A Little Baby Girl!

So, primarily my posts have focused on our daily events or the happenings of Jimmie.  I thought this little baby #2 deserved a bit of attention, too! Should you choose to read this one…you get to hear all about the ramblings of our journey ;) Today we had our "20 week Ultrasound"…which is what they call the Anatomical Scan that they normally do around now even if you're not exactly 20 weeks.  They just want to go through and measure everything, count everything, make sure things are looking good, and typically, if you haven't already found out, this is when you find out the gender!

This one is a little more fun for us because it's at the hospital.  A clearer machine with a better picture that they project up onto a TV so that I can actually see what's going on.  We've been lucky enough to have a Dr.'s office and insurance that will let you have an in-office ultrasound whenever you want at no extra charge.  So of course, we like to look at the baby for a few minutes every time we go to the doctors.  I can't normally see much though and it's normally pretty grainy.  I pride myself on being able to very clearly understand ultrasound pictures…but these are even a little challenging for me :)

So this was a fun one!  I, of course, was a bit of a nervous wreck leading up to it…

I've always been a bit apprehensive about how things are going in this pregnancy since the very beginning when things were looking uncertain.  With Jimmie, I was just elated and excited, I never really stopped to think about things that could go wrong.  Since then I've read so many articles, seen so many stories, talk to so many Mom's that my eyes have been opened a bit more to the million and ten things that could go wrong.  Always makes me a little nervous when the ultrasound tech pauses a little longer than normal…takes a few more views that she would normally.  

…but the fabulous news is, everything is looking normal and healthy!

Profile shot- head on right side, torso on the left. 

In fact, even better (in my opinion) than expected.  For those of you who don't know, early on in the pregnancy at our first ultrasound, they could not find the baby at all (and they should have been able to).  The Dr. was highly suspicious of a miscarriage, as I was absolutely certain of my dates,  so we went through blood work testing to check for this.  For a few days, we grieved the loss of our unborn child and were totally heartbroken over it.  My heart goes out to everyone who has ever had to experience the terrible loss of a child.  It was so unnerving and painful that very rarely have I talked about it to many until now.  

However, towards the end of the week, tests were showing up within increasing hormone levels that would correspond with continuing pregnancy.  Doctors were concerned that it could be an ectopic pregnancy and sent me for an emergency ultrasound on the 4th of July.  

Turns out there was a little baby in there, clear as day. But measuring significantly smaller than we'd thought.  The baby measured exactly 2 weeks smaller than what we'd thought I should be.  A bit later at a follow up Dr.'s appointment, she pushed my due date back even farther by another 4 or 5 days.  

My due date went from January 31 to February 17.  2.5 weeks is a pretty big difference!

Still certain of what my due date should be, the baby being so small was very concerning to me.  My mind would race over all of the possibilities of WHY and would this baby develop at a normal, healthy rate?  We waited a bit longer than planned to tell extended family because of the uncertainty.  

But today, I feel a little bit better.  A little less un-easy.  No health problems visible, all body parts accounted for.  And the baby is a wonderful size.  From all accounts and measurements, the baby is measuring 20 weeks 6 days.  My current due date of February 17 would put me at 19 weeks 1 day.  So essentially, the baby is measuring just about 2 weeks BIGGER than she should be.  And THAT sits well with me.  Just as she should be.  I don't know if the doctor will change the due date or not. 

Does a due date really matter?  This baby is gonna come when she wants to.  Jimmie came a week early, so we are fully anticipating this baby to arrive anywhere from the end of January to mid-February.  

This shot makes me laugh.  Some may have a hard time seeing it, but these are her little feet crossed.  

She had her legs crossed the WHOLE time.  Closed and crossed.  Like a proper little young lady.

Of course, the ultrasound tech didn't really appreciate this as it took her probably a good 20 minutes to be able to get a good shot.  She was pretty sure but wanted one more view.  So I got up, moved around, went to the bathroom, all to get her to move.  And sure enough, she was able to get a good shot of the gender.  

You can kind see the crossed legs here.  The leg 2 is obviously sticking straight down, the little circle right next to it is the other knee. The other leg is crossed behind leg 2 and in the shadows of the picture.

HERE'S THE FAILURE PART.

I'm writing this on Wednesday.  Which means, I KNOW the gender.  Most of you know, we weren't going to find out the gender at the ultrasound…instead have her write it down, have Megan (my sister) look, and help us with a gender reveal.  

Well, though we resisted the urge to look through the whole time little miss was being difficult…they burn all of the images onto a CD for you at the end. We were done, up, and ready to go when the CD finished and *POP* up jumps the last image on the CD onto the TV and screen.

It just so happens that it was the gender shot with the words, clear as day…

"GIRL!!" written across the picture.  

Ultrasound tech: "Oh no!! Don't look!"

Too late.  We walked out of the room, looked at each other… 

"So did you see?"

"Yup, did you?"

"Yup…we're having a girl!!"

(Giving a little thumbs up for being a girl!  Hah!)

Still exciting, just a little different than we had planned. Haha!

We will still be having the gender reveal on Saturday when Megan comes down to visit.  I'd like to take some family pictures, and I think this would be a fun way to do it and announce to others.

Of course it is a little funny to see everyone make their guesses and know who is right and who is wrong ;)  Cruel, but fun. 

Some people really struggle to see this, but I really love it. The white marker on the right touches the point of her nose.  The marker on the left touches the bottom of her chin.  You can see at the nose area one little nostril, and between the two markers those two little lips.  

She's actually also got her hands up by her face.  Her hand is right over her eye-area.  

These are obviously easier for me to see because I watched as they were being taken so I saw all around, before and after this shot, to help fill the picture. 

So here's a little introduction about our baby girl from what I've experienced so far:

I love sweets

With Jimmie, sweets were not too appetizing.  Now it's about all I can eat and all I want.  Jimmie wanted greasy, salty foods like burgers and burritos.  This girl wants ice cream, and milkshakes, and fruit, and yogurt, and cupcakes… you name it.  I want it.  Candy. Lots of candy.

And Otterpops.  For the love… I do not even like otter pops!  But I think it got me through about 3 weeks straight of pregnancy.  

 I'm a prankster

Between hiding and giving us a scare in the beginning and being a stubborn little thing with her legs crossed at the hospital today… I'm convinced this sweet angel is up to no good!! ;)

I love mustard

GROSS. Mustard is just gross.  But for some reason I find myself looking for anything sweet or that I can cover in mustard. 

 Pretzels? Okay, but with some mustard. 

Tater tots? Fine, but just smother them in mustard.

Home-made cheese sauce for pasta?  Yes! But add a bunch of mustard please.

Mustard?  Yes, and I'll have that with a side of mustard, please. 

It's weird. 

I love to move!

I know they say you can sometimes feel the baby earlier with the second. But I swear I was feeling movement as early as 14-15 weeks!  Kicks and flips have obviously become much stronger, noticeable, and frequent now that I'm farther along but there were several times early on when I got a few, very clear, go jabs in the side from her.  One of which was a time when her brother accidentally hit my stomach.  Oops!  She can hold her own..she kicked back.

I love the right side

This was another way I knew this pregnancy was way different than with Jimmie.  Jimmie always hung out on my left side.  This one is always partying it up on my right side.  

I'm sweet

In the weeks leading up to this ultrasound, I was very nervous as I thought about everything that could go wrong and things I was uncertain of.  But this baby was awesome and kept giving me little kicks and nudges when I started to feel the worst…sad, scared, impatient.  Her timing was excellent.  It always made me relax and laugh a bit.  

I'm obviously not posting this until AFTER the reveal, so I'll finish this post a little bit later.

Saturday

We had intended to drive up into the mountains, look at all the beautiful fall leaves, and maybe take some pictures up there.  Unfortunately it's been raining/will continue to be rainy for several days.  We caught a tiny cloud break so ventured down to the park at the end of the road to snap a few photos.  Here are a few that we got :)  Meg came down from Idaho for a day to visit and was kind enough to snap some shots for us.  We got a bunch of cute ones of her too, but I'll let her share those with you :)

Our little (growing) family

Somewhere between 19-21 weeks since we don't really know for sure, haha!

Pink Silly String fight! 

Maybe he's not as thrilled that it's a girl...

Playing at the playground after

He loves his aunt Meg!

Meg & I 

Loving the swings!

And those funny little teeth.

So sweet.