BIG Update!

It seems to me that writing about the baby naturally tends to fall around my doctor appointments. Yesterday I had a gigantic doctor appointment, well, two appointments really. The first was the 20 week ultrasound. During the 20 week ultrasound, the ultrasound technician takes a really close look at the baby's development. Some of the things that are assessed include:

* the shape and structure of the baby's head; any brain abnormalities can be spotted by this point
* the baby's spine - do all the bones align? Is the spine completely covered by skin
* baby's abdominal wall, to make sure it covers all the internal organs at the front, as well as check the placenta, umbilical cord and the amniotic fluid
* baby's heart: does it have 4 chambers? Are the valves working properly? How is the blood flow, veins, and arteries?
* baby's stomach, kidneys, hands, arms, and feet. By measuring the length of the bones, they can estimate if the baby is growing at the proper rate and estimate how much the baby weighs at this point.
* placenta and cervix - is the placenta in the correct place?
* gender!

We had this appointment first, at 11 o'clock. My second appointment with my actual obstetrician was at 1:00. This gives the radiologist time to look over the baby's scans and report any remarkable findings to my doctor. Needless to say, our second appointment was very short and sweet, and that is because: not a single thing wrong was found during the ultrasound! The baby is developing perfectly and no defects were noticed! Baby is measuring one-week ahead, which is OK because it still matches our due date of September 8th. My OB also told us that the placenta is in the right place. Sometimes the placenta can lie across the cervix, which is really bad because it could cause complications during birth. I was also told that my cervix is "long" (ew...LOL), which is also a really great, normal thing because this means that my chance of pre-term labor is less than 1-2%. Baby is healthy and headed to bake til term!

Here are some pictures from the ultrasound:

Baby's Face, looking rather like a skeleton, but that's A-OK - it's our baby!

Baby's little profile, so sweet

Baby's two little feet

So, what about the news we have all been so anxious to hear? Little girl or little boy?! What did you think? I suppose you can tell by the background, but this little baby is....

There was a lot of suspense, as when it was time to look at the baby's gender, they found that this little BOY had his legs crossed at the ankles, and the umbilical cord ran straight down the middle. However, when they finagled from a different angle, they were able to confidently say that, although not guaranteed, that the little baby looks like it is a BOY.

To be honest, I was a little surprised! I had a few small feelings that it might be a boy, but then again I thought our chances of a girl were higher since we already have two little girls at home. I am beyond excited that Brody will have a little brother. I'm beyond excited that we have been blessed with two beautiful girls and now two beautiful boys. Could it really be any more perfect? Of course, if this little one turns out to be a girl, she will be loved just as well...but a BOY! How surprising and wonderful! I can't wait to go shopping - I want to right now!

A few other things I want to talk about are other milestones that have gone on with this pregnancy. I can most certainly say that the first baby kicks were 100% real baby kicks felt at 17 weeks (April 1st). A mere two weeks later (approx 19 weeks) on April 12th, I could feel faint kicks with my hand lightly resting on my tummy! I think this is a little different than with Brody because I remember going to my 20 week ultrasound and still really unsure of if what I might be feeling were his kicks. I had wondered when I would know for sure. So...is this little guy going to be wiggly and energetic like our Jammerz? Time will tell!

The other thing that I would like to mention are a few fun facts about what our little guy is up to at the moment. At 20 weeks, he looks like this (although illustrated baby looks like a girl) :)

He's pretty much fully developed, just needs to work on growing and gaining weight. The baby's ears are fully developed and is able to hear things from outside the womb, including Mama's voice. If baby could read, I would want him to know that lots of people already love him and we are so excited to welcome him to the family in September!