24 The Big Ultrasound

Yesterday was the big day-time for our 20 week ultrasound. 
Above all we hoped to be able find out that our baby was growing properly
and had everything that was supposed to be there.

Of course we were hoping we would be able to find out the gender of our little bean too!

The tech started out and moved across my tummy and we first saw the whole body outline 

of our little bean with a hand up by his or her little face!
Hello there little one!

The little bean was moving around quite a bit, and was being a bit shy.
The tech tried to get the infamous money shot to let us know what we were going to have,
and was able to see 3 faint lines which means..... 

WE ARE HAVING A GIRL!   

The little bean was moving around so much, which was amazing,
but it was hard for her to capture a picture of it and she kept looking to try to find any sign of boy parts. 

She didn't see anything and was sure that the faint lines were true 

and meant that the little bean is a girl! 

We go back in 5 weeks for another quick gender scan, 

but she is 90% certain we are having a girl.
We aren't painting the nursery just yet, but the pink clothes buying will commence!

She then zoomed in and we saw the profile of our sweet little blessing! So sweet and cute! 

Almost can see a little smile under that tiny little nose of hers!

After a few passes of trying to get some good profile views, she started out the testing and measuring. Everything looked good, the heart had all  chambers pumping and measured the correct size. 

The kidneys were functioning and we could see the stomach linked to the umbilical cord with some fluid in it so we know she is getting nutrition.  

We saw the spine and 2 legs and arms and all the little digits wiggling around.  

Her brain looks good and all the upper lip and fatty tissue at the back of the head 

measure on track so there doesn't seem to be any risk of 

chromosomal abnormalities or down syndrome. 

More blessings indeed!

She turned around we even got to see a frontal view with her two little eyes and nasal cavity staring at us.  She must be scratching her head wondering what all the fuss is about! 

So amazing! Currently she is in a breech position, with her head on my left side.
But they say that normally changes in the 3rd trimester, and she'll migrate south.

Hopefully little miss gets that memo and starts to shift over the next 4 months.

So we are so thankful that everything is going well and that our little girl is growing and healthy.
It was a huge sigh of relief to see her forming into a beautiful baby and hear the heartbeat stronger then ever!

She's 20w5d and is on track for her anticipated June 9th Delivery Date!  

Can't wait to meet her!
I love her so much already!

6 Sugar & Spice or Snakes & Snails...which one will it be?

So our Big Ultrasound is coming up on Tuesday! And the most important thing is seeing 10 fingers and 10 toes and know that everything is progressing the way it should be and that we have a healthy baby. That is my biggest prayer. But of course we can't wait to see what colors we need to start buying! Will it be pink or blue? It's always fun to take quizzes, so I borrowed this idea from Natalie and thought it would be interesting to see how it compared to whats really happening in mah belly!

I am carrying the extra weight
Out front.
Around the hips and bottom.
I'm carrying the extra weight around the hips and bottom, so it's a girl.

The hair on my legs is growing
more quickly than before I got pregnant.
the same as before I got pregnant.
The hair on my legs is not growing any faster during pregnancy, so it's a girl.

I am carrying my baby
high.
low.
Boys are carried low. I am going to have a boy.

I sleep in my bed with my pillow to the
north.
south.
Sleeping in a bed with your pillow to the north indicates that I will be having a boy. (actually its to the West, but I face North.)

My feet are
colder than before pregnancy.
the same as before.
My feet are not colder than they were before pregnancy. I am having a girl.

I
refuse to eat the heel of a loaf of bread.
prefer the heel.
I refuse to eat the heel of a loaf of bread. I am having a girl. (I never eat the heal. period.)

The Dad-to-be is
gaining weight right along with me.
is not gaining weight.
Dad-to-be is gaining weight right along with Mom-to-be, which means that I'll have a boy.

My mother's hair color is
gray.
not gray (natural or dyed).
The maternal grandmother doesn't have gray hair (dyed or natural), so a girl will be born.

I had morning sickness early in my pregnancy:
Yes.
No.
I didn't have morning sickness early in pregnancy, so it will be a boy. (I never actually yacked so I'm saying it was just queasiness not actual morning sickness.)

I am looking
particularly good during pregnancy.
not so good.
I'm not looking particularly good during pregnancy. Therefore, it must be a girl, because girls steal their mother's looks. (I don't think I've gotten that beautiful pregnancy glow yet)

During pregnancy, my chest development has been
quite dramatic.
no too dramatic.
My chest development has not been very dramatic during pregnancy. I should expect a boy. (ps. my chest developed a long time ago)

My age at the time of conception was: 33
Conception took place in the month of : September
Since the sum of the mother's age at conception and the number of the month of conception is even, it will be a boy.

Hang a thread with a needle over your belly. The thread moves
in circles
from side to side.
A needle on a thread held over you belly moves from side-to-side, so it will be a girl.

My urine is a
bright neon yellow color.
dull yellow.
My urine is a dull yellow color, so I will have a girl.

I have been craving
sweets.
salty or sour food.
I am craving sweets, which means that it is a girl. (again, I could eat a jar of frosting anytime, not just when I'm pregnant)

My nose has
spread during pregnancy.
stayed the same.
My nose hasn't changed during pregnancy, which indicates a girl.

I have been craving
meats and cheese.
fruit.
I have been craving fruits, so it is a girl.

The baby's heart rate is
above 140 beats per minute.
140 or less.
My baby's heart rate is 140 or more beats per minute, so it's a girl.

Chinese Gender Charts:
The Bump: GIRL
BabyCenter: BOY
I-Village: GIRL
BabyZone: BOY

QUIZ RESULTS: 64% say I'm gonna have a GIRL, 36% say I'm gonna have a BOY

What do you think the little bean will be? Take my poll below and see if you are predicted correctly when we reveal in a few days!

12 You Capture-Circles

There are all kinds of circles in our house that make me happy.

This money plant, a gift from my husbands grandparents sits in our living room.
Its amazing how they turn such a beautiful color when they dry.
I heart them and their simplicity.

Seeing Emma's head poke out from her favorite blanket always makes me smile.
Isn't she just adorable!

My husband collects vinyl and got a new turntable for Christmasn.
Even though I'm not a huge fan, its nice to listen to them and hear some of the crackles on the older ones.
I appreciate them for the history of music.

Right now this is the main sort of toy in our house. Dog toys.
Emma had this for years and never really played much with it. But Ellie seems to love it.
And that makes me happy.

4 letter to babybug

Dear babybug:

I can’t believe I am almost half way thru this pregnancy already! Things going good from your side? I hope you are doing good in there and growing like a weed. I haven’t felt you move around too much yet, just kinda little flutters and vibrations. I’m hoping its just because Momma has an extra layer of fluff then all those skinny Momma’s out there that are already feeling external kicks. But we have heard your hearbeat several times and it is strong. We have to move the Doppler to follow you sometimes so I know you are on the move, even if I can’t feel it just yet. Keep up the good work, God is watching you and knows how quickly things should be happening. You are in a much more powerful set of hands and I am confident in his abilities.

This relationship that you and I have, its teaching me a lot about myself too. I tend to be, what some may call a control freak. I try to get all the details and am always trying to plan ahead to know what is happening. But with this, I don’t have that crystal ball to make sure things are ok. I just have to believe that they are. And I’m trying with all my heart to believe…I hope you are feeling that and not focusing on the random fears that pop into my head or dreams. Just breathe….and repeat.

Do you know what next week is? Its our next ultrasound! The BIG ultrasound! I know-it’s FINALLY here! We are now just 8 days away from finding out if you are a little boy bean or a little girl bean. I can not wait. I want to start calling you he or she instead of “it”, which I try not to do because you are not an “it”, you are a tiny human and deserve to be acknowledged as such. That’s why most of the time I refer to you as Bean or Bebe, just sounds so much better then “it”.

I’ve had a few dreams here and there about you, but have never been able to get a feeling if you were a boy or girl, just that you were healthy and part of our lives. I do know that I am focusing more on having boy names picked out and maybe its jut because we are 85% sure of the girl name but not on the boy name, so I am trying to come up with a list of both to choose from.

Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve wanted a girl for as long as I knew I wanted to be a mother, but lately have been feeling that little boys are so cute and sweet and wouldn’t be any less adorable then a little girl. It would just be cute little khakis and polos instead of bows and tutus. I just don’t want to get into the ultrasound and have them say what you are and make you feel like I was disappointed. So if you are a boy, that is perfectly fine and I will be thrilled just as much as if you were a girl. Seriously….I know it sounds so cliché, but as long as you are healthy and we both come out of delivery fine, that will be the biggest blessing of all.

Either way I can’t wait to meet you! Eek…I can’t wait to see your little fingers and toes and nose…you are gonna be so cute! But until June comes, I will be happy getting to see you move around next week on that screen and show us what God gave you. They say to drink orange juice before to get you moving so I might need to pick some up on the way down. So if you can, work with me next week and start wiggling around about 9am on Tuesday. I’m sure I’ll remind you a dozen times until then.

I am feeling much better lately, you haven’t made me quesy much anymore and now only encounter heartburn just before bed a few nights a week so that’s much better then feeling it a few times a day. So thank you for that. Oh and I was surprised that you prefer the lime sherbet the best out the rainbow box. Maybe next time I’ll just get that for ya! The cravings for salads are a good thing, don’t mind them at all either. You know, maybe green is going to be your favorite color.

Sorry if I’m jostling you all about in the middle of the night, just trying to get into the best spot for both of us to get some zzz’s. And yeah about the getting up 3 times a night to use the bathroom, that’s not all your fault little one. I’ve always had a small bladder so I’m kinda used to it anyway. Well at least once a night. But its ok, no biggie. Glad to do it.

This week me and your father have our first childbirth class, just to go over some baby basics. It’s been a while since your dad has been around a baby, it’s been almost 17 years since your Uncle Kyle was born. So except for a few friends babies that we’ve been around, its kinda new to him. And as you know, you are my first, so am soaking up everything that I can that will help me be a better mommy to you.

So just keep doing what you are doing, and if you need more of anything to make your stay in uterus a little more enjoyable, please feel free to suck whatever you need from me. I will try to keep the nutrients and fluids coming.

Remember we adore you to the moon and back already!
Love,
Mommy

15 You Capture-Doorway

Sometimes all you need is a doorway with a little sunshine coming in 

to make winter a little more bearable. 

10 18 weeks

How Far Along am I: 18 Weeks

Size of baby: Bean is the size of a mango

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 8 lbs since conception

Maternity Clothes: I am wearing one pair of maternity jeans, other regular dress pants with the assistance of a bellyband and regular shirts.

 Gender: Not a clue! Ultrasound if scheduled for January 25!

Movement: I have felt a few more little flutters and this week kinda felt a little sensation when I had my hands on my tummy. Like eyelashes against my belly. Can't wait for my husband to feel it!

Sleep: Sleeping pretty good, waking up a few times a night. Notice I do toss and turn alot and for some reason its like I don't know what to do with my arm to make it more comfortable when I'm sleeping on my side. But otherwise I'm getting plenty, including the occasional car ride nap home from Columbus.

What I miss: Nothing really, except when I see Red Lobster commercials.
Sleeping on my tummy a little. Didn't even miss toasting at midnight on New Years Eve!

Cravings: Strawberry Ice Cream, Oranges and PB&J

Symptoms: The last few weeks have been pretty good. Nausea is almost non-exsistant except when I am hungry. Heartburn is only occassional.
Biggest thing now is just wanting more sleep and eating more frequently.

Best Moment this week: Besides feeling it flutter, it would be scheduling our classes at the hospital.  Can't wait to start taking them and learn as much as I can! Feel like I will be the oldest one in there, but that is fine with me. I'm just happy to be attending!

16 My Favorite Captures of 2010

I was so happy when Beth announced this weeks You Capture challenge was to pick our favorites!
It took a while to scan thru the harddrive but I managed to narrow it down to my favorite photos of 2010.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some of them came from my trip to Chicago this fall. 

My trip to the visit my dear friend Lauren included included my first MLB game. 

Go Cubs!

Some of them came from right in my own backyard. 

I love when I can capture the details in my photos.

Some were taken on weekend visits to local parks and sporting events. 

Go Buckeyes!

And of course I couldn't "fur"-get our adorable dogs! 

Emma and Ellie have had their share of camera time this year-they are so cute!

And this one was just taken on Christmas Day. My cousins 2 week old baby boy Hudson.  

Everybody loves baby toes!

But by far this is my favorite photo of 2010. 

I have been waiting so long to capture this picture. 

There were days in the beginning that I had to look at this to believe it was finally happening.

But lately all I have to do is reach down and pat my growing tummy. And Smile.

 

I am so blessed for all of the experiences that go along with these photos. 

I will remember that everyday. And not take any of them for granted.

5 Pregnancy Hormones-Take 1

So I've gotten to the emotional stage of being pregnant. I am crying at just about anything lately. Let's see what are some of the big things it has been this week. And remember it's only Wednesday morning.

On Sunday, my husband was vacuuming downstairs and I walked down to ask him a question. He stopped for a minute and went upstairs to empty the canister.  I looked over and saw a huge wet spot on the floor. Ellie had peed on the floor! She has never done that since we got her! She's great about coming to us and telling us she wants to go out. Its been great. But now this? At first I thought maybe he had spilled something, but nope...it wasn't.  Bad Ellie!

So he continued to clean it up and then brought her downstairs to scold her and tell her it was bad and not to do it again, then sent her upstairs to her crate. She was being punished. Understandable.  So she stayed there the rest of the afternoon, only getting out to use the potty and to eat and drink. I knew it was the right thing to do, she couldn't be peeing on the floor. So then just before I was getting ready to go to bed, he let her out and she came back in and sat on her pillow by the crate. With THE SADDEST puppy eyes you have ever seen. You could tell she knew she had done wrong. I said are you going to let her out and give her some attention for a bit before bed, he said yes, she knows she did something wrong. I looked over to her and started tearing up.

My husband asked what was wrong and I just broke down and said...these pregnancy hormones!  I just got overwhelmed with the fact that she hadn't had love for so long when she was in the pound and now she knew what love was, and I didn't want her to feel like that love had been taken away. It literally was breaking my heart.  So I cried a little bit and he hugged me while kinda gently chuckling reassuring me know she still knew that we loved her.

So Monday night we were watching a movie, Date Night and I was laying on the couch with my hands on my tummy like I so frequently do these days.  I took some deep breathes and thought I felt something twitch. I waited a few minutes, placed my two thumbs ever so lightly below my belly button....and I felt it again! It was almost like when you run your finger down the palm of your hand...except from the inside of my belly.  I called for my husband to come over to see if he could feel it, but he couldn't. Not yet. But just seeing him with his hands on my bump warmed my heart. It made me teary to think that in a few weeks hopefully he will be able to feel it too, even stronger as our little bean continues to grow!

Last night was the Sugar Bowl and the Ohio State Buckeyes BARELY kept the substantial lead that they had in the first half to beat the Arkansas Razorbacks 31-26. First time we have beat an SEC team in a bowl game in recent history, if not ever. It was a nail biter to the very end. How can a football game bring emotions? Well first it was the National Anthem, that does it to me everytime. Then the story about one of the Arkansas seniors who came whose mother had him to point to a map when she decided to leave his abusive father. Then after we won and seeing the joy in some of the seniors faces and knowing that a few of them are about to embark on something that they have been dreaming of since they were in peewee football....it made me teary ok. I admit it. (Good Luck in the NFL Hayward and Sanzenbacher!).

That brings up to today. This morning on my way into work, they had Ted the Homeless Man on the radio station I was listening to. I heard them mention him briefly yesterday. It always makes me sad to think about people without homes and being alone, especially in the Ohio winters. A local paper heard about this homeless man off a local highway, who was carrying a sign saying that he had a god given gift-his voice. So they went over to see what all the fuss was about.  They played a clip and he honestly sounded like a cross between Tony the Tiger and James Earle Jones. This video of Ted has since gone viral. It even made the Yahoo front page today! A clip of the video can be found here .  He does have a gift! 

So the local station was like, I wonder if we can get him to come in and maybe give him work for a day to get him some cash. Anyway, there were tons of calls and emails coming in for him since they announced he was going to be in the station today. And he was on the air today when I got in my car doing his interview. Some people were calling in wanting to congratulate him on his 2 years of sobriety, some to offer work, others to just say they were proud of him for not giving up and others just saying he really did have a gift! There were 2 calls alone on my short drive in from an MTV show that wanted to fly him out to do voiceovers and another from 2 well known announcers (one lady does the "You're watching Entertainment Tonight" voiceover and another guy who does the "Watch the Simpsons at 8:30 on FOX" who wanted to have him interview for a show they were doing. And I guess there were calls from all over the world coming in that wanted a piece of that voice!

I guess it just made me feel good to know that there are people who still are willing to help people.  He didn't want anything for free, he was willing to work for it. He admitted he made mistakes but has been trying to do the right thing and get back on track.  You could hear in his voice, the emotion of gratefulness that he felt this morning with every caller. He had been standing on that ramp for a year now, and he said that he knew that God would help lead him to his answer. It was genuine and touching and made me cry.

So let's hope today I don't break into tears for what seems like no reason. But if I do, its ok because I am so thankful to be feeling all kinds of pregnancy symptoms! Stay tuned tomorrow....BUMP Update!

3 Saturday Cell Phone Mosiac

Hello friends...happy 2011.  Hope you all had a great New Years. We spent our night at home playing Phase 10 and watching the ball drop. It was amazing to say that this is the year we will become parents! Today was pretty much a lounge day, lots of bowl games on, and if you know us, you know we LOVE college football so it was a good day.  Ohio State doesn't play in their bowl game until Tuesday, so we were cheering for other Big 10 teams. Sadly they didn't fare too well.

If you want to link up, feel free to do so below so others can check out your day. Hopefully I will keep up with this more than I did towards the end of the year!