3rd Trimester, Here We Come!

Hello!
Apologies for not having posted in awhile. We've been keeping ourselves busy with various things, and haven't kept the blog up very well.

Baby has been busy growing like crazy and has developed a new hobby - punching Mommy's bladder. It's the only part of the acrobatics I don't care for, but I know that when Peanut is born I will miss the sensation of his/her movement. It's something I enjoy feeling - and now watching - so much!

I think we are both in awe of the fact in a few short months, our baby will be here! This has been such an amazing and awesome journey. Not since our wedding day have I had so many emotions - excitement, nervousness, anxiety - and yet at the same time known that this is exactly the right thing in my life.

I have included a few new photos. One is of our furbaby. Willow had some minor surgery to remove a much larger than expected cyst from her back. She was a brave girl and got her stitches out today! She's looking less and less like "Frankendog". The other is a recent ultrasound where we caught baby yawning (the photo is a bit ghoulish, but it was just precious), and finally - an updated shot of my growing belly. Hope you enjoy!

Random update

Nothing exciting to report...

Heidi's stomach seems to periodically expand within the span of hours. Every couple of days we'll meet at home after work and one of us will make the comment, "Did you get bigger today?"

The baby is still very active and occaisionally wakes Heidi early in the morning with its movements. Sometimes I'll be awake and get to share in the fun of her/his morning kicks.

We're still acquiring baby paraphernalia, and beginning to look at day care facilities. It's still very exciting and the days are counting down. I feel like I should be banking sleep or something.

Profile

This will give everyone a little better perspective on Heidi's progress than my last post. If I were an artist I would call this picture "Pregnant woman on skinny legs."

The baby is growing stronger...we are able to see the baby's movements occasionally now. Very cool!

Belly

I thought I shouldn't be the only one to enjoy watching Heidi change throughout the pregnancy. Below is a quick pic taken with my camera phone.

19 week ultrasound

Boy or girl?...


IT'S A....


We didn't find out...we've decided to wait! Baby B. does appear to be an over-achiever already, though...according to the calendar I am 18 weeks, 6 days; baby measured at 20 weeks, 1 day, and is beautiful (at least we think so).

We are about 1/2 way there, and everything looks great! We already worry about our little one, and although we had nothing to be concerned about, it was such a relief to see a healthy baby and walk away with a clean bill of health!

I will have another Level II u/s follow up at 32 weeks (end of November). Due to a med I am on, the perinatalogist prefers to do a 3rd trimester check. Fine by me! Just another chance to see our peanut.

Daddy's First Contact

I was able to feel the baby's kicks for the first time this weekend.  It was a moment on par with the first hearing of the heartbeat and seeing the first ultrasound pictures.  It was also a "holy @#$% we're really having a baby" moment.  I couldn't be happier!

Another sign that our lives are changing...we spent Saturday night at Babies 'R' Us looking at the infinite choices in strollers and car seats.  How did any of us survive childhood without all of these products?

Baby Flutters

It was fun this week to start feeling the baby move. For now the movement that I can feel is fleeting and sporadic, but they are definitely baby flutters! It will probably be a few weeks before there are strong enough kicks for Chris to be able to feel, but it's still a fun development.

Have a great weekend!

Heartbeat

Last night we were able to record the baby's heartbeat. To listen click here.

If you have problems try again later. We have limited bandwidth for audio files.

15 weeks down!

We got the blood work results back for that portion of our NT screening last week and were very happy to see that everything is normal, in addition to a great ultrasound. Yea!

My 3rd prenatal visit was last Friday, and everything is progressing as it should! Peanut was very agreeable to being found by doppler, and the heartbeat is good (it most recently has been in the range of 150+ heartbeats/min.). I now am officially sporting a "baby bump", but it is really only noticable to Chris and I - unless I am wearing fitting clothing. Since my first appt., I have gained (gasp!) - 3 or 4 pounds.

We have a Level II ultrasound scheduled for August 28. It's hard to believe the baby will be 1/2 way to gestation at that point. We have no plans to find out peanut's gender until it's time for arrival.

We are otherwise busy with work, staying cool, and making plans and room for our son or daughter. Regardless of the gender, I can't wait to meet him or her and kiss those little fingers and toes!

I hope all is well!

Week 13

On Wednesday, July 19th we had a nuchal translucency screening. It is essentially a genetic screening that involves an ultrasound. You can see the pictures below.

Apparently, this test is unable to determine if the baby has the back hair gene. Outside of that gap in the test everything appears normal.