What To Expect At Week 20

You are half way to your goal – congratulations! Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now and measures around 6 1/2 inches from head to bottom or 10 inches from the head to heel (about the size of a banana). You may be wondering why you’re seeing two length measurements this week. Up to the 20th week of pregnancy, babies are measured from the top of the head to their “rump.” This is due to the fact that their legs are curled up against their torso during the first half of the pregnancy, so they hard to measure. As of next week, you will only see the head-to-heel measurement. Your baby is swallowing more these days, it is good practice for their digestive system. They are also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of the digestion of food. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you will see it in his first soiled diaper. Make sure that you are getting enough iron, a mineral which is used primarily to make hemoglobin (the component of red blood cells that carries oxygen).