Ultrasound - 24 Weeks!

Here are the pics from our latest ultrasound!

I don't think he liked having his picture taken very much!

Thumb Sucker!

Profile Shot

Another one... this time you can see his little hand coming up to his mouth.

It's a BOY!

That's no umbilical cord!

Better Late than Never!

... As promised, an update of our 20 week appointment and the most recent ultrasound pics! I'll keep this short and sweet. Sean finally got to meet our doctor, we took a half day off work so we could both attend the ultrasound and doctors appointment together. The ultrasound went well, and if you read my previous post they are still saying BOY, but also still not completely sure. They didn't find any obvious defects or anything they were concerned about so that was good news, that at this point we are expecting a healthy little one! Either way we don't believe in terminating the pregnancy regardless of what was or was not shown, and we are extremely happy to be parents of this child even if it turns out that he is not perfect in the eyes of the world. I got some really bad news at the doctor's office- I gained my first pregnancy pound! ... just one. I was excited to have made it through the first 20 weeks without gaining weight, and the doctor is happy with what I've been able to lose. If I'm successful with only putting on 15 lbs from here on out I will give birth at my pre-pregnancy weight! Other than that everything is going great still.. they are watching my blood pressure and blood sugar closely and everything is right on track where I am suppose to be. It's nice to see my doctor so pleased with my progress. Please be praying that I continue to have a healthy pregnancy! We have a lot going on right now, more of which I can explain after the next appointment and I'm hoping the stress of it all doesn't adversely effect the Baby.

Where's the Baby?

I thought this was too adorable not to post! This was shot last weekend while we were visting Sean's family. The little girl is our 16 month old niece, Eliann!

It's STILL a BOY!

Well.. its still not 100% official, but the results of our 20 week ultrasound confirmed the result of our scan at 16 weeks. They said "don't paint the room blue just yet". But they are pretty sure. We had this one done at the doctors office as opposed to last time at a studio. We didn't tell them what the people at the studio thought, because we wanted an unbiased opinion. We'll have another scan at 24 weeks to try one more time. I was measuring a little small, they said I could possibly be a week behind. But the doctor said there is also a ten day margin of error in the size so for now he is going from the date of my LMP, and the due date is staying the same- July 19th. We did get some better ultrasound pics, but I have to get down to Kinko's to get them scanned and uploaded so I can post them. I will post a more updated blog soon with details from the doctors appointment!

So far we have narrowed down our favorite BOY names to the top seven! We are still having a really hard time deciding on one. Thankfully we do have some time, but for now we'd love your help. There is a poll here to the left with our faves- please vote!!! I didn't include middle names, because we aren't sure on those yet either. We want that to be something meaningful and right now our first choice is Lawrence (after my Dad), we have a back-up of Ames picked out (after my sister) in case the first name we choose doesn't sound good with Lawrence. We have a few others but for now thats what we're going with.

After you vote, leave us a comment with what middle name sounds best with the names you choose! Thanks... :)

It's a Boy!

UNOFFICALLY, "It's a Boy!" Today we went for our first ultrasound. This was not done at my doctors office, rather a retail ultrasound studio that lets you take a peek at your bundle of joy. The goal was a gender reading, but because the baby is still so small it was hard for them to get a clear image of with the 3D/4D. We ended up being able to see so much more with the 2D. It was the most amazing experience! Especially when we got to see the profile shots and a clear view of the head, and body... I even saw a little hand waving at us at one point. I am disappointed that we didn't get any snapshots of the profile, because it was really neat. We just ended up with the two you see above. The baby was very active, which also made it difficult for her to get a good shot of the goods- because everytime she thought she had one "he" would move. We are not completly conviced that it's a boy yet, for anyone who knows about our neice- we have good reason to doubt the results. My sister and my aunt were present for the scan, and they were both pretty convinced and sure that they "saw something"... it's just hard to say if that "something" was the goods or an umbilical cord. The ultrasound technician seemed to be "pretty sure" and it was her best educated guess. Either way we are excited we are just disappointed that its not more clear. We have another ultrasound scheduled for February 29th for my appointment at 20 weeks. The baby will double in size by that time so it should be easier for them to get a better reading. So for now, It's a Boy... but who knows? That could change- and hopefully we'll know for sure real soon!

As far as my appointment at 16 weeks- it went great! The doctor was extremely happy with my progress, and said that I was doing great. I've lost about a total of 15lbs since learning of the pregnancy, and they are very happy with that as long as I continue to lose in a way that is healthy. The goal is that through the 2nd & 3rd trimester I can keep the weight gain to a maximum of 15lbs which would mean getting through the pregnancy without actually gaining any weight from where I started. The most exciting moment at my doctors appointment was that for the very first time I got to hear the baby's little heartbeat. It made me cry... happy tears of course. It just made everything very real!

Test Results!

So I finally got a call from the Dr's office today, and we got the good news. Sean is NOT a carrier of the cystic fibrosis gene! This means that there is no risk the baby- as far as cystic fibrosis goes. It's a big relief- so thank you all for your prayers. Unless something comes up between now and then, my next appointment is not until February 5th- so it will probably be a few weeks before you hear from us again!

Thirteen Weeks

Today we hit the thirteen week milestone. This is the last week of the first trimester, and according to the doctor I may be getting some of my energy back soon! This post brings both good news and some could be bad news. The good news is that I had my doctor's appointment on Monday. The doctor was extremely happy with all the results of my blood work (with the exception of one test which I will mention later). He said everything that should be positive, was positive. And everything that should have been negative, was negative. And all my counts, and levels were great! In addition to that he was happy that I was able to lose ten pounds over the previous four weeks. He has given me the go ahead to try and lose weight through my pregnancy as long as I do it by eating right and exercise (no sketchy fad diets, anorexia, bulimia, or diet pills). I've had a really hard time getting enough protein, because I seem to have a slight aversion to meat. There are times when I am able to tolerate it, so I try as much as I can to get what I need (and what the baby needs). But mostly I have been craving fruits & veggies... so it's pretty been my Subway "Veggie Delite" sandwich, yogurt, and fruit smoothies. I find myself getting full very quickly, which is kind of nice except that I become hungry more often. I feel like this pregnancy is training my body to eat smaller, healthier more frequent meals. I know that kinds of eating schedule will be good for a long term weight loss attempt after delivery.

The news that could potentially be bad is that the one thing that came back on my blood work is that I am whats called a "symptomless carrier" of the cystic fibrosis gene. For caucasians, one in twenty-nine carry this gene. In order for there to be any danger to the baby, both parents have to be a carrier of the gene. The odds of Sean having that gene is only about three percent, but it still is something that worries me. Sean had his blood drawn last week, and we should have his results back on Monday- so please pray that it comes back okay. If he does have the gene, there would be a twenty-five percent chance that the baby could have the actual disease. There is no known cure for cystic fibrosis. The average life span of someone with cystic fibrosis is only thirty-one years! Not to mention that those thirty-one years can be filled with a lot of pain and suffering for the child and many expensive medical bills for the parents. They usually recommend amniocentesis in cases where both patients have tested positive as a carrier of the gene, because they can determine if the child will have cystic fibrosis and then the parents can either prepare themselves or choose to terminate the pregnancy. Sean and I have decided against amniocentesis, because it increases the risk of a miscarriage- and we do not believe in terminating the pregnancy regardless of any problems with the baby. We are hoping and praying that his test will come back negative and that we have nothing to worry about, but it can be scary to think about.

We are told we should be able to hear the heartbeat at the next doctors appointment, when I am at sixteen weeks. And one week after that, we have an appointment scheduled at a 3D ultrasound studio to determine the gender of our baby! Using that type of ultrasound, they can usually tell at sixteen weeks so we should be able to find out! I will keep you all posted...