Half way there!

Well…we're half way home now! That baby is half-baked. 20 weeks in out of 40. It's crazy to think in just 20 weeks, I'll be wearing a clothes pin on my nose, changing a diaper…probably still gagging the whole time. I must admit, even picking up Rocky's tootsie-roll poop almost makes me hurl. I'm in trouble.

Ally is doing incredibly well (knock on whatever ya got) and isn't really showing like some do at 20 weeks. Check this gal out at just 18 weeks... compared to the picture we took of Ally this morning.

Where the heck is the 'big' bump? She's obviously a little bigger than normal, but "where's the beef?"

The books say that our little one is about the size of a cantaloupe this week. The baby is about 6.5 inches long from head to bottom and weighs in at a hefty 10 1/2 ounces. Baby C is practicing breathing and swallowing on a regular basis. The baby is continuing to grow and fill out, with the head becoming slightly more proportional to the rest of the body.

And for those of you who know my Sis out in St. Louis (Jen), she and her husband Andy just welcomed their daughter, Brooke Nicole to the world Tuesday night. Congrats to the happy family!! Here's a picture of Mom and Baby Brooke...hopefully she won't mind us sharing!

19 weeks

19 weeks...wow! The time is seeming to fly by.

The little munchkin is about the size of a mango now. This is a crucial time for sensory development: The baby's brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that the baby may be able to hear my voice now...hopefully he/she can tune out the off key signing!

The baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches head to bottom. The arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of the body now. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on the skin the to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid. Yum!

I have definitely felt some movement!! Just a few little taps here and there, but very exciting! I can't wait for Scott to be able to feel the little one. I feel like I'm in the "fat" stage...I look like I have gained weight, but I don't look pregnant yet. I guess that time will come...here is a picture in the meantime.

So...we have a stubborn baby!

This morning we had a Level II ultrasound. They check the brain, 4 chambers of the heart, umbilical cord, spine, etc. The little one is now weighing in at a whopping 8 ounces and is measuring about 3 days ahead. They were able to get most of the measurements needed, but the baby was head down and all squished up and wouldn't move. They had me get up and walk around, go to the bathroom, poke my stomach real hard but it was all to no avail. The baby was nice and comfy and couldn't be bothered! Doesn't he/she know that we are just checking on its well being? We have decided that we just have a stubborn baby...hmmm, wonder if he/she gets that from mom or dad!?! Feel free to contemplate that too.

The end result was that the Dr. wants to see us back in 4 weeks so he can get a better look at everything. He also said that obviously the baby will be much bigger and the heart should be easier to see, right now it's only about the size of a dime. I'm not complaining though, we get to see the baby again! We scheduled the next appointment in the afternoon, hoping that maybe the baby would be more active. So on November 13th (my b-day), keep your fingers and toes crossed that our baby isn't so stubborn this time around.

Since the little pumpkin was so curled up, we really didn't get any great pictures. Most of the shots we have are of the back where you can really see the spine and sometimes a leg or an arm.See what I mean about being scrunched up in there? The baby's head is towards the bottom and you can make out the cute little profile, if you look hard enough. See the little nose and lips?

The Dr. thought this pic resembled the statue "The Thinker". You can see the spine, back of the head, arm and it's hand curled up by the side of the face.

See the resemblance? Such a smart little cookie already!

The baby is now about the size of sweet potato and is passing the hours yawning, hiccuping, rolling, kicking, twisting, punching, swallowing and sucking. I *think* I have felt some movement for about the last week, but nothing that makes me believe it's the baby 100%. Hopefully in the next few weeks we will have some good solid kicks that will be undeniably baby.

Rewind to 12 weeks

On September 4th we had our Nuchal Translucency Scan. This is a screening that helps to assess if the baby might have Down Syndrome or other chromosomal abnormalities and must be done between 11-14 weeks. The test includes an ultrasound as well as some blood taken from me. During the ultrasound the Dr. measures the clear/translucent space in the tissue behind the baby's neck. They like to see that measurement below 2.5 and our measurement was 1.48! So everything looks good on that front. Of course no test is 100%, but it shows that our odds are greatly reduced.

We got to see the baby on a big TV screen for a good 45 minutes. It was amazing to see how much the baby had grown from our last ultrasound. The baby actually looked like...well a baby. The little pumpkin must have been somewhat sleepy because the Dr. kept having me cough and was poking my stomach to try and get the baby to move around a bit more. In the end they got the measurements needed and some great pictures.

The picture above is from the NT scan. And by the way, that is the baby's hand by its face, not a big nose. Then the Dr. switched over to 3D for awhile. That was very neat to see but the baby was a little more alien looking.

We love this little baby no matter what it may look like on an ultrasound...alien or not. The baby at this point was about the size of a plum and almost all of the baby's little systems are fully formed.

This was also an exciting day because we started to tell people about the pregnancy. I mean we wanted to shout this secret from the rooftops, a big secret that we had been keeping for almost 2 months! Sorry to have kept it from you all for so long, but it was so great to finally feel confident enough to tell everyone.

Tomorrow we have our BIG 18 week ultrasound, so check back tomorrow evening!

Baby's first pictures

So...because we started this blog a little later than expected we want to jump back to show the baby's first snapshots.

The picture above is from 6 weeks 1 day. The little sweet pea is tiny, but it's there. It was the first time we got to see the heartbeat and we were both so awestruck. It is so amazing to see a baby the size of a grain of rice with a little heartbeat flickering away. At this point the baby was about the size of a sweet pea.

The next picture is from 9 weeks 1 day. The baby had grown tons and now looked like a little gummy bear. The arm and leg buds were starting to grow and can be seen. Right behind the baby's head is the yolk sac which provides the nutrients until the placenta starts to take over at about 12 weeks. At this point the baby was about the size of a green olive.

Those are the first two pictures of baby Crayon...more to come soon, so stay tuned.

Crib Shopping on a Fall Sunday

Although we still have several months until #1 arrives, we found ourselves shopping for baby furniture this weekend. And can you believe I did this while NFL football was going on?? To be honest, I needed to get away after LSU's nasty little loss on Saturday to the Gators. That will not be a bedtime story for the little one.

But at least I know where the bedtime stories will take place now. We bought a crib, dresser and hutch yesterday! As most of them do now, the crib transforms into a toddler bed, then a daybed and eventually a full size as well. So we're set through the teen years. And then we'll PUNT the child off to college. That's the plan at least. So without further ado here is the set we purchased:

First Post!

We were going to start this blog/journal awhile ago, but have become slackers. So our first post comes at you being 17 weeks and 3 days along. I have been very lucky...I didn't get sick at all (knock on wood) and have been having an easy go of it so far.

We had a Dr.'s appointment on Wednesday and everything is trucking along. These appointments aren't terribly exciting. They basically consist of peeing in a cup, getting weighed, talking with the Dr. for a bit and then my favorite part, hearing the heartbeat. It still get us every time! It is such an amazing/awesome/exciting sound to hear.

Anyways, we thought this would be a good way to keep everyone up to date on what is happening. Please check back for new posts.

Love you all,
Ally and Scott