And The Baby Is.....

..... A GIRL!!!!!!! It's a girl!!!!!!!

So, we actually waited until this morning at 8:00AM to open the card. That's some serious will-power if you know me! Actually, I had Nelson take it to work with him so that I wouldn't be tempted to open it (in reality, Nelson hid it here at the house -- it's been here all week and I had no idea)! It was well worth the wait and we thoroughly enjoyed opening it here instead of finding out at the doctor's office.

As you know, we are not divulging the name until the baby is born -- sorry, you do have to wait for that! There has to be a surprise sometime, right?! :) Rest assured, we have chosen a classic name that is not bizzare or clash with our family. I will give you a clue though -- it's not Shaniqua. (Sorry Christie!) ;)

We love you all and hope that you are having a Merry, Merry Christmas! We're heading out to Oregon this afternoon and are looking forward to seeing Nelson's family.

Our next appointment is the last week of January so, until then... Have a Happy New Year! :)

Fourth Prenatal Visit - Ultrasound

Today was the much anticipated fourth prenatal visit. They did the usual urine test and weight check (speaking of, I'm starting to catch up to where I'm supposed to be and Judy is very pleased that I have gained some more weight instead of losing some -- at least someone is pleased!). But most importantly, they did the ultrasound.

Amazing. That's all I can say. What an amazing thing this whole pregnancy is! It's amazing how God planned for all this to happen and how little the baby is (about 10 ounces) but how clearly we could see her or him. We got to see the baby open it's mouth and clench it's fist. We even got to see her/him move around to where the leg was up and over it's head and then a minute later it was stretched out straight. Judy said everything looks to be in order and we got to see the kidneys, stomach, spinal cord and the heart's four chambers. The little fingers and toes were just amazing. That's all I can say!

Hope you enjoy the pictures we've included.
We were strong and did not find out what the sex is. We did, however, have Judy write it down in a Christmas card to be opened on Christmas Day. So, stay posted until this upcoming weekend and we'll let you know what we're having.

Until next time...

Progress

Just thought I'd let you all know that I started feeling the baby kick this weekend. I woke up yesterday morning (Saturday, December 17) at a little before 3AM to of course -- use the bathroom (this has gotten to be a regular activity at night now -- about every two hours in fact!). When I came back to bed, I was lying there and suddenly felt something like a thump on the right side of my belly. I've been waiting to feel the baby for weeks so I waited to see if I would feel anything else -- and I did! The baby kept kicking for about 10 minutes. I was so excited that I had to wake up Nelson to tell him. He was ecstatic as you can imagine -- being woken up at 3:05 by your lunatic wife saying that she can feel the baby -- he was asleep again about 15 seconds later. I, of course, was awake for the rest of the day! The baby kept moving all day and it was amazing to feel her kick (or "thump" more like it). Just thought you'd all like to know.

Also, here's an updated picture of me. Thought you would like to see how the baby is growing -- and me too! ;)

Until tomorrow's ultrasound...