My Sister

My sister's IUI (artificial insemination) didn't work this month. :( Continue to pray for her and that God will give her peace and hopefully a child very soon! I know that God can work miracles and bless her with a child - so my prayers continue to be for that blessing from God for her and Chris.

Movement and Sleeping

Our little girl is being quite the active one now! She is definitely getting stronger. Thursday evening she was kicking pretty hard and was the first time I could see her kicking by just looking at my belly. That was crazy - seeing my belly raise up in different places! It was really exciting though.

And on another note... trouble sleeping and achiness has come into my pregnancy vocabulary this week. The past few nights I have been so sore on my right side when I wake up in the morning and just achy. I tried last night sleeping strictly on my left side and that did help although my shoulder got sore from being on that side all night.

We've been working again on looking at names. What a difficult decision that is! I told Matt he might have to choose. There is one name I think I like but I'm not quite sold on it yet. We are keeping the name as a surprise until the baby is born. Plus I want to be able to change my mind and not hear any "comments" from other people about our name selection.

It's a GIRL!

Today we went for the halfway point ultrasound. What an exciting day!!! Matt of course was able to be there as well. When she first put the probe on my belly and I saw our little baby girl it was SO amazing to see this formed kicking baby in there! Yes - we are having a girl! At first she was all curled up but then she got moving around and stretching out. The first half of the ultrasound was checking different parts/sizes (brain, spine, legs, arms, etc.). Then finally she got in to a position where we could see whether she was a boy or girl. The ultrasound tech said "see those 3 white lines? That's her labia." And I said "that means it's a girl right?" Haha, silly me. I teared up some and just looked at Matt cause we were in such shock we finally knew what we were having and that this little baby moving around was ours! Matt's going to be such a great dad and I told him she will be daddy's little girl. She weighs 10 ounces and has a good heartrate (142) as well.

Then the tech said that since they just got the equipment for 3D ultrasounds and they were just trained, she was going to do that with me for FREE because I was a good candidate (smaller build). So we got lucky today!! The 3D stuff was amazing - just seeing her little face even though it's still so small was incredible. Matt's mom thinks she's got Matt's nose and I think her lips look like Matt's too. She kept putting her arms over her face though making it difficult to get a good shot. One time she even put her little hands up over face like she was saying "I've had enough picture taking now." :)

So far I have gained 4 pounds - and all of that really within the past few weeks. I have really grown a lot this week. Then we saw the doctor and he looked at all the ultrasound pics and said everything was fantastic and I was doing great. He said I was the model picture of a good healthy pregnancy!

Another plus: Our insurance only covers the one ultrasound which we had today unless there is a medical need for another one. Well, because of the baby's positioning, the tech couldn't get good shots of her heart which is imporant. So when I go again the end of July I will get to have another ultrasound!

Matt and I are both SO excited about our little girl! We went out looking at clothes tonight and had a celebratory dinner. Matt got her a little onesie that says "apple of daddy's eye." Now we just have to work on picking a name!

The baby's moving!

Some exciting news for the week... I clearly felt the baby moving/kicking on Sunday. It's like all of a sudden I can feel it a lot. The movements are even strong enough sometimes that you can feel it from the outside. Matt got to feel it and he was SO excited! What an INCREDIBLE feeling to have a baby moving around inside you! It was huge for me as you can tell. It's active in the evening hours especially after I eat and am laying down. Only one more week until we *hopefully* find out whether we are having a boy or girl. I can't wait! So hopefully the next post you see will have that news and the ultrasound pictures.

17 Weeks

As of yesterday I am now 17 weeks! Just an update on how everything is going. I was sick this week with a virus or something. I am still working on getting over that but feel much better than I did. This week I have been able to really feel the top of my uterus in the morning. It's just under my belly button now. When I wake up in the morning and lay flat on my back is when I really feel it. It's so crazy and feels so firm and hard. I can still hardly believe that we have a miracle of a baby living and growing inside of me! Once or twice this week I have felt a different feeling in my belly - not sure quite yet if it's the baby or not. They say that most people start feeling movement between 18-22 weeks according to the book. Matt can't wait to be able to feel him/her too! Only about 2 more weeks now until we go for our next appointment and ultrasound. I am so excited about finding out whether it is a boy or girl. Then more fun can start occuring - shopping, registry, decorating nursery, etc. We're planning on registering in July when we go to see our families in VA Beach since we don't have a Babies R Us here. Well, that's all the big news for the week! Here is a picture of Amanda at 16 weeks pregnant: