Well...Surprise!

 You're a GIRL!! I cannot tell you how surprised I was (happily surprised). I think I must have really wanted a girl, because after the shock wore off, I could not contain my excitement and started calling everyone :) 

 Uncle JAT just knew you were a boy...he was very surprised. We celebrated you with a super yummy dinner at Pan E Vino down the street and some pink cupcakes!

 

And then I bought you some things. Whoops.

seriously though...these were to die for

And here you are! It's amazing how clear sonogram pictures are today. I feel like we got a little glimpse of who you are. You had your left hand in front of your face almost the entire time, which is really sweet in some of the pictures. And, just like during your first ultrasound, you were bouncing all over the place. You're probably going to be a wild woman!

 hmm...maybe you're covering your mouth because you're yawning? so polite!

 

Look at your little side profile! So sweet. And you're very healthy - all organs checked out, and you weigh about 10 oz.

Three Day Countdown Begins!

Hello Baby! This will be the last time I'll write to you without a name. I don't know how your dad and I have made it through this week. We are so excited to learn more about you and put a name with a face. Good thing your appointment is scheduled for early Monday morning, because I don't think I could last another day! So.Excited :) I am still convinced you are a boy, but you've been giving me mixed signals over the past few days! They say girls make your face break out (check!) and you want sweets all the time (check, check!). I pretty much never turned down a sweet before I was pregnant, so that may not be anything new, ha.

18 Weeks!

Happy 18 Weeks Baby Bouge! We get to find out if you're a boy or girl in just five days (eeek!). Then we can start calling you by your name :) According to my neat preggo app, you are about the size of a bell pepper...guess we will see for sure next Monday! And here's what I look like these days:

I finally started looking around for strollers, baby carriers and other necessary items to tote you around town. That is quite overwhelming. So instead I opted for putting that off until your dad could be there (he decided to throw out his back this weekend; no big deal), and I started focusing more on toys and books and cute things for your nursery :)

A store on Fillmore (MudPie) had the cutest vintage section!

 I had something like this when I was a kid. No idea who gave it to me, but I definitely remember it. So cute and I will be going back to purchase.

And these little blocks and stuffed animals are so sweet! I don't know that I want anything like this in the nursery, but I thought they were really fun. Clearly I'm shopping in the boy section! We need Monday's appointment to get here ASAP.

Our Anniversary

This is our anniversary week! We have a lot to be thankful for this anniversary (first one celebrating a baby - duh). I wanted to post a few pictures from our wedding so you can see how cute and fun your parents were back in the day :)

Doesn't your dad look so happy here???

 

Week 17...the BIG Ultrasound

I found the GREATEST blog to follow during this pregnancy. It's written by a women with (recently) two girls, and her writing style is very humorous and easy to read. She also puts everything in to plain wording for people like me who really know nothing about any of thi business. Apparently she didn't either her first time around, and so she made it her mission to start a blog for all others like us who would appreciate understanding some of this confusing stuff! She is super organized (shocking that I love that, right?), and even has a registry cheat sheet that I copied 100%. Yep, high school algebra cheating style. SO thannkful I found this blog! There are posts every week about different things, and I thought this week's post was particularly helpful and exciting! A few people (i.e. my parents who had children before all of this modern technology) have asked what all the doctors look for during the "big" ultrasound. Nope, it's not just finding out the sex of the baby, even though that's the exciting part! Here's what Lucie's List had to say:

What are they looking for?

Well, a LOT. Here is a short list:

-- measurements of the head, length, and long bones to ensure that baby is growing appropriately
-- a survey of all major organs: the four chambers of the heart, both kidneys, the bladder, brain, stomach, spine, and most importantly, the you-know-what! (or NOT). Be sure to tell your sonographer up front if you don't want to know the sex!! (and be advised that EVERYTHING looks like a penis, so don't jump to conclusions)
-- the umbilical cord (you should have a three vessel cord: two arteries and a vein)
-- the location of the placenta
-- the fetal heart rate
-- amniotic fluid levels

The sonographer will also take freeze frames of each of the relevant shots to keep in your baby's file for future reference. They may also give you a CD of the pictures so you can post ultra scary looking 3-D ultrasound pics to Facebook and really creep out all your non-baby friends. MU-hu-hahahaha.

The most common abnormal finding is the location of the placenta. If the embryo implants low in the uterus, the placenta may fully or partially cover the opening of the cervix. This is called placenta previa and occurs in 1-3% of pregnancies. A partial previa will usually resolve on its own by 28 weeks while a complete previa will require a C-section around 36 weeks (yay modern medicine -- if this were 200 years ago, you would probably croak).

How helpful is all of that? I'm pretty sure my doctor told me all of this just four days ago in her office, but if you'd asked me what she said, I couldn't repeat any of this if you paid me. I'm really thankful for this little blog! Unfortunately, our "big" ultrasound isn't scheduled for another two weeks. It will be here soon though!

16 Weeks!

You had quite an eventful "week 15"! You celebrated New Year's (let's hope you had a bigger party than your parents since we were in bed way before the ball dropped!). This pregnancy has really affected bedtime (and when I say affected, I'm referring to your father, who officially fell asleep before me every night between Christmas and New Year's.). I'm just waiting for him to start experiencing my other pregnancy symptoms :)

So New Year's was uneventful, but then you went to Mexico! We celebrated our third wedding anniversary in Cabo, and it could not have been more relaxing. I stayed under an umbrella sipping on virgin pina coladas most of the time while your dad soaked up all of the sun he loves so much. Let's hope you inherit his wonderfully bronzed skin. He just looks at the sun and gets a tan! It's very frustrating for someone who requires consistent sun to keep any kind of color.

Now you're 16 weeks. We got to hear your little heart beat this week, and according to the doctor, it was "a perfect heart beat". I thought it sounded fast, but I forgot to ask what the exact  rep was - faster heart beats can help determine if you're a boy or a girl, so that's why I was curious. But we find out regardless in just a few weeks!

Here you are hanging out on the beach.

And look at your proud papa reading his first pregnancy book. Not sure if this was a good or bad thing since he now is keeping tabs on everything I do.