Week 21

I love being pregnant! I can probably say this because I didn't get bad morning sickness and I'm not yet 8 months pregnant and horribly uncomfortable. But right now, I love it! It's great seeing all the changes my body can go through to nurture a new life. I like my baby bump (please just stay in the front, that's all I ask!). And feeling her kick is wonderful! But I'm more excited to hold her soon!

The only major change I've noticed this week is that I feel her kick more frequently and can kinda feel it on the outside of my body. I don't think others would be able tell as much yet though if you put your hand on my belly. I have also noticed the top of my belly button is starting to stick out! I thought this wouldn't happen until another 10 weeks from now but it's started. We'll see how long before the whole thing sticks out.

Our baby girl is about the size of a large banana right now (I know, strange that they compare baby sizes to fruit but helpful for visualization). She probably weighs around 10.5 ounces by now.

I had another anatomy ("big") ultrasound this past Thursday. Last time I went in on the 20th, they were not able to get a good view of her heart, spine, lungs, kidneys or hands. This time, the technician was able to see all these clearly except the heart. There was definitely 4 chambers of the heart as there should be but our daughter was already being stubborn and wouldn't roll over to be in the right position for the technician to verify everything related to the heart. I even drank 2 glasses of orange juice (sugar gets them moving more), walked around and rolled over to my left side while taking deep breathes, all in hopes she would roll over -- nope, she wasn't interested! So I will be going in again on January 22nd to try one more time to get a good view of her heart. The technician said everything looked great so far but they need to confirm those last few things to have a complete assessment. If she doesn't cooperate the next time, I'll need to go in for a fetal echo (not sure what that is yet). Below are some great photos of her spine and hands (5 fingers on each hand!). It's amazing the detail they can get! And she reconfirmed that she's a she. :)




Our other big news is we're moving! Emile has accepted a job with GlaxoSmithKline ("GSK") in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. We're so excited!! It's such a beautiful area! And we're looking into buying a house and will hopefully be placing an offer on one this week! We're moving on January 24th which is coming up incredibly soon. Luckily, my office is going to allow me to telecommute from home which will be great when the baby is born. I'm really excited for all the changes coming up in our very near future. We'll keep you posted as to which house we get.

Week 19 -- It's a ...

GIRL!!!! Emile and I were very excited to find out that we're having a little girl!!! I thought for sure it was a boy that I was in shock. We're going to have a daughter!!!

We had our "big" ultrasound on Thursday, December 20th. We decided to keep it a secret so we could surprise our families. The morning of the 20th, we went in for our anatomy ultrasound and found out we're having a girl. The technician, and later our doctor's nurse confirmed, that our little girl looks "normal" -- arms and legs the right length, brain looks good, face is in the right proportions, etc. The technician wasn't able to see the kidneys, chambers of the heart or spine in the position she was in so I have to go back on January 10th for another ultrasound. Our little girl weighs 7 oz. right now and is in the 50th percentile for her weight based on the day of our ultrasound (I was 17 weeks 5 days pregnant) -- so right on target.

That night, we flew to Minneapolis for Christmas at Emile's parent's house. We told them we were having a girl by wrapping up a little dress with the ultrasound photo. We had them unwrap it -- Riet held up the dress for about a split second before she exclaimed "are you having a girl??!!!!" and proceeded to jump up with excitement.

We had to then keep it a secret for another week until we saw my family in person this past Thursday on December 27th. We told my family the same way -- wrapped up a dress with the ultrasound photo and had my parents open it together. My mom responded pretty much identically to Emile's mom -- held up the dress for a split second before exclaiming "are you having a girl?!!!" and then proceeded to get super excited and overjoyed. Apparently, my dad kept whispering to my mom while they were in bed that night "we're having a granddaughter!". It was great being able to tell our families in person that we're having a girl given that we've had to tell them most things about our pregnancy via telephone or webcam.

Our families gave us a lot of wonderful baby items for Christmas -- little dresses, pink and purple blankets, baby bedding, a Baby Bjorn, play mat, little items for the diaper bag (such as wrist toys, bib, etc.), light "mood" bear, taggie blankets, sign language book, touch and feel book, Baby Einstein lullaby CD, and newborn gift set. Emile's aunt and uncle in Holland (Anneke and Norbert) sent us some Dutch baby items that are adorable -- a little bear, heart that plays music and a schouder spuugdoek (shoulder bib/burp cloth). They all have photos of windmills and a Dutch boy and girl kissing in the Delft's bleuwe color. All the gifts we got were wonderful and greatly appreciated!!

Today, I'm 19 weeks pregnant!! I definitely feel like I'm getting much bigger faster now!

NT Scan

Emile and I went in for my NT Scan this morning. This is an ultrasound they do to check for the probability that our baby could have Down Syndrome. Given that I'm over 30 my doctor recommended it. Although they have to confirm the results of the ultrasound with my blood test, the technician indicated the ultrasound readings were within normal range! What a relief! I'm was pretty freaked out going in. In addition to this great news, we also got to see our baby again! :) What a change since 8 weeks 3 days! We could see the arms and legs in more detail and even the baby's fingers. He/she even moved around a lot - turned his/her back to us a few times :) It was wonderful! The heart was kicking away at 160 bpm. This time technician turned the sound on and we could hear our baby's heartbeat! It was fabulous! Our next ultrasound will be the Big One to find out the gender! Time's flying by!

Our baby with his/her hand near his/her mouth.

What a difference from the u/s at 8w3d -- So many more features are formed!

First Ultra Sound

We are so excited!! I can't get over how overjoyed I am right now. We got to see our little olive (that's about the size of our baby right now) and everything looks great - two arms and two legs are forming and his/her heart is kicking strong (one baby, no twins!). I'm so excited!!!! The doctor and ultra sound technician both said everything looked great -- exactly where it should be right now.

He/she is actually measuring further along than calculated. Today, based on my LMP date, I'm 8 weeks 3 days; however, our baby is measuring 8 weeks 6 days based on the crown to rump measurement. We probably won't need to change our EDD though because it's only a difference of a few days.

The heart rate is measuring 174 beats/min. Based on old wives tales, this would indicate a girl (greater than 140 beats/min) -- but this is an old wives tales! We'll see what our olive turns out to be at my ultra sound at 18 weeks. Here are two 2D ultra sounds and two 3D ultra sounds.

For both photos below, his/her head is on left, body then feet at the bottom.

Below are two 3D photos. You're looking at our baby from behind. You can see the right side of the head, back, arm bud and leg bud. The long tube coming out of the baby is the umbilical cord.