Can’t believe we’re already half way through this pregnancy journey! Only 19 weeks to go until we can meet Frosty face to face.
The 20th week marks also the anomaly scan milestone, along with an IVF follow up I had a few days before the scan.
Frosty’s developments
Frosty is the size of a cantaloupe now, measuring around 27cm and weighing 360g! I still don’t quite see where specifically this cantaloupe is located in my abdomen, even though I’m starting to have some suspects (see below).
Frosty’s eyelids are well formed, and our little tornado is now able to blink. Their kidneys have started to function; they can also now suck their thumbs, yawning and of course kick the uterus – in case I haven’t figured it out yet.
IVF follow up meeting
I had a follow up appointment at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading to check on my IVF journey, and officially “close” the file.
We’ve run through many details about the IVF procedures, and given my answers they confirmed they’ll keep treating Frosty as a regular, “normal” fetus. The IVF didn’t affect my status at all, and the pregnancy is considered a regular gestation. The doctor was very pleased to see how great I’m doing.
The most beautiful thing though was the warm welcome the maternity staff gave to me. I wasn’t expecting they remembered me, yet they came to say hello to me in the waiting room. They read my name in the appointments list and we were waiting for me!
That made me feel special and loved. I promised them I’d bring Frosty to officially introduce them.
20th week anomaly scan
I was VERY nervous about this scan, because it’s called anomaly scan, meaning there could be chances to spot something off in our Frosty.
The sonographer who hosted us was the same lady, Beatrix, who checked on us when I had that scaring bleeding episode at week 6, and we saw Frosty’s heart beating for the first time.
She spent nearly one hour checking on Frosty: she went through everything that was possible to check, and all eventually turned out to be okay. PHEW!
We are aware that not all the anomalies can be detected through scans, so there are still a few possibilities that these may appear once Frosty’s out. We don’t want to think about that now.
Beatrix noticed how active Frosty is in the womb; she said it’s normal and a good thing that the baby is active, but she also acknowledged Frosty is particularly active! I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Most importantly, she reassured me about Frosty growing at a normal pace, giving me the peace of mind I was looking for, especially as I still don’t show much – or at least not as much as the 90% of 5 months preggo women outside.
I know you want to see the latest Frosty’s pics, so here they are!
Frosty has grown SO MUCH since week 12 when we had the latest scan!
My sister made us notice that in one picture it seems like there’s a duck in my womb along with Frosty. Franz has his theory about that:
Oven updates, week 3 vs week 20 comparison
I recovered from the slight weight loss I suffered after the Budapest trip last week; I am now walking at 47.1kg – 103.8lbs, while last week I was back at 46.5kg – 102.51lbs.
I am working on my body image issues, and today at the gym I trained with only my top on – it was extremely hot and also couldn’t stand the tank top.
Not going to lie, I didn’t do it lightly. I felt very uncomfortable (but at least I wasn’t suffering the heat), my mind was seeing all the people’s eyes on myself, judging my wide hips, fluffy legs, and big abdomen. But I forced myself to be better than whatever sick, unreal and not positive my mind was building up.
I crossed one of the ladies who regularly lift at the gym, and she was so happy to notice my bump. She sported a sweet smile and told me she was glad that Frosty was finally starting to show, although still not too much in her opinion.
It’s so fascinating to see how far (and big!) I’ve gone since that Feb 7th when I had the frozen embryo transfer procedure. I haven’t realised that until I put together the pics of week 3 and the pics I’ve just taken in week 20:
Next Frosty’s trips
We’re spending one week in London for the Automattic Happiness leads meetup; while it’s definitely not far from home, I have to consider this as a trip, as we’ll be staying in a hotel with my other colleagues.
This means breaking my usual working and training routines, and nutrition habit. Let’s see how it goes, and hopefully Frosty will behave 🙂
I am Lavinia Olympia 
You look great, Stef! And so does Frosty and his pet duck 😉
Keep taking good care of yourself x
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Great blog I enjoyed rreading
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