3-D Ultrasound

So, the ultrasound was yesterday. We did NOT find out whether it's a boy or girl!

Joel and I discussed at great length the fact that I did not want to find out and I did not want him to find out....I was worried that if he found out, he would accidentally slip and I would find out before the baby was born. I gave up on that and figured if I found out, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. Well, then we got hit w/ another curve ball.

When we went in for the ultrasound, the tech asked us if we wanted to know. Joel explained our conflict and she said, "well, Mom rules, if she doesn't want to know then nobody knows". Obviously, Joel was a little unsettled by her brusqueness and then I felt bad and figured well we can just find out because I knew that he really wanted to know what it was. He said that he felt that he would be able to connect better w/ the baby knowing whether it was Benjamin or Madelyn on the way and I could appreciate that.

The tech initially did a 2-D ultrasound and measured the baby's femur and head and a whole bunch of other stuff - our dr's machine is fairly new, so the clarity was great - we could even see the lens of the eye in the eye socket! Wow! Baby has a nice round head and nice spine and legs and we looked at the blood flow through the umblicial cord and even saw baby's bladder - it was pretty amazing, but then she said that she was going to try and switch over to the 3-D imaging. I knew about this technology, but had no idea that we were going to get to see 3-D pictures!!

It was really cool - some of the imaging isn't perfect, but it's still a lot better than the 2-D pictures. There were a couple of things that she needed to check for and baby got a clean bill of health - then she just got a bunch of pictures of the baby for us to take home. At that point, she said that we could have 3 minutes to decide whether we wanted to know if it was a boy or girl. Joel spoke before I had a chance and said that he knew I didn't want to know and so he could wait....awwww! :-) It was very sweet and very mature of him (or as he puts it - magnaminous LOL). Anyway, at that point I kinda wanted to know but I'm glad I didn't find out - I think it's more fun not knowing (how else can you have a pregnancy pool?).

I don't have any internal hunches at the moment but from the pictures, I think the baby looks a lot like Joel's newborn pictures (check out the post "Us as Babies")....so maybe it's a little Benjamin. I wouldn't exactly call the pictures cute (they kind of look like something out of Tales From the Crypt) but I do think seeing the little pointer finger and the big stretch is kind of cute (at least to a mommy and daddy-to-be). So, I was happy w/ the outcome of the ultrasound because baby is healthy and moving and I got what I wanted re: knowing the sex, but Joel on the other hand, well, he thinks "we had the ultrasound tech from hell" - enough said (though he was happy to see the pictures and know the baby was doing ok) :-)

There's always the 3rd trimester ultrasound, but the kicker was that before we left, she said that she knew what it was......I wonder if that information is in my chart.....hmmmmm ;-)

5 yr Anniversary - 18 wks Pregnant

I am now 18 weeks pregnant....almost 5 months. Every week I'm showing a little more.....how much depends on what I'm wearing. I returned some of the Old Navy clothes, so I hope to make a stop at the Gap or Babies R Us to see if I can pick up a few more staples. This past weekend, we went up to Williamsburg - it has become our yearly pilgrammage (3rd year in a row!) Chrissy and Kevin and the kids were supposed to come with us, but they had to cancel...we decided we still wanted to get out of Charlotte and away from home since Sat (8/23) was our 5-year anniversary. We visited William & Mary Law School and walked around Williamsburg village and then had a great dinner at this HUGE seafood buffet. They had a ton of food and the "cruise-like" atmosphere made it a lot of fun. We were going to go to a movie after dinner but there was absolutely NOTHING out that we were interested in seeing.....we wound up hanging out at the bookstore for a while and then watching a few more episodes of The Office (Season 2) - which we bought in Williamsburg.....we took the picture ourselves at the James River (I took off my sneakers and put my feet in the water - it was wonderful!). Sorry it's not a belly picture - we'll get some of those up soon! :-)

In baby news....according to Baby Center: Head to rump, your baby is approximately 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, although he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.

Speaking of ultrasounds, we have ours on Thurs, Aug 28th.....I still don't want to know whether it's a boy or a girl.....not sure if I can convince Joel - I'll write more about it after the ultrasound.

17 wks and Dr. Visit

Today, I am 17 weeks pregnant. Tonight, my mom and 2 of my sisters - Bridgette and Annie are coming to visit. They are flying into Greensboro and then driving down to Charlotte (I don't understand why the small airports have better fares than the big city airports....). Anyway, I figured I would catch everyone up on the latest Baby Levy details while I'm waiting for them to arrive (now that the house is cleaned!).

On Tuesday, we had a visit w/ Dr. Rouse. This was the first time that we had an afternoon appt and it was very frustrating b/c as we learned last semester in Operations, the longest schedule delays occur later in the day as the delays from all of the other appts during the day accumulate. We were supposed to be seen at 4:15 and we were in the exam room and ready but I don't think Dr. Rouse came in until right about 5 (Andy and Nicole were scheduled to come over at 6 which complicated our schedule even more, though the Dr. is only about 5 min from home). We heard the baby's heart beat - it was in the 140's, which is in the "boy range", but we're not sure what to make of it b/c all of the other appts have been in the morning - this was the first time that we were seen in the afternoon, so maybe baby was resting. :-) I scheduled my ultrasound for Aug 28th and will then see Dr. Rouse again on Sept 12th.

After our Dr. appt Andy and Nicole came over. After dinner (reheated lasagna), Nicole and I went to Hancock fabrics (finally! we've been trying to get there for at least a month now) and picked up the fabric for the curtains for the living rm - it was expensive but probably not much more than I would've paid to buy them already made - I picked out a light brown suede for the valances (the couches are a light blue suedeish fabric) and then a striped sheer that matches the stripes on the pillows almost perfectly. We also stopped in the new Super Target - it is great having it so close!

I enjoy the process of making the curtains and it's nice to get exactly the fabric you want. I also decided to re-do the curtains on the side-lights - after I cut up the curtains I bought, I realized that I could've done it a lot neater and nicer, so for another $10, I bought a new set and fixed them. The sidelights are both done and 2 of the valances for the living rm are done. After I post this, I am going to try and finish the 3rd and get them all hung up - the most challenging part of hanging these is that it's a bay window and I'm trying to even all of the valances perfectly even - the method that I used made this particularly challenging, but now I know for next time. I also have some strips of the brown suede left that I'm going to save in case I want to make ties for the sheers. I will probably start work on the sheers next week or the week after. Definitely "nesting" in preparation for the baby - it'll be great to have the house in order and be done w/ school just in time for baby's arrival :-)

In baby news, according to Babycenter: Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.

I should be able to feel the baby move any time in the next couple of weeks - it is strangely exciting - I wonder if I will really know what it is when I feel it or if I will just think it is my gurgly intestines that are getting increasingly squished as my belly gets bigger - I'm starting to wear my maternity clothes more and more and this will likely be the last week that I wear my jeans for a while. We went out on a ride on the motorcycle the other day (and I got a fancy blue and white helmet) -it was a lot of fun, but you have to get used to it. We just rode around some of the backcountry roads by the house - probably won't be able to do it too much longer, but it will be nice when the weather is a little cooler (though I am grateful for the drop in humidity and temperature this past week!).

I will post some pictures after the weekend - we are planning on doing some school shopping and going to Carowinds. I can't go on a lot of rides, but I am looking forward to the water slides and seeing Bridge and Annie get the last "bang" out of summer!

Due Date Changes....AGAIN!

I had my first "real" visit with the Dr. today. Joel came with me because we were hoping to hear the baby's heartbeat. Well, after the weight, bp, and peeing in a cup, the dr. tried to find the heartbeat with a Doppler. These are notoriously unreliable, so I wasn't too concerned when she couldn't find it. Like I mentioned in a previous post, I was ok with the baby hiding for the Doppler because that would get us the ultrasound that we really wanted. So, the baby decided that he would be incognito so after the exam, we got to go to the ultrasound room. And there baby was, really easy to see.....definitely the crystal skull we were expecting and it was really cool to see the baby's heart beating (it was measured at 150). I scanned in the picture, but it really isn't as good as seeing it in real-life....there was actually quite a bit of detail, surprising considering the whole ultrasonography field itself.

Back to the due date issue. Well, when Dr. Rouse measured the baby on the ultrasound, the machine dated the baby as 8weeks 4 days instead of 10 weeks 4 days. I am not surprised by this given the unreliability of the original due date calculation, but it is frustrating for the sake of my blog and for the fact that I am already trying to rush this pregnancy along......also, Dr. Rouse said that my uterine size felt smaller than 10 weeks, so she was reassured by the ultrasound. So, back to 8 weeks pregnant - this is the wrong direction, but at least everything else looked good. I go back to the doctor July 16th and I guess we'll see how things are progressing then. Wow, this is a slow process!

My new due date is 1/23/09. I'm not going to change my previous blogs, but the last 2 weeks will be somewhat repetitive with the next 2 weeks - bear w/ us and in a couple of weeks, it'll seem like we're actually making progress! The whole thing makes me realize that I really have no clue what's going on in there because I couldn't tell the difference between 8 1/2 weeks and 10 1/2 weeks, though Dr. Rouse said that my nausea may get worse again before it gets better....ugh!

Tomorrow, I am going to hang out with Nicole. We haven't finalized plans yet, but I think our focus is going to be on curtains. I want to start working on valences for the office and then I have to deal with the living rm and guest bdrm (I might get a package bed in a bag for the guest bdrm that has a valance in it!). This is all part of my goal of getting the house organized and decorated before baby (at least now I have 2 extra weeks!) :-)