29 Week Appointment

So yesterday was another doctor's appointment. We went in early for an ultrasound. Surprisingly, the office was NOT busy that day, so they got us in pretty fast!

The nurse was really nice and friendly. She did all sorts of measurements of our girl--head, arms, chest, legs, etc., and of my cervix. Then she went and brought Tim in to see.

Unfortunately for us, baby girl was having a grand 'ole time hiding her face from us... she was head-down-feet-up, and pushed her face down so we couldn't get a decent 3-D pic of her. :(
She's TOTALLY taking after me! :P

Here are some of the ultrasound pictures... one nice thing: they didn't charge us for the CD this time!

Looks like a "Nuttall Foot" to me!

I think that's her arm and hand up to her face...

It was SO COOL to see her moving around! She's so big! (Well, about 2 pounds). I don't know if you'll be able to see it from the following video, but she had the hiccups. Her head is on the right, and her chest is to the left... you'll see her chest "spasm" out a bit...that's the hiccup. We have another video of just her chest hiccup-ing, but I like this one better b/c you see her head.

So now I know what it feels like when she has the hiccups... I had felt them the other night, but we thought maybe my stomach muscles were spasming b/c the "movement" had a beat...they were consistent. It was cool to feel the same sensation during the ultrasound, and to see them correspond with her hiccupping chest.

After the ultrasound, we went upstairs for my doctor's appointment. Weight and blood pressure--check check. Urine sample--check. Then the doctor came in and went over the baby measurements.

Baby Girl is doing fine! She's just a little small, but perfectly normal (I guess she's in the 41 percentile for her current size/weight). The doctor showed only slight concern at the length of my cervix (the opening of my uterus). She said it measured slightly smaller in the ultrasound, so we did a quick checkup in the office... I guess my cervix is about 20% shorter than "normal" at my stage.

From what I've read on the internet, your cervix shortens, thins, and dilates just before going into labor in preparation for delivery of the baby. SO, ideally, my cervix would NOT be shortening. But it is... so she advised that I should stay off of my feet for long periods of time... on the weekends I should just sit around... I shouldn't exercise, or walk too long, or stand too long, etc. etc. etc. BOOO! She doesn't think I'll need bed rest (at least not yet) but just wants me to be careful. Boo hoo hoo! I was enjoying my (occasional) long walks around the block, or my yoga stretches.

After the appointment, we went back home and hung out for a little while before heading back to work. . I was feeling a bit down for the rest of the day...no more exercise. :(

We're having a...

Yeah, you can't tell from the images I've posted...but it's a GIRL!

We were at the doctor's office for about 4 hours. 4 HOURS! They weren't even that busy! Normally, when they're REALLY busy, things go a lot faster. We waited for about 2 hours total...and THEN the ultrasound took FOREVER. The lady was nice enough, but she kept trying to get a good shot of the face...after a while, it was like, "Uh, oKAY! Are you DONE YET?! It all looks the same to me!"

She took some 3D pics and vids of the baby...unfortunately, our baby girl was quite content with keeping her face down, and her hands up by her face. Thus, we have a lovely back shot.

When she was looking to determine the sex, it was perfect (because the baby was upside-down, with her butt up). She brought it up to the screen, and Tim immediately says (quite matter-of-factley), "It looks like a boy."

And the lady was like, "Uh, no. That's a girl."

And Tim's like, "Really?!? But those look like nuts!"

And she's like, "Um, no...that's a girl. You can have the doctor verify it if you'd like...but it's a girl." :) haha...

SO...the question remains...did the "timing method" work?? Hmmm... I told Tim that we'd REALLY be able to know if (next time) we "plan for" and "get" a boy... but now he thinks we should try for another girl first, that way this one will have someone to play with. Oh boy. :P

It was fun calling some of our family members to tell them the good news... Tim got his mom and the phone and teased her by saying that he wasn't going to tell her, but he wanted to tell Dad first. :) I told my brother that we were having an alien, and he said, "Sweeeet! Is it going to have big eyes? A small mouth? And a big head?"

I think they gave us some videos of the ultrasound, too...so I'll have to upload those later.

(Tim thinks she already has his Nuttall-Nose). :D

Tomorrow!!

So tomorrow is the big day! We'll find out the sex of the baby...AND (most likely) our final decision on the name. Woo hoo!

Baby's #2 Ultrasound

This ultrasound was actually performed so that we could do a ... (hmmm...don't remember the name)... some sort of test. They did the ultrasound to measure the thickness of skin behind the baby's neck, and drew blood from my arm. Luckily, the blood-drawing was VERY easy (I guess my sister had to have a few stabs AND a special needle to get HER blood drawn).

Baby's #1 Ultrasound

During our first visit to the doctor's office, we were able to get an ultrasound of the baby. It was an interesting internal ultrasound. Hmmm...

Anyway, here's the baby's very first ultrasound. We were able to see the heartbeat as it flashed on the screen like ambulance lights. Wieerd!


We attached this image in an email to our family, announcing our good news.