dec 13 ultrasound pics

here she is in all her glory! in some of them, you can see the profile of her nose, lips and chin. enjoy!

it's a......

well, if you couldn't tell yet by the new page colors, it's a girl! the ultrasound was amazing...our little girl just could not sit still! she must've been excited to be on camera :) she was moving around so much, in fact, that the ultrasound tech had a hard time getting all the measurements she needed for the doctor.

we weren't able to video tape the actual ultrasound, but they put it on a vhs for us. we then watched it on my mom's tv and video'd that. so hopefully, we'll be able to convert it and shrink it and post up some of the more interesting parts :) she likes to kick, that's for sure!

after the ultrasound, we had our doctor's appointment. he said everything looks perfect and gave me a referral for physical therapy to try and help with the sciatica. i was grateful for that.

then we had lunch in the hospital food court and killed a little time calling family before our tour of the birthing center. they only have three rooms there, so it's all very private and intimate. each room has a queen sized bed and a large whirlpool tub. the best part may be that unlike the regular hospital birthing area, they let you eat and drink whatever you want while you labor. i am so excited about that because i can get very unhappy when people won't let me eat or drink when i want to.

so it's great knowing what 'kind' of baby we're having...and we have been set on our girl's name for about a year now. unfortunately, that will remain a secret until she's born! there has to be some element of surprise, right???

we'll be scanning some ultrasound pictures and putting them up probably this weekend. and i still have my belly picture from two weeks ago to post, but there will be a new one saturday, too, so you might get a 2-fer. it's just crazy seeing little feet and toes and kicking and moving around. we think she looks pretty perfect...but again, we are a little biased. :)

movin' and shakin'!

ok, so i've had several instances in the last five weeks or so where i thought MAYBE i felt the baby move. but who am i to know...i don't know from experience, obviously, and the best i can do is approximate what it feels like from the descriptions of friends and family who know. most the time, i think i'm just feeling gas. :)

anyway, last night i know for sure i felt the baby move! several times! it's definitely most pronounced and recognizable when i'm lying on my back...and once i felt it, there was no mistaking. that was our baby. moving!

it's pretty amazing...i woke up this morning around 3.30 and was awake for about an hour...and i just laid on my back, waiting for the next kick or jab...i felt about 5 or 6 of them over about 10 minutes...and i can't remember ever feeling more joyful. it really starts to feel real now...there is a human being growing inside me, and it's now not just my growing belly that tells me that. there is LIFE in there.

i was laying there this morning, thinking about how it always comforted me to think that God knew me, knew everything about me, when i was still in my mother's womb...and now, here i am, the mother...and God knows everything about this little life growing inside me...and i don't even know yet if it's a boy or girl, let alone what color eyes or hair...or if he/she will like sports or art...or what his/her favorite color will be...i have all those things ahead of me, to learn...what a blessing. and what an amazing blessing to know that as little as i know about our child, God knows absolutely everything...and he holds the life of this child in his hands. in this moment, as helpless as i am, being stuck on the outside with no view into the womb and no way to communicate with the baby...it's actually really easy to trust that God is taking care of it all...in fact, i don't recall a time in my life when it has been easier to trust God with anything, let alone something so important. so without even being able to hear my voice or know my scent or look into my eyes, this little baby is teaching me how to trust and love God more. i'd say we have a pretty amazing little baby in there...but maybe i'm just biased.

thanksgiving.

i know it was a couple weeks ago, but i wanted to post a photo of derek and i from turkey day. we had a great time at my mom's this year with more family than we're accustomed to. it was excellent.