Peek-a-boo and a little "phew"!

Well, yesterday was our big ultrasound followed up by our weekly doctor appointment and both went well.

I was barely on the bed in the ultrasound room when the sonographer quickly reassured me that Baby Z was in fact head-down.
"No doubt about it," she said, pointing to the screen.

Sure enough, I could sort of make out a bit of Baby's profile, with his cute-as-a-button nose.

Because the baby is getting big (no idea on weight right now) and taking up most of the space he has in the belly, we didn't get any great pictures like we had with our previous two ultrasounds. We did, however, see that his spine goes up the left side of my belly, with his little butt up at the top of the belly and his feet dancing away in the top right area.

We saw some fingers and really stared at his face for a few minutes, just grateful he was where he should be. A very, very good sign.

The coolest part of the whole experience was seeing Z's mouth open and close several times in a row. He was either saying "Hi!" to Mom and Dad or he was practicing breathing... how amazing!

At the doctor's appointment, weight was steady, belly measurement was right on track and Mommy's blood pressure was 114/75. Baby's heartbeat was in the lower 130s.

We had a new doctor, Dr. H, who is taking over for the moved-on Dr. C.
Dr. H was quick and to the point, but very informative. Daddy thought she was OK, but Mommy liked her.

Dr. H wanted to do an internal exam (I know, Julie, I was supposed to say no!!!) and it was quick and easy. Results? Something about "barely a fingertip." Dr. H sounded disappointed when she told us that news, but for us that's an improvement, haha!

So, no signs of Baby Z's arrival quite yet, but you never know when he's decided he's had enough of being toted upside-down and all smushed... :-)

Hint: The middle photo is just the little guy's fist up in the air. For the other two, look for the nose and you should be able to make out the rest of the profile.

It's a beautiful, beautiful beautiful boy

The first of many of life's mysteries has been answered. This little tyke crumpled up in my abdomen for the past five months is indeed a beautiful boy.

As amazing as our first ultrasound was, yesterday's appointment was simply breath-taking. Our little guy was not shy by any means and our ultrasound technician was 100 percent certain of his gender.

So now we know that we are having a son... and for everyone else, a grandson, nephew, grand-nephew, and, in the case of Ms. Olivia, a prom date in 16 or so years. :-)

Out on the ocean sailing away,
I can hardly wait,
To see you to come of age,
But I guess we'll both,
Just have to be patient,
Yes it's a long way to go,
But in the meantime,

Before you cross the street,
Take my hand,
Life is just what happens to you,
While your busy making other plans,

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy.


But now, let's get to even more important things.
Our baby looked so good. Everything was measuring at or a week or so ahead of our due date, which is fantastic. He's either going to be a big ole boy or (hopefully) an EARLY boy! :-) (But not too early of course).

We saw both kidneys, his diaphragm, stomach, leg and arm bones, individual fingers, his brain (!), the entire length of his spine and his happily beating heart (and all four individual chambers!).

We are blessed beyond belief that everything looked healthy. That's more important than any gender, for sure. I can't tell you how nervous I get just before our doctor appointments and ultrasounds. There's just no guarantee in this whole experience... but a lot of love, hope and support. And finger crossing.

So now, we're tossing around boy names.
And Scott's making big plans for our retirement plan -- aka his son, the all-star left-handed baseball pitcher.
And I'm just letting the word "he" roll around my tongue a few more times.

Here are some photos of our little man: (please don't mind the first little porno shot!)

Say "cheese!" BabyZ!

Little BabyZ certainly was ready for its close-up today.

Scott and I went to our first ultrasound, an unexpected surprise brought about from the doctor saying I felt like I might be measuring big at our appointment last week.
We happily took the surprise.

I had butterflies in my stomach last night before bed and a huge smile on my face this morning when I woke up.

My full bladder and I laid down on the table in the dark room, with Scott at a chair to my left and a lovely lady and her very important computer screen to my right. The warm (I always thought it was cold!) gooey liquid quickly covered my abdomen area and a wand-like object was pushing hard on said full bladder and poor Baby Z.

Images immediately came up on the screen.
"Just checking your uterus size here..." came a mumble.
"Oh, found the heartbeat..." a moment later.

It was just amazing.
I hadn't expected so many details in the images; so many movements from the baby.
At one minute, the baby's body was all scrunched up, with its legs crossed at the bottom of its body. Then, with some pressure on my stomach, the whole baby bounced upward and in the next image, the legs were straight out and an elbow was bent as if striking a pose or waving hello.

We saw the heart moving with the 150 beats per minute. There are no words.
We saw a big ole brain in the big ole head! (No offense, baby!)
We saw individual bones in the one hand.

Just one tear slipped from my eyes. I had just peeked over at Scott who didn't even look at me; his gaze was glued to that screen and his face looked so peaceful and content. A quick turn to my right to see that bouncing baby in my stomach and that was it. I allowed that tear to trickle down onto the pillow and at that moment it became very, very real.

There is a human being inside me. A child. A bit of love.
A huge, great future.

Next doctor appointment is March 5. The gender ultrasound should be at about that time, too.

Enjoy our photogenic baby!