was still in the womb. (They are Italian terms you might see on a menu referring to different courses.) Of course now that we know #2 is a girl we're trying to find just the right name for her - not easy after setting the bar so high with Freja Maxine!

And now your weekly baby update, at 18 weeks:
Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and she weighs almost 7 ounces. She's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. Her blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and her ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from her head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around her nerves, a process that will continue for a year after she's born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place.