The main purpose of an ultrasound scan halfway through a pregnancy is to take a closer look at your baby and the womb to make sure that everything is developing as it should. 

Baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now and measures at around 10 inches long from head to heel. 

Baby is now producing Meconium, a black sticky, gooey substance which accumulates in the bowels and will turn out to be part of baby's first poo. Lovely. I remember this with Arran and even though I had heard about it I still panicked and called for a midwife Ha ha.

So we were back on Thursday 20th October for take 2 of the Anomaly ultrasound. This is where things got a bit scary. We had a Sonographer and a student in, then the student was sent to get another sonographer and again for another so in total we had 4 of them staring at the screen and discussing amongst themselves. Eventually they told us that they were referring us to the Fetal Medicine department to see a specialist as they didn't think the heart was beating as it should. It was like it would beat a bit and then pause for a little then start beating again. I was a nervous wreck the whole weekend and looking on Google which is the one thing I would tell anybody else NEVER to do but I went against my own beliefs and done it anyway. Which made me panic even more. I find no matter what you read online the bad ones stick out more than the good, you could read 9 similar situations or stories and then 1 bad one but you will completely forget the 9 good ones and focus on the bad one. 

We were back on Tuesday 25th October 2017 for our scan at the Fetal Medicine Unit. I didn't like it at all, the waiting room was filled with anxious parents to be, a couple in tears and us. All I kept thinking was what is that poor upset couple going through and will we be going through it too. We were called into a room with specialist who performed a scan, she spent a good 10 minutes just completely exploring all four chambers of the heart, I felt like they were the longest 10 minutes of my life but she turned round and told us that everything was completely fine. Relief !!!  

 

At 22 weeks baby is weighing roughly 1 pound and measuring at 11 inches. Baby's eyes have formed but the iris still lacks pigment. Baby now looks like a very miniature newborn with the lips, eyebrows and eyelids all becoming much more distinctive. Little tiny tooth buds are starting to develop below the gum.

 Baby weighs just over 1 pound now and is measuring just over 11 inches long. Can feel movement much more and even starting to notice little movements underneath my clothes. Blood vessels in baby's lungs are developing to help prepare her for breathing on the outside.

Had a midwife appointment this week at 24+1. I love going to the midwife it is so exciting to hear that little heartbeat and even just for them to have a feel of your tummy and see how things are progressing and measuring up. Arran came along too, he thinks her little heartbeat sounds like a train.

This week I ended up having a late night trip to Maternity Assessment. I hadn't had a lot of movement and also had a little leak which I thought was made a little trickle of my waters. Baby's heart rate was assessed for a while and I also had to get a Speclum (think thats what it is called) which is kind of like a smear but not but thats what it feels like a bit and from this they are able to check if your waters have leaked at all which mines had not, I just have a very weak bladder ! It is important to get checked if you think your water may be leaking as the Amniotic fluid helps protect your baby, if these do go early on it can lead to infections.

Baby can hear conversations and is starting to identify familiar voices and may even react to these. Baby is inhaling and exhaling the amniotic fluid which is essential for development of the lungs, this also helps baby prepare for there first gulps of air when they decide to appear.