18 Weeks - Baby 2

Pregnancy Update January 25, 2014

How far along: 18 Weeks.

Size of baby: 5.6 inches, 6.7oz. A sweet potato! :)

What developed this past week: His bones are starting to harden (from cartilage). One of the first are the inner ear bones, which means he may be hearing more of my heart beating and stomach growling. 

Weight Gain: 8.8 pounds

Maternity clothes: Maternity. Haven't been able to button my pants in 6 weeks now... 

Gender: A sweet boy! :) 

Movement: Baby moves a few times a day. Love knowing he's alive and well in there!

Sleep: No problems. Just weird dreams! 

What I miss: Summer! But that has nothing to do with pregnancy... :)

Cravings: Whatever sounds good at the time.

Best moment this week: Getting to see our baby and find out his gender! Love to know that he is on track developmentally and has all his parts and pieces! 

Caleb and I decided to celebrate the same way we did when we found out we were having a boy the first time - dinner and some baby shopping! My wonderful sister in law and niece, Laurie & Emilie, came over to watch Bryson for an evening while Caleb and I went to Olive Garden for dinner and ran into a few different stores. It was great to be able to focus on baby 2 at dinner - talking names, nursery ideas, etc. 

We ended up at Kohl's and bought these cutie outfits:

Since B2 will be born in the summer, I figure he'll mostly be wearing just onesies a lot of the time at home. So I thought these were a wonderful alternative to the plain white onesie - they have some character and look like a tee shirt with a pocket! So cute!

Of course we had to buy him a few outfits as well:

Love the camo shorts! oh boy stuff... no bows, but they still come up with a few cute ideas! ;)

Caleb picked the next 2 "matching" outfits - one for B2 and the last one for Bryson! Hysterical... LOVE all 3 of my boys!!

IT'S A...

As I said in the Gender & Anatomy Ultrasound post, Caleb and I had our Sonographer write down the baby's gender for us so that we could find out by ourselves if we're having a boy or girl. So we left the doctor's office full of excitement! Caleb couldn't wait to open the note and wanted to do it in their parking lot, while I wanted to go to a more special/private place and put it off just a few more minutes!

We decided to wait until after we stopped at my parents house (which was planned before the appt) so that Caleb could shower (since we didn't want to drive all the way back to our house) before dinner since he had come right from work (he instead helped dad move a desk and didn't need a shower). Before leaving, we showed my dad our sonograms and he lovingly looked at his grandson/granddaughter for at least 5 minutes. He even turned the pictures upside down to better inspect! :)

After 15-20 minutes with my dad, we couldn't wait any longer to know our big news, so we left and went down the road to a parking lot (where Caleb first told me he loved me! :)) to open the note alone in the truck. I told Caleb he had to open it because I couldn't make the decision to actually do it! lol It was such a crazy, life-changing moment, that I couldn't do it! So he asked me if I was ready, and I said, "Yes!.... No, wait!... Yes!... Ok go ahead!" haha I was so nervous to actually KNOW - it's in stone after that moment, ya know!? :) (obviously, it's always been in stone, but now we know the final answer!) It's like getting to the top of a hill on a roller coaster and pausing. Are you ready to fly down it? Yes, but no! :) 
Right before he opened it, we asked eachother what our guesses were... Caleb said girl, and I said boy. Then he opened it....

AND THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!!!

WE'RE HAVING A BABY BOY!!! We couldn't be happier!

I don't think either of us stopped smiling for hours! We were freaking out excited! We couldn't stop saying, "Can you believe we're having a boy?!", "Can you believe we know!?" etc...
Then we went to my favorite steak place, Firebirds, for dinner (had to get a filet mignon for celebration dinner!) where we discussed baby names and all other things baby. While we were eating, I looked at Caleb with a big smile on my face and said, "I am geeking out inside!!!"  Without missing a beat, he answered, "You're geeking out on the outside too!" lol He cracks me up!

We followed up dinner with some baby clothes shopping at Kohls. We both picked out a few things and were watching over our shoulders to make sure we didn't run into anyone we know!  There was one person there we knew so we thought about picking up a few outfits of each gender, but she never came over to the baby section, so our secret was safe!

Here's what we got:
Note: It was hard not to buy MORE! But with 30% off AND $20 in Kohls cash, we didn't look too closely at prices! You only buy your son's first outfits chosen especially for him ONCE! :)

Caleb has talked about (only half-jokingly) buying a backhoe for years, so he thought this was funny. And anything with the word "tough" on a baby boy is adorable!

If you know ANYTHING about my husband, you know he LOVES football...

Close up of one of the onesies! I know we already have the Father's Day gift outfit that says almost the same thing, but these are too cute to pass up for next summer!

A cute cuddly sleeper! Are you seeing a trend? :)

Close up of the sleeper.

I love this cute sweat suit. How cuddly baby boy will be! Even more fitting, the blue onesie has a giraffe mom and baby on it and says, "Mommy loves me". Oh so true! :)

We're still trying to wrap our minds around this news! Everyone is going to FREAK OUT when we tell them!!! There were only 3-4 people that we know that guessed that baby is a girl. EVERYONE else said boy! As much fun as it would have been to have 5 girl cousins within 2.5 years, it will be just as fun to have something different! Now I need to re-learn how to change a boy's diaper!... :)

Gender & Anatomy Ultrasound

Friday, June 22, 2012 was our BIG day! We were so excited and anxious to get to this appointment. During the work day, every time I'd think about it, I'd get butterflies in my stomach! I couldn't believe that in a matter of hours, we'd KNOW the gender of our baby! And know if everything was ok or not with all the baby's parts & pieces!

The appt was at 3:30, so Caleb had to come straight from work (half an hour away where he gets out at 3). I left work at 3 as well to make sure I was there in time to check in, do the urine sample, etc - oh the joys of pregnancy! Nothing is sacred! :)  

They ended up calling me back before Caleb got there, so I was texting him from the bathroom asking where he was and saying I'd take as long as I could, without being weird, to do the urine sample! lol Luckily, he was only a few minutes away by then. So when he arrived, we were just starting the ultrasound.

Laura, the Sonographer, started out by looking at the heart. I was PLEASED AS PUNCH (understatement) to hear her say, "OH! Look at that beautiful heart!" PHEW! In fact, I'm pretty sure I said, "Hallelujah!", when she said all 4 quadrants are there and it is pumping away beautifully! Seriously, hallelujah! :) Heartrate was 166 when I first arrived. By the time Caleb got there (only a few minutes later), it was down to 154. I think mommy's anxiety/excitedness level is in direct correlation to baby's heartrate!


Multiple pictures, but especially showing the 4 quadrant heart! (the black parts in the middle of the white circle)


Laura did a bunch of measurements and notations about the RVOT and LVOT, etc. Then she moved on to the abdomen. She said the bladder and the stomach were full, so that means the baby has learned to swallow and that the digestive tract is working, as are the kidneys (she made sure there are 2 kidneys). She showed us the 3-strand cord that is the umbilical cord, made up of 2 arteries and 1 vein, and the cord insertion point on the baby's belly. She said that is important because it tells us that all the major organs have migrated correctly into the abdomen. 

When Laura looked at the head, there were a few things she checked out - the cerebellum, which she said looks kinda like 2 eyes in the back of the brain - and that looked great. She also looked upwards at the face (like up the baby's nose) to see the upper lip to make sure it isn't cleft. It's not! :) I remember she took some other measurements from one white line to another, but can't remember what it was specifically. I'll say that everything she looked at looked fantastic! Not one thing that concerned her! I'll say it again; Hallelujah! :)

Now that we're in the 2nd trimester, baby doesn't get measured from head to rump anymore, as the baby is getting more cramped in there and is all balled up most of the time. Instead, they take 4 measurements; the head circumference, the head diameter, the abdomen circumference, and the femur length. She did check out the fibula and tibia (our baby had his/her legs crossed, so we could see all 4 calf bones in one clear picture) and the arms and hands, but didn't measure them.

The below image shows that the head circumference was a little small at 17w3d, the 26th percentile (50 being average), while the head diameter was right on track at 17w5d. The abdomen was also pretty close to the right day at 17w6d. The funny part was that the femur length measures in at 18w1d! 61st percentile! Maybe baby will take after Momma and get my height (I'm 5'11)! Altogether, when the 4 measurements were averaged, baby measured in at 17w5d - spot on!  While talking about size, I'd also like to mention that the baby weighed in at 8oz! My Baby Bump App says at 18 weeks (I wasn't quite there yet), baby should be about 6.7oz. I'm hoping the extra weight is in those long leg bones! :)


Baby's measurements at 17w5d

 
Lastly, Laura was going to check out the nether regions anatomy for us! We were so excited, but wanted to find out the gender just the two of us so we could react in whatever manor we wanted (ie shouting, crying tears of joy, etc). When she was ready we looked away while she took a peek. She wrote it down on a piece of paper for us, folded it in half twice AND stapled it and gave it to us to take home. As a sidenote, Laura has let us video every ultrasound we've had, so I was willing to wait to see the gender part on video so that Caleb and I could have our own special moment finding out the gender alone. As soon as we found out, we went back and watched the video to try to see what she was seeing or not seeing!

Beautiful picture of baby's spine and heart and cutie profile!
Any guesses as to who s/he looks more like? A Winn or Farrell?



This picture cracks me up - the legs are as long as the rest of the body put together! No wonder I've been feeling stronger kicks/movements! Doesn't it look like there's a smile on that little face?!? :)

After the ultrasound, I had some blood work taken to check for chromosomal abnormalities and then went to wait for the doctor to see us. First thing she asked when she walked in was whether or not we knew what we are having! We said no, but she knew, so she wanted to make sure she didn't spill the beans.
She said from what she could see on the sonograms, everything with the baby looked GREAT! Yay! Then she answered our few questions -
Safe to bleach teeth and get a spray tan for my sister's wedding? Yes.
I'm having headaches I never had before, but BP was good, so that's normal, right? Yes.
Is there anything else I can do to prevent leg/foot cramps? Increase potassium intake... which I'm already doing.


Before Laura found out the gender, we saw the baby doing this! Laura said it must be a girl - such drama! :)

 All in all, the ultrasound was WONDERFUL! And I have all 25 minutes of it on video! Once we announce the gender, if any family wants to watch any or all of it, I'll send you the YouTube link. Let me know!

18 Weeks

Pregnancy Update June 25, 2012





The fold over flap of my sweat pants was pulled all the way up, so it looks like my belly comes to a point. It doesn't, and as you can see from the other pic, my belly button hasn't popped at all, so it's just an illusion :)



How far along: 18 weeks.

Size of baby: 5.6 inches, 6.7 oz. - a "Sweet Potato" (or a bell pepper)  BUT, let me add that at my sonogram on Friday, 6/22, baby was measuring at 8oz!

What developed this past week: Many of the baby's bones are starting to harden (from cartilage to bone), starting with the inner ear and the extremities. Baby's sense of hearing is developing well, making it possible for baby to hear sounds such as my beating heart and growling tummy.  Very fun to talk and sing to the baby, now that I know s/he can possibly hear me!

Weight Gain: Exactly 8 pounds.

Maternity clothes: Tried on a pair of "normal" pants at the end of this week, for the first time in about a week, and realized that I no longer can button them! It's maternity pants/stretch pants from here on out! I could wear the bella band with my regular pants, but I get a little annoyed with pulling it up all the time. BUT now that I'm pulling up/adjusting full panel maternity pants anyway, it's probably a horse a piece! So we'll see if I go back and forth for a little while longer.

Gender: Caleb and I know!! But we can't say yet... With such a big family, it was hard to coordinate everyone's schedules. So instead of doing a gender reveal party the weekend we found out, we're doing it next weekend. It's kind of fun for just the two of us to know, but it's hard to make sure we don't slip and refer to the baby as him or her! (There will be another post all about the sonogram and our day after we found out, as well as a gender reveal post).

Movement: Kicks and movements are getting stronger and stronger, but still very inconsistent. As for trying to feel it from the outside, I think we're almost there, but it's hard to know. As soon as I put my hand on the outside when I feel one kick, baby stops moving! When I don't put my hand there, sometimes I get a couple kicks in a row, though that's only happened a few times. Caleb has tried to feel for baby a couple times too, but to no avail as of yet. We're hoping soon!

Sleep: Sleeping well. The night before the gender/anatomy ultrasound I slept very well. The night AFTER, I kept having dreams that I accidentally slipped and someone found out the gender before our family. Also when I woke up to use the bathroom, I was awake for a while after because I couldn't stop thinking about how we KNOW the gender, and what we can now plan and do, etc. Luckily it was a Friday night and I could sleep in on Saturday!

What I miss: I miss not feeling the baby move when it's been a while! At first it was kind of bizarre to feel/know that someone else is LIVING in my body! But now I'm addicted to feeling the baby. So awesome! God is good! 

Cravings: Nothing.

Best moment this week: There are multiple this week: 1. Finding out the baby is 100% healthy and growing well! 2. Going shopping with Caleb and picking out gender-specific clothes for Baby Farrell. Note* Caleb has never cared before about picking out a baby outfit for anyone... this time he was finding as many or more outfits than I was! LOVE it! 3. Debating/discussing baby names with Caleb. What a big decision! Wow!

What I am looking forward to: Telling our family and friends the gender and seeing their faces! :)