More pictures of our baby girl!

I finally scanned some of the rest of the pictures from our ultrasound last week! Enjoy! I know we do. ;-)

Tiny baby toes

Salute

Knee to the chest

Profile

Sucking her thumb

Side-profile of her head in 4D
(Justin thinks this one is a bit creepy.)

20 weeks 5 days

How far along? 20 weeks 5 days
Weight gain/loss: I haven't been weighed at the doctor but according to my home scale I am up 2 or 3lbs, depending on when I weigh.
Maternity clothes? All the way!
Stretch marks? Yep. I'm saving for removal once we're done having kids!
Sleep? It's ok. I sleep when I can.
Best moment this week? Finding out we're having a girl!
Movement: All the time! Especially after sweets!
Food cravings: No cravings as of recently.
Gender: Baby girl!
Labor signs? NO!
Belly button in or out? Still an innie... for now.
What I miss? The ease of putting on socks. I can still do it, but it takes some effort.
What I am looking forward to? Picking out a crib!
Weekly wisdom: To myself: Don't listen to unwanted advice! To everyone else: DONT TOUCH THE BELLY!
Milestones: Deciding on a name!

Can I get a drumroll, please?

We went to the Perinatologist office today for our BIG ULTRASOUND today.

After 77 pictures and 45 glorious minutes of watching out little one on the big screen we are so excited to announce that we will be welcoming a beautiful baby girl in August!

This picture is of her two legs and the two lines in the middle are her, ahem, lady parts

Everything they measured looked great. She has 10 fingers and 10 toes, 4 chambers in her heart, and a "gorgeous" brain (according to the doctor).

We have about a gazillion pictures, and I will scan some more when I get to work tomorrow.

19 weeks 5 days!

I love surveys, and thanks to Makayla I have one more!

About the Mommy:
Hair Color: Light brown, I'd really like to dye it but I've heard you're supposed to stay away from hair dye, so I will wait... probably.
Eye Color: Blue
Skin Complexion: Clear -- I mean white. In the winter I turn in to Casper the friendly ghost.
Age: 22
First Child? Yep! We've been waiting for you little one!


About the Daddy:
Hair Color: Dark brown with a little gray... but not quite salt and pepper -- yet. ;-)
Eye Color: Hazel
Skin Complexion: Tanner than mom, but not dark.
Age: 27
First Child? Yes.

Finding Out:
What day did you find out? December 2nd @ 4 weeks 2 days
How did you feel when you found out? Excited: I couldn't sleep the whole night before knowing I was going to take the test in the morning. Shocked: Because I didn't think there was going to be a good shot that month. Petrified: I wanted to hold my little baby so badly and I was afraid of everything.
Who was the first person you told? Justin, of course. He was sleeping (it was like 6am) and I ran in, flicked on the light and shoved the test in his face.
How did they react? Once his eyes adjusted to the light he just grinned at me. He was happy, but I'm not sure I have him enough time to fully comprehend what I had just told him.


Telling the Parents and Grandparents:
How did your parents react? They cried.
How did his parents react? So excited! We told them on Christmas eve, and his mom showed the ultrasound picture to everyone who came over!
Are they helping with baby names? Not really. They are really good about not putting their opinions in unless asked.
Have they bought anything for the baby yet? I've seen a few things here and there, but I am afraid of what will happen when we find out for sure the sex!
How often do they call and check on you? Since Justin's parent's live in town we see them once a week at least.

About the Pregnancy:
When was your first appointment? December 22nd, 2009
When is your due date? August 9, 2010
How far along are you? 19 weeks 5 days
Pre-pregnancy weight? 155
Weight now? 154
Have you had any ultrasounds? Four! And another one on Monday, too!
Have you heard the heartbeat? Yes! First heard on January 7, 2010 @ 180bpm! Now I can hear it any time I want with the doppler machine I bought for home. :-)

About the Delivery:
Are you going to videotape it? Maybe.
Are you allowing everyone in the room? It will be Justin and me and maybe Amanda if she can make it in time!
Medications or Natural? Probably medicated because I am a big baby!
C-Section? Water Birth? Natural? I would prefer vaginal, but whatever is best for baby!
Will you cry when you hold your baby for the first time? Absolutely. I am so emotional, especially now!
Will daddy cry? He tries to be "manly" but I know he will.
Are you scared about the labor? Umm... yea!

Names:
Is your baby going to be named after someone? Depending on the gender, he/she might be.
Name: We're not telling until birth! (At least that's the plan!)

19 weeks 1 day!

How far along? 19 weeks 1 day
Weight gain/loss: I gained 4lbs between appointments, but I am still down 1lb from pre-pregnancy.
Maternity clothes? Yep. I really need new shirts (see photo!)
Stretch marks? Not any more than I already had.
Sleep? Comes in spurts. I now need leverage to roll over, which I do about every 2 hours.
Best moment this week? Last week: Received my home doppler! This week: Finding out the sex on Monday!!!!
Movement: Yep. Little One loves food and lets me know every time I eat!
Food cravings: Thin Mints! (It could just be that they're everywhere!
Gender: Finding out for sure March 22, but the doctor thinks it's a girl!
Labor signs? NO!
Belly button in or out? Still an innie... we'll see how long that lasts!
What I miss? Sleeping through the night... guess I should get used to that!
What I am looking forward to? Finding out the sex so we can SHOP!
Weekly wisdom: Sleep as much as you can and ignore your husband when he makes fun of you. <--- still true!
Milestones: Recording the heartbeat!

Thump, Thump, Thump

Last week I ordered a fetal doppler so that Justin & I could hear the baby's heartbeat at home whenever we want. I had it sent to my office so that someone would be there if it required a signature -- big mistake.

I had been waiting for a week and tracking it's travels as much as 3 times a day. On the day UPS said it was out for delivery I was so excited I could hardly stand it. It arrived while I was in a meeting, so I didn't see it until about 3:30, which was probably a blessing in disguise because the hour and a half between then and 5:00 when I was able to go home was the longest 90 minutes I've experienced in a long time!

I finally made it home and luckily Justin was off early that day, so he was able to be home when I tried it out. After reading the instructions on the way home (don't worry, I carpool so I wasn't driving and reading at the same time!) I was sure I'd have no problem using this miracle instrument.

NOT.

It took me about 10 minutes to figure out what exactly it was I was hearing until I found the heartbeat. Finally after some adjustments with the volume and amount of lotion we finally heard it. And just as quickly it was gone again. It's thought that the waves emitted by the doppler sounds similar to a helicopter to the baby, so if it is awake it will likely try to get away from it until it gets used to it.

So almost every day since then I have tried to hear the heartbeat and one night I was able to find it right away. To my surprise our little one didn't run away! I have a feeling that baby was sleeping, because I was able to hold it long enough to call my sister Amanda and let her hear it through the speaker. It was amazing.

This morning I hadn't felt many kicks in a little while so I thought he/she might still be asleep, so I tried again. Well baby was awake, but I was still able to get some good rhythms,, albeit only for a few minutes.

Here are a couple I recorded. (Don't mind the very beginning. It's me adjusting the microphone to the phone so you could actually hear it.) You might need to turn up the volume because it's kind of low.

Audio 1

You hear the heartbeat loud and strong at the beginning, then a little lighter as I am chasing baby around with the sensor.

Audio 2

You hear the baby's heartbeat pretty consistently until about halfway through until what I think is my heartbeat gets picked up too.

Sneak Peek!

This morning we had another doctor's appointment with my regular OB. Normally they'd do our gender determination, but since we scheduled it with the Perinatologist, we were just going in for a check up. I had mentioned to Justin that maybe if the OB had time this morning I might be able to convince him to do a quick ultrasound to check for gender.

Our appointment was for 8:15 and after sitting in the room for 25 minutes popped her head in to say that the doctor should be there in a few minutes, he was running late. Once he finally showed up at 5 minutes til 9, we got started. I was kind of disappointed because I knew if he was already running late, there's no way he would do something extra for us, but I thought I'd give it a shot anyways.

He asked if anything exciting was going on and I said, "Actually no. It's particularly NOT exciting because the Peri wouldn't move up my ultrasound and I am very impatient." He just nodded his head and asked a few more questions and listened to the heart beat, which was 150! The he was getting all his stuff together and said if we wanted to wait a couple minutes he would move me to an ultrasound room and give us a sneak peek to find out the gender!

I was so excited! Justin was already going to be late, so we figured what's a couple more minutes! We moved into the other room and the doctor came back after about 10 minutes. He put the wand on my belly and voila! There was the baby! We have a little acrobat!

At very first glance he said he thought he saw a "penile structure", but after some adjustment of the want to get a better picture, he said the baby had it's foot tucked right under it's butt and what he thought was a penis could have been a toe. With some poking and prodding he never saw the "penile structure" again, so that would lead him to believe it was a girl!

So since our little one is as stubborn as both his/her parents, we won't know for sure until March 22nd.

In other news, everything else looked great. The doctor did say that I need to pick it up with weight gain. I gained 4lbs in the last 4 weeks, but I am still less than pre-pregnancy. He said that if I don't gain another 4lbs in the next 4 weeks he will send me to a nutritionist. Good thing it's Girl Scout cookie season. :-)

Next up... BIG ULTRASOUND on March 22!

18 Weeks!

When I first found out I was pregnant I signed up for all the newsletters from all the baby sites. I get weekly updates on Mondays, since that is when I change weeks. Here's today's!


Baby's now the size of a sweet potato!
Baby's become amazingly mobile (compared to you, at least), passing the hours yawning, hiccupping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, sucking, and swallowing. And baby is finally big enough that you'll soon be able to feel her movements.




If baby is only the size of a sweet potato, to what can I attribute THIS to?!

My belly at 18 weeks!

No... I'm not impatient at all...

Now that we've moved into our new house, we have a nursery just waiting to be filled. Unfortunately we don't find out the sex until Monday, March 22nd @ 2:30 pm.

If I listen to all the old wive's tales, most say girl but of course that's not a definite answer. So I called my Perinatologist's office and asked them to move it to the 11th which is when I have a check up with my OB. I told them the reason was so that I didn't have to take time off from work on two different days -- although we all know the real reason. They said I wouldn't be far enough along to get accurate measurements of the anatomy. They said I would have to be 19 weeks 3 days at the minimum.

Of course this prompted me to call back a second time on another day so as to better the odds of getting someone different on the phone who might be more accommodating. This time I asked if I could move it to Friday, March 19th -- since I would actually be 19 weeks 4 days. Again I am shot down.

I suppose I should put on my big girl panties and wait like I'm told, but I'll sit here and pout a while instead.

Hurry up March 22nd!

17 Weeks Today

I have been slacking in taking belly pictures and I can't believe it's been almost a month since the last one! I can't say that I think it's grown much, but it looks a little rounder and it feels more solid and less 'flabby'.

How far along? 17 weeks 0 days
Weight gain/loss: Not that I can tell, but I haven't weighed myself since my last appointment
Maternity clothes? I'm in them all day every day.
Stretch marks? Not any more than I already had.
Sleep? We're getting better. I do notice though that if I do wake up my hips hurt, but not enough to be the reason I am waking up, it's usually to pee.
Best moment this week? Last week: Felt movement for sure for the first time. This week: I finally figured out a safe way to eat deli sandwiches so I can have all the turkey my little turkey wants!
Movement: It's like a party in my belly!
Food cravings: Deli Sandwiches
Gender: March 22nd can't get here fast enough! I even called the Peri's office to see if they would reschedule to the 11th when I have my checkup with the OB and they said no, it was too early to do the rest of the scan and measurements they needed :-(
Labor signs? NO!
Belly button in or out? Still an innie
What I miss? Roller coasters! I want to go to Disneyland so bad!
What I am looking forward to? I plan on buying a doppler this week so I can hear the baby's heart beat any time I want!
Weekly wisdom: Sleep as much as you can and ignore your husband when he makes fun of you.
Milestones: Feeling movement for sure.