WEEKS 20-27

I've had one doctor's appointment since my last post at 24 weeks. Everything was fine & I had gained 7 lbs...yikes! I am showing now & you can really tell I'm pregnant. I go to my 28 week appointment next Tuesday when they'll do the glucose test to make sure my sugars are fine which I'm sure they'll be. We had a nice Christmas & Baby Girl Brown got lots of nice gifts from her family. Here is a photo of me in front of the tree with my baby bump.

20 WEEKS - IT'S A ...!

IT'S A GIRL! We had my 20 week appointment today & got great news...we're having a baby girl & she's healthy. We couldn't be happier. The ultrasound was fascinating & we got to see so much of our baby from her arms, legs, profile, nose, mouth, spine, heart & heart chamers, bladder, kidneys & stomach to name a few. The doctor seems to think everything is going well, so that's great. Here are three photos we were given from the ultrasound today.

1) Her profile!


2) The baby's feet.


3) This view is from below the baby looking up. You can see her bottom on the right side of the image & her legs going from the right side to the left side of the image.

16 WEEK UPDATE

My 16 week appointment was last Thursday. My mom was able to join me & we heard the baby's heartbeat which was averaging about 150 beats/minute. I've read on-line that slower heartbeats usually indicate a boy & faster heartbeats a girl. So, anything under 140 is typically a boy & over 140 a girl. I've also taken a Chinese gender prediction test on the web & it predicted a girl. So, I'm kind of thinking the baby might be a girl, but we'll just have to wait & see at our next appoinment on November 6th. I joked with my mom that we'll know the next President of the U.S. & the sex of the baby in the same week. I know I'll be excited about the sex of our baby but I'm not so sure I'll have the same feelings about the President...yikes! One other update from the appoinment is that the screening I had to check for some common birth defects came back negative, so the baby is not at an elevated risk which is great to hear.

12 WEEK DOCTOR'S VISIT

It's been a couple of weeks since my 12 week appointment, but everthing went well. I had to wait a long time to see the doctor but it was worth the wait. He was able to pick up the heartbeat externally right away which was a big relief. My next appointment is October 9th & will basically be the same type of visit. Only about six more weeks until we find out the baby's sex! I'm not showing yet, but my lower abdomen is starting to get a little bigger.

FIRST ULTRASOUND PHOTO

I went to the doctor last Thursday for my 8 week appointment. It was such a relief to see an actual baby on the ultrasound after 4 weeks of waiting. The doctor said that everything is going great. I was able to see an arm & a leg & the heartbeat, too. My next appointment is 3 weeks from today & I even think I managed to talk Eric into coming with me. Hopefully everything will continue to go smoothly!

WE'RE HAVING A BABY!

I can't believe it, but after almost a year of trying, we're going to have a baby. We found out before I went to the beach with my parents for a week. I still wasn't convinced after taking two tests at home, so I took a third when we got to the beach. I got the digital test because I wanted to see words, not lines.