20 Weeks!

I found this picture online of 20 weeks pregnant with twins. It reminds me a lot of what we saw on the sonogram. :)


This week Eric was able to feel one of the babies kick for the first time. I was laying in bed and told him I wish he could feel them. So, he put his hand on my belly. But I wasn't feeling them move at the time. So, he did what the lady did during my sonogram, a gentle shake of my belly. Right away he woke up our baby boy and Eric (aka daddy) was able to feel a big kick. :) I can now tell who is who when the babies kick (I think anyway.) I feel our baby boys kicks a little above my belly button. Our baby girl's kicks are much lower. It seems like my belly is getting bigger by the hour now. ha! It's crazy to me how all the sudden it's stretching out, out, and out. One of the little girls in my class keeps hugging me and saying, "I can see your children." haha!

Here is what the twin website has to say about 20 weeks-
At 20 weeks hair on the scalp is sprouting and sensory development evolves rapidly. The nerve cells serving each of the senses - taste, smell, hearing, seeing, and touch - are now developing in their specialised areas of the brain. Nerve cell production slows down as existing nerve cells grow larger and make more complex connections. The smell of a newborn seems to be the most developed of all senses, enabling them to recognize you immediately.

You no doubt feel the kicking and somersaulting of your growing twins. At times, they may be so mobile that they will wake you up during the night. The next ten weeks or so will be your twins' busiest and most active time, until the uterus gets too crowded.

A whitish coat of a slick, fatty substance called vernix caseosa will begin to cover your twins. It protects their skin during its long immersion in amniotic fluid and acts as a barrier against infection after birth. Your twins are swallowing an increasing amount of amniotic fluid, good practice for their digestive systems.

Until now your fetuses have been measured from crown to rump but from 20 weeks the measurement will be from crown to heel. And from crown to heel they are approximately 10.5 inches/ 27 centimetres long. Their eyebrows and eyelids are fully developed and fingernails cover the fingertips.

Your babies can now hear your conversations. If you talk, read, or sing to your twins, sound waves are transmitted along your spine to make them progressively familiar to your voice, helping them to recognise you after they are born.

Your twins can hear other sounds through the skin covering your belly, but they are distorted as they pass through your fat and muscle, the wall of your uterus and amniotic fluid. Only your voice will be clearly recognisable to them by the end of your pregnancy.

I'll try and get a picture of me at 20 weeks this weekend. :) Have a great weekend everyone!