30 weeks and an ultrasound

Tomorrow marks my 30th week of pregnancy. My due date used to be November 27, but at the last ultrasound they told us it was November 25, which means he's officially due on Thanksgiving day (sorry buddy, guess Mommy and Daddy didn't think about that). I'm sure he'll at some point in his life have a birthday on Thanksgiving, which is sort of crappy, but the upside is he'll probably get the day of from school for his birthday!

Last Thursday (at 29 weeks) was my ultrasound to check his weight. Last time they told us he was on the "light side" and that's why we had to come back for this one. By the way, the hospital charges $1400 for a level 2 ultrasound! That's just ridiculous, especially since the residents were basically using it as a teaching tool. Anyway, we aren't responsible for all that, but just glad we have insurance. So last week's ultrasound was at my regular doctor's office with a tech. She said he was doing great. He had all his parts growing well, the heart was strong and kidneys were doing their thing. We got to watch him move around a little which was so fun. He was folded in half with his legs over top of his head, and sucking on his little fingers:

The best part was that we learned he's in the 50th percentile, so he's a normal little baby! It's comforting to know he's growing like he should and doing all the things he needs to be doing.

I'm feeling him move all the time now. The first thing he does is kick me in the belly to wake me up and the last thing he does is kick me to sleep. Kelsey can see him move around from the outside now. The first time he saw it he freaked out a little, because it is sort of an unusual phenomenon. He said it looked like an alien was going to pop out! Well, that's sort of true. Except it wont' pop out THROUGH my stomach.

Yesterday I had my regular check-up and it was more good news. My blood pressure was up at the last couple of appointments, but yesterday it was nice and low. I had only gained one pound since last week. Added to the last appointment, I've only gained 2 pounds in the last month, so I was happy about that. I am not as hungry as I was earlier in my second trimester. I mean it used to be that I couldn't stop eating to save my life, but now I can stop after breakfast and lunch and have a sensible dinner with a few snacks in between. I don't need that late night bowl of cereal anymore to get me through the night either! My doctor gave me a Z-Pack because I've been fighting a cold for over a week, but besides that said everything looked great. I feel very blessed so far to have a healthy pregnancy!

Ultrasound and updates

I'm terrible at updating this blog, so for the people who read it -- sorry! I actually don't' have a whole lot to update regularly so my sister keeps me in line and reminds me that I have this baby blog to tend to!

Friday we had our third ultrasound. This one was a "Level 2" which means it was more details (although it didn't look any more detailed to me). I think the main thing is that a doctor looks at it along with the ultrasound tech. So anyway, our appointment was at 2, so we got there right on time but still had to wait for at least 30 minutes. A resident called us in and she asked if it was OK for her to do the ultrasound and for a tech to come in after. Apparently it was her first ultrasound ever (or at least seemed like it) because she fumbled through the whole thing. The best part is when she kept it on my belly just long enough to watch Luke stretch and kick when I could feel it! It was the first time to see him and feel him at the same time. I started laughing and it made the ultrasound image shake.

An ultrasound tech came in to check on the resident and they saw him shaking his little banana at the camera. Of course they froze on it and took some pictures! Kelsey is so proud of his son's private parts, and I guess that's a guy thing. I've talked to lots of Mom's of boys and their hubbys feel the same way! They said it had been a long time since they saw a baby showing off that much. I hope that doesn't mean he's going to be a show off. :)

We waited about 30 more minutes for the doctor to come in. He brought in a resident who looked no older than our interns at work. The doctor sat down on the table with me and let the resident take the driver's seat. They went over every little part in detail. I felt like I was watching Sesame Street, Medical Edition. The doctor would say, "What's this funny looking thing?" and the resident would say "the stomach sir!" Then they found my extremely full bladder and got a kick out of looking at that.

The doctor gave him good "grades" on his development. He said everything looked great. He had an "impeccable nasal bone" and had just enough fluid to float around in. It was comforting to know that everything is going OK and hear it from a doctor. Not that our regular ultrasound tech doesn't' know her stuff, but the doctor was really thorough. We did find out that he is a little on the light side (doctor's words) but that it wasn't anything to worry about. he said some babies are line backers, some of them are gymnasts (or point guards, as Kelsey said later). I sort of hope he stays tiny so he'll be easier to push out!

So that's all the news with my little one. He is growing daily and likes to kick a lot. He hates when I wear clothes that are close to my belly and will kick at them all the time. I always wonder what he's thinking, if it's getting in his way and he's trying to kick it away from him. I also like to picture him dressed for whatever occasion I'm dressed for: during business meetings, wearing a little necktie; a trip to the beach he'd be wearing swim trunks. Hey, I can't see him, might as well imagine him!

It's a boy!

By now everybody knows that Kelsey and I are having a baby boy!

Before we got pregnant, we both said we wanted little boys. I don't know why, but it just seemed fun. I think for me, I just wanted Kelsey to have somebody to play with. He gets so bored during the summer when he's off work and I could just see him hanging out with his son all summer long!

I've been reading the old wives tales, trying to figure out what's swimming around in my belly, and they all pointed to girl. In fact, the day of my ultrasound I took a quiz and it said girl! I had been eating lots of fruits and sweets, gained weight all over, and had terrible morning sickness. A few of my friends who have or are having boys had none of that.

We told the tech we wanted to know -- no hesitation, in fact. She put the wand on my belly and BOOM, there he was! She said, "There's your little squirt!" It was a beautiful sight. This was my first ultrasound and first glimpse at our little baby. I hope I never forget seeing that little outline for the first time. She did an anatomy scan of his head, pointing out the two sections of his brain, and then she asked us again if we wanted to know the sex. Next thing you know, there's his little boy parts! She typed "It's a boy!!" on the sonogram and took a picture. We were honestly floored. After a couple months of thinking it was a girl, he surprised us!

People at work asked if we cried and neither one of us did. I know from my point of view, I was way too overjoyed to cry. He's such a blessing from God.

Here's my little guy at 18 weeks!

Now comes the fun part -- SHOPPING! We checked out Target Friday night and found a monkey Pack-n-Play on clearance, so we bought that. It was hard to resist some of the precious clothes they have these days. All the boy stuff is "Mommy's All-Star" or "Daddy's Basketball Camp". We saw the most precious little outfit with a pair of fleece pants and a hoodie. The hoodie said "All-Star" and then onesie under it said MVB...MOST VALUABLE BABY. I mean that's just to stinkin' cute.

I'm going back in 3 weeks for a second ultrasound to check his growth. His head was a week or so larger than his body, although he equaled out to be 17.9 weeks, which is right on track. I like to think he just has a really big brain.