Additional Fetal Name Conditions

Having discussed this a bit amongst ourselves, we feel the name should be something pretty bizarre. Otherwise, we're worried it will stick and we won't be able to change it when she's born.

Fetal Name - Now accepting entries - NOT THE REAL NAME

Now that we know that we're having a girl, and that she has toes and arms and brain hemispheres, I feel kind of bad refering to her as "it" or "baby". While we choose her real name, we need something to call her. For example, Lex was Zig and Jeff's sister refers to their baby as Limo (originally Lima, due to the bean like shape, then changed to Limo when they found out it was a boy).

So, using the comments field, get your entries in now for what we should refer to her as. We'll pick something (or make something up) sometime next week.

19 weeks

Our weekly check of the fruit bowl finds that the baby is about the size of "the length of a slice of watermelon."

What?!? What kind of measurement is that?

Babycenter.com says she's about the size of a small zucchini -- very appropriate, considering the mountains of zucchini that are coming out of our garden, but hard to visualize because none of ours are small. The big ones are the length of my forearm.

All of this is supposed to help us visualize 6 inches, which is how long the baby is now.

Why does it always have to be fruit and vegetables? Why not something a little more cuddly, like baby animals.

At 6 inches, our baby is now about the size of a baby bunny. It's bigger than a hamster and smaller than a guinea pig. Isn't that much more clear?

Oh, man

I was just reviewing the comments etc, when I looked up and noticed that stork moving along the time line at the top. It stopped my in my tracks. He's covering that distance pretty quick. Almost half way there (gulp).

Ultrasound photos

That's her head in the center toward the bottom. She's facing up, and you can kind of make out her forehead and nose and eyes and mouth and cheeks. I think she looks a little bit like my brother.

Here's a closer view:

It's a girl!!

The ultrasound this afternoon went great. The baby looks perfectly healthy and she's a little girl!!!

We have blurry photos to post as soon as we can figure out a way to make them digital.

Yay for a healthy baby!!

Secret's out!

I broke the news at work today. The response made me very happy. There was a lot of shrieking and grinning and hugging, which I somehow didn't expect. Everybody wanted to tell stories and share advice and talk about baby names. It was a crazy day.

Jim told his friends at work Friday, so that's it. No more secrets. Everybody can go ahead and tell everybody, and I don't have to remember not to tell certain stories in certain places. Phew!

Also, I don't have to hide my little belly anymore -- which fortunately nobody at work noticed.

I was feeling really pregnant last week so I dug out all the maternity clothes Anna is letting me borrow -- there's so much stuff!! Anna, thank you!!! Whatever I buy extra will go right in the bin and back to you, or whoever needs belly clothes next.

Jim was at karate Friday night, so I decided to take the baby and do pregnancy-related things, primarily browsing maternity stores at the mall. It made me realize how far I have to go until I actually look pregnant. Everyone in there had big bellies and all the clothes look like they're made for month 9. I felt like the clerks were looking at me with suspicion.

I made a great purchase, though. I got a Bella Band. It's a stretchy spandex loop that goes around your waist and lets you wear your regular pants unzipped without them falling down. I tried it on with my regular khakis, which still fit but so tight the buttons dig into my skin. The relief was kind of like undoing your pants after a big Thanksgiving meal, and then being able to walk around like that without anybody knowing. It was fantastic. If I think of it when Jim's around, I'll get a picture to post. It's about time for the first belly shot anyway.

Good test results

We just found out this afternoon that the quadruple test -- a blood test that screens for Down syndrome, spina bifida and a couple of other bad things -- came back "fine." Yay! That means no need for amniocentesis or any of that other unpleasant stuff. Just a healthy baby.

The next big milestones will be telling my boss (probably this week), the ultrasound (two weeks) and feeling the baby move (hopefully sooner rather than later!)

Every little step of the way I feel a little bit more relaxed and it becomes a little bit more real that this little person is coming to live with us in a few months.

I had a weird dream the other night that Jim figured out a way to take the baby out of my belly just to play with it, just for a little while, then he could put it back so it could finish growing. We had so much fun holding the baby, then I thought to myself this would be a good time to check to see if it's a boy or a girl. In the dream it was a girl.

I guess there's a 50-50 chance that the dream was accurate. In my waking moments, I still tend to think of it as a boy.

16 weeks

The baby's at 16 weeks now, which is the size of an avocado -- a vivid image because I just held an avocado in my hand this past weekend for making guacamole. Mmmm, yummy baby.
The baby has started growing toenails and is generally looking more like a baby -- at least in the drawings -- and less like a seahorse. So cute!

Meanwhile, I've noticed the hormones haven't slowed down since I entered my second trimester. I was in a rare, confrontational mood at work today. I'm going to have to tell my co-workers about the baby soon before they do an intervention. I'm putting on weight, wearing frumpy clothes (even more so than usual) and hissing nasty comments behind people's backs. I'm not sure what they think.

I like my hormone-induced anger, though. Once in a while it's good to go totally insane. (Booah-ha-ha-ha!!!)

First knit gift

This is baby's first hand-knit gift. Jim's Grandma B. made this on a road trip to visit us a while back, and happened to have it waiting for us when we told her the great news ... that she's going to have another great grandchild.
It's such a cute outfit. I can't wait to put a little baby inside it.