JUST KIDDING!!!

So, we had our ultrasound at the doctor today, after he told me I was measuring big at the last appointment. Turns out, I just apparently eat too much ice cream. Everything is fine, and the normal size for 18 weeks, 4 days. :) He looked at all sorts of stuff like the left and right ventricular output tracks, and kidneys, diaphragm, stomach, spinal cord, and cerebellum, etc etc. The big news of the day is... It's a girl! He was 100% certain. He said they probably saw the umbilical cord before and assumed it was a boy.

Steven and I couldn't do anything but laugh when he told us that. In a way, it seems right this way. I've always thought it was a girl, and Steven is excited to have his Daddy's little girl.

I had started our registry online, and filled it with all kinds of boy stuff, and now I'm hesitant to go back and change it. I almost want to wait until she's born to make sure nobody switches things on us again...

Our new house

We spent the last 10 days in Washington on our house hunting trip. We found the house we are going to rent on our first full day there, so we had 8 days to just cruise around, check out the area, and relax a little bit. Sorry I have the worst camera in the world, but here is the front of our house...

It is in the town of Birch Bay, which is a small little tourist town. Our house is 0.2 miles from the water, and along the main stretch of road along the bay there are a couple of restaurants and cafes, a candy shop, and bike and kayak rental places. Very cute. We just got a new market in town, although it's a little expensive. I think we will do most of our bulk shopping at Costco in Bellingham (about 15 minutes south) and there is also a little farmers market just down the road. Hopefully they will have good (and cheap) produce there. That way we won't have to get too much at the market in Birch Bay. We'll see how we do with small town living! Steven and I got to take a tour of his new station, which was fun to see. He's going from a several hundred man station to a 40 man station, so it was just a little different. :) His coworkers that we met all seem very nice.

We spent our last full day in Seattle, and I got to play tourist! We checked out Deception Pass...

Pike Place Market...

the Ballard Locks...

and of course, the Space Needle!

Steven really liked the areas we visited, enjoyed the coffee houses and microbrews, and we're both excited to finally be there and start living our normal lives again. September is a month of suitcases, boxes, and hotels. We're ready to stop living like gypsies!

4 months!

Just for comparison's sake, here I am at week 5...


And here's week 16...


Definitely getting bigger and bigger. Here's what our little man Steven Jude is looking like in there this week. He looks so big in there! I keep waiting to feel him move - I hope any day now...

Our little man!

Almost everyone "knew" it was a girl, myself included, and almost everyone was wrong!  We were so shocked, but our little man is on his way!  The ultrasound was so cool - we go to see him kicking his legs, trying to suck his thumb, rolling all around, and we think even hiccuping.  We were able to see the brain, spine, ribs, fingers, toes, it was so incredible!  She said he has a good strong heartbeat, and that he was very active, and I can't believe after watching him move so much, that I still haven't felt what I definitely know is him moving.  I've felt a couple little things that I assume are just gas bubbles, or digestion or whatever else goes on, but I guess could possibly be him.  But so far no definite flutters.  Soon, I think.

Here's my favorite picture...  I love his little face.  And I could be wrong, but I think he's giving us a little thumbs up.


And here is another profile where you can see little feet.


So we stole Brad and Jackie's idea of a cool way to find out, so I have to give them credit.  We had the nurse seal in an envelope that first picture that says boy or girl, went to Babies R Us, picked out a pink and blue outfit, and gave the envelope to the cashier.  Then we walked around for a few minutes while they opened the envelope and rang up the correct outfit.  Then they wrapped it for us.  We took the present down to the beach (where Steven proposed to me) and opened it to find out if it was a girl or a boy.  It was so much more fun and special than just having a stranger tell you girl or boy.





Proud papa can't wait to play golf with his son! I'll post a 16 week belly pic later this week. Definitely getting bigger...!

12 Weeks!

I made it this far! I'm not sure why this has been a big landmark for me because week 13 is the start of the 2nd trimester, but I have been looking forward to 12 weeks. Yesterday we had our doctor's appointment. It lasted about 5 minutes - went over bloodwork (all is good) and heard the heartbeat (sounds normal). It took him a few minutes to find it, which of course made me really nervous. He said he could hear it finally, but I didn't hear anything. So he went over to the sink like he was done and I must have looked really disappointed because he came back over and said, "Let's try it again." He found it quicker this time, and it was much louder and more clear. It was such an awesome sound!! We recorded it on a little recorder, and then when we got home I put it on a video. It's a recording of a recording, but I think it's still good enough. Here it is...



Next appointment is August 27. The past few days I have had moments where I have felt better than I have since week 7, but the times where I do feel sick, it seems worse than it has been the past several weeks. Maybe because it's just more of a difference, when before it was just consistently having a feeling of nausea. I'm hoping that since it seems to be changing, maybe the ickiness is on it's way out completely...?

Here's what's going on with little Green Bean. He or she is 2 1/2 inches long, not counting legs, and is basically fully formed. We now have a fetus, and the critical period of development is safely behind us! Yay!



And here I am with my "food belly" as my sister lovingly calls it. I have to eat every hour or two so I don't get sick, so this is what has happened as a result... Although Steven keeps reminding me that my uterus is now like 3 times bigger than it was, so it has to be pushing stuff around in there, right? Let's go with that for now...

It's a girl!

No, not ours... we're still a little ways from finding out what we're having.  But we have a niece!  Jackie went into labor at a little over 33 weeks and had her baby girl on July 15th.  Ruthie Irene couldn't wait to meet the world!



She weighed 4 pounds, 2 ounces at birth, and she has never needed oxygen or a feeding tube. She's such a trooper and is doing great. Hopefully she'll get to go home soon!

Update

I find it funny that the last post I put on here where I say that I'm still feeling pretty good was literally my last good day. I have felt sick every day since then, off and on but throughout the whole day. I'm trying different things to try to figure out what could be causing the bulk of it. Changing prenatal vitamins, B6, ginger, Unisom, etc. Hopefully I'll get into a routine that works for me.

This afternoon at my doctor's office I have to go to a one time class that they require. Baby School, I like to call it. It's only one hour, and maybe I'll learn something new! I think we even get a free gift. :) Hopefully it will be a nice introduction, since we are planning on taking our regular baby classes at our new hospital in Washington. That's on my to-do list also - call the hospital and find a new doctor and make our first appointment. It will be interesting to change doctors halfway through the pregnancy.

We got the official word from Steven's work. His first day of work in Blaine will be September 27, so we will probably start heading up north on our road trip the middle of September. We're trying to plan our 10 day house hunting trip for the middle of August.