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Day 140 of 280 · 20 weeks

Halfway

Last reviewed · 2 min read · 7 sources · Plain-text version

Twenty weeks. Half of a forty-week calendar, a baby the size of a banana, and a short letter to write and seal for the due date.

Size this week
about the size of a banana
Length this week
around 25.6 cm from head to heel
An East Asian woman with a small bump writing a letter by hand at a sunny kitchen table, her partner's hand resting on her shoulder, a sealed envelope beside the mug.

Twenty weeks. Halfway, by the calendar every provider uses, the one that counts from the first day of your last period (NICHD). Today's task is a letter.

Your baby

A single yellow banana on a plain white linen cloth, soft daylight.

Around 25.6cm long, about the size of a banana, now measured from head to heel (NHS). The skin is covered in a white greasy layer called vernix (NHS). And your baby is getting more active every day: kicking, punching and turning (NHS).

Your body

NICHD puts 20 weeks as the point when a woman may begin to feel fetal movement (NICHD). If you haven't, you aren't behind; "may" is the word. The anomaly scan may happen this week, including an examination of the placenta (NHS); MedlinePlus describes the same scan as an ultrasound around 20 weeks that checks the baby's anatomy (MedlinePlus).

The symptom list hasn't changed much: tiredness and sleep problems, round ligament pains, headaches, feeling hot, and earlier symptoms such as mood swings that may carry on (NHS).

Try today

  1. The halfway letter

    Time: 15 minutes

    1. Date it: 20 weeks.

    2. Write to the baby, or to yourself. What you know today, what you hope, what you're scared of.

    3. Put in one ordinary detail: what you ate, what the weather did, what the scan showed if you've had it.

    4. Seal it, write "due date" on the front, and put it with your pregnancy papers. Open it on day 280.

    Make it work:

    No rules. If the words don't come, write the date and three lines and seal it anyway.

Watch for

  • Normal

    round ligament pains and indigestion (NHS).

    Seek care immediately

    for severe belly pain that doesn't go away (CDC).

  • Normal

    mood swings, which the NHS lists among the earlier symptoms that may continue (NHS).

    Call your provider

    as soon as possible if you think you have depression; in a crisis, call or text 988, or call or text the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline, 1-833-TLC-MAMA (CDC).

  • Normal

    tiredness, still on the list at 20 weeks (NHS).

    Call 911

    or go to the emergency room for severe chest pain or shortness of breath that does not go away (MedlinePlus); trouble breathing, chest pain, or a fast-beating heart are urgent warning signs (CDC).

For you

Pregnancy usually lasts about 40 weeks, just over 9 months (NICHD), and last week's NHS page put the birth at about 21 weeks away (NHS). So: twenty down, about twenty to go. The half you've done was the invisible one, the sickness and the secret and the waiting for a scan. The half ahead is the one other people can see.

If you're the partner: write your own letter, today, and seal it too. Don't show each other until the due date.

Sources

This guide is general education that summarizes published research and guidance from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the WHO. It isn’t medical advice, and every child develops on their own timeline. Your pediatrician knows your child; if something feels wrong, call them. In an emergency, call 911.

Get each day’s note the morning it applies

Add your due date to a free Chorevia household, and every morning until the birth the day's note arrives in the app and by email: what's forming, what your body is doing, one thing to try, what to watch for, and a word for you.

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