Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Raspberry: 21 Weeks

Dearest Raspberry,

Well, at this point, it's more like 21 and a half. I've been 21 weeks since this past Friday. That was when I had my second ultrasound, and you finally cooperated and showed off your little spine.

They're not the clearest, but I got a bunch more pictures of you. Here are just a couple.



Today was my weekly OBGYN appointment. You hid, as usual, and it took my doctor a good two minutes to find your heartbeat. She talked to me about what the sonogram measurements and pictures had shown her; you look healthy and well, and are in the 70th percentile in terms of size.

I was a bit taken aback by her report. Your brother, the "little one," was in the 85th percentile, and you are smaller, still. I suppose that in retrospect, I shouldn't be surprised. I don't look nearly as big on the outside as I feel that I should, by now.

In fact, here's a side-by-side comparison between you and your brother, he at 20 weeks, and you at 21.5. 


The pictures don't look terribly different, though I think I was a bit bigger at twenty weeks with your brother (left) than I am with you now (right). Of course, black can (sometimes) be slimming, and I am a good ten pounds lighter in the picture on the right than the picture on the left, so those are factors to consider.

And beyond the fact that I know and recognize that ultrasound measurements are notoriously inaccurate, anything could happen in the meantime, anyway. You could be on the cusp of a growth spurt. It's all good inside your little world, as long as you continue to grow and thrive.

Mommy, on the other hand, feeds her silly neuroses. If you grow even bigger than Abby, I might be nervous about how difficult labor could potentially be. But if you stay so little, well- then there are other nightmares for me to feed into. Like not making it to the hospital on time. After all, your brother, who was 8 lbs 14 oz (so, by no means small), was born less than two hours after things really got serious. If you are smaller than him, you could be faster, still, and I could end up being on the news for giving birth in a moving vehicle or on the side of the road...

Best not to give these scenarios too much thought, I know. So I will continue to take deep breaths and try to remain calm, for your sake, and mine.

And you just keep on kickin'. You're getting so strong in there, I can sometimes even see your shenanigans from the outside. 

Love,

Mommy