The BIG News!!

Sorry to keeping anyone in suspense who doesn't already know the big news, but we had our ultrasound on Thursday as scheduled!

Poor Matt got turned around (GPS leads to you an address, but not necessarily the right parking garage ;)), so he was running late.  Thankfully, I was the last ultrasound scheduled for the morning, so the tech went s-l-o-w-l-y waiting for Matt to arrive.  We saw all 4 chambers of the baby's heart, valves with blood pumping through them, kidneys, the baby's stomach, fingers, toes, spine, you name a body part--the baby has it.  Praise the Lord!  Every baby is a gift, but we ARE thankful to hear this new little one is growing right on track.  The baby measured at 19 weeks 2 days and technically I am 19 weeks 3 days, so everything really is as "on track" as it could be!

When Matt made it to the office, the tech told him, "We haven't done the big look yet.  You haven't missed the big news.  I don't even know..... well, I peeked of course and I have a guess, but I didn't look hard."  Her comment made me think she saw baby boy parts... I mean to just glance and have a guess I figured it must be pretty obvious like Asa was.  She found the right area of the baby, and I saw 3 little lines... the 3 little lines that usually mean G-I-R-L!  I thought surely I was mistaken, but then the tech said, "I'm thinking little girl!"  OH MY!!  She didn't tell the doctor, so he could make his own assessment and we'd see if they agreed.  He too said GIRL.  WHOA!!!

After 5 straight boys in my side of the family, the oldest cousin finally gets another girl added to the cousin mix.  She has waited oh so patiently for this. :)  We would have been thrilled either way, but we are amazed to get to experience a son AND a daughter!  Our daughter's name is Anna Reaghan.  Anna is after Anna in the Bible.  The story of her waiting so intently for the Messiah to come, even after being widowed so early in her marriage, really stuck out.  It would be so easy to question God or focus on finding another spouse, but she faithfully turned her eyes to the Ultimate Lover of the Soul.  How we pray that for our children.  Reaghan is a name I've always loved.  We might not live in the South right now, but it's stuck with both of us and we like the Southern sound of a double name so we will be calling her by both names, "Anna Reaghan."  If she should choose to go by one or the other when she's older, we love them both and think either makes a beautiful name for a little girl or grown woman.

I was perfectly content and excited by the idea of two little boys, so I did not allow myself to dwell too much on the "girl" gut feelings I was having.  I didn't want to become disappointed if I started entertaining thoughts of dresses and bows and such and we had another bouncing baby boy after all.  But now that I CAN look at baby girl things, oh my goodness!  They're all so sweet!  I can hardly believe we are really having a girl!!  We can't wait for you to really "meet" her! :)  And we VERY much appreciate your prayers for Anna Reaghan and me as she continues to grow, for Matt as he gets wrapped around her little finger for sure ;) and cares of all of us, and for Asa as I can't pick him up/carry him around as much and he eventually adjusts to have a little sister. 

Lastly, we're hoping to move in about 3 weeks to a house we are renting!  So if you want to pray for stamina and smooth details that would be WONDERFUL!!

A Little Hello

We had two favorite moments yesterday at our doctor appointment. :)

1. First was seeing the baby moving all around.  My first ultrasound with Asa was at 20 weeks.  By that point, I could feel Asa moving regularly and knew there was a live baby kicking and jabbing.  I knew that even if there were an issue with the baby's development, it was alive inside me.  I have to admit, I was jealous of my friends with early ultrasounds.  To have that confirmation so early that the baby was alive and growing, whereas I waited weeks and months longer to feel Asa and know he was inside.  I thought my friends had it made.  I decided this time around, after we knew we were going to have an earlier ultrasound, that it's pretty scary to face an ultrasound when you DON'T know how the baby is!  I had no confirmation that we would see a live and moving baby on the screen.  It made me very anxious.  VERY anxious.  I had to keep reminding myself I could not change anything we would see and Who was ultimately in control.  The relief of seeing Matt's eyes light up (the screen was facing him but not me at first) the second the baby, moving all around, popped up on the screen was incredible.  We are so, very thankful.

2.  Something else happened the minute the baby was visible on the screen.  Asa excitedly said, "HIIIIIIII!!!" the minute he looked up and saw his little brother or sister.  It was absolutely precious and a moment neither Matt nor I will ever forget (and that we'll probably remind our children of later on down the road when they are less-than-fond of each other). :)  We already feel our love multiplying and can't believe Asa will be stepping into big brother shoes in 6 months!  I love my big brothers and I'm thankful to know our littlest one will have such a great big brother in Asa. :)  This is one blessed baby. :)

Magnificent Monday

I don't really have enough to say to fill you in on a "million things Monday," so I'll still with the usual "five" format and go from there. :)

1.  Asa is making more and more animal sounds and saying more and more words.  I think he's up over 30 words now, and he says mooo, neigh neigh, meow, meow, pants like a dog, wack wack (quack quack), and baa baa.  When prompted, he also growls for a bear, and we're working on tweet tweet for birds, buck buck for chickens, doodle doo for roosters.  And we can't leave off wooo woooo for trains. ;)

2.  Asa signed "thank you" by himself for the first time last night.  It's awfully close to blowing a kiss, and I think the 2 are somewhat intermingled in his head because he made his kissing MUAH! sound when he signed thank you.  I think our family and friends will gladly accept a blown kiss "thank you" though, don't you?

3.  I think we might be at the beginning stages of cutting eye teeth.  It's not going very smoothly. ;)  We've had some tummy trouble, uneasy sleep, fussiness, acting like his mouth hurts, and low-grade fevers.  I'm sorry he obviously feels so out of sorts and hope he gets some ease soon.

4.  We have Asa's 18 month check up on Wednesday.  We'll get to find out how much he weighs which is always exciting to me now that he's growing appropriately. :)  It's also exciting because I suspect he's crossed into the next weight range for pain reliever dosages, and I'd love to able to help him out a little more with the teething I think we're working through.

5.  We had another doctor's appointment today as well.  We drove across town so we could check in on this...

 our little baby! (head lower on the left, legs higher on the right, little blob above the middle is a hand/arm)

in the typical baby hands-by-face pose (complete with crossed ankles you don't see here).  Head on left again, abdomen on right, arms up by face

That's right, I've grown 2 feet in the last 3 months...and 2 arms 2 legs and 1 heart and 2 eyes. ;) hehe  We are expecting another baby the beginning of July!  My due date is actually the 4th of July!  Fireworks all around in this house one way or another. :)  I don't really expect to deliver on the 4th (I suspect I'll be late again; hopefully not 2 weeks again like Asa, but I'll take pretty much anything that's full term and not induced!), but you never know! :)  We had an initial check up with a doctor here and she said everything looks good, and then today we had an ultrasound.  Our first ultrasound with Asa was at 20 weeks, so it was quite amazing to see a tiny 12 week old baby wriggling all around!  We saw the spine, hands, lots of kicking and moving around.  It's crazy to think the baby is having that much of a party and I don't feel a thing!  We are amazed at God's lavish gift of life and so thankful for the way He is growing our family! :)  We definitely appreciate your prayers for this little one to grow healthy and strong, for our transition to a family of 4 (parenting 2 for Matt and me and being a brother for Asa), and for provision here where we are still trying to make friends and get connected at church.

Whew!

Asa was breathing, moved enough (just enough.... he was sound asleep), and my fluid level was up so we are good to go on the waiting game... no one's talking induction or any complications for which we are SOOOO thankful!

Mom arrives tomorrow and my favorite midwife is on call all weekend, so we'd LOVE (and I will be praying) for him to arrive anytime between tomorrow and Sunday. A midwife we really like is on call Monday, too, so that would work. :) Then our next favorite is on call on Wednesday. I think I'll be talking to Asa a lot this weekend to convince him it's time! :)

Most of all, we're so thankful everything checked out okay so he can have some more time to decide on his own he's ready. We are SO thankful to be back home and not at the hospital beginning an induction! Praise the Lord! :)

39+ weeks

We have made it less than a week until the due date! How amazing is that?! :)

Today we had a regular appointment plus a growth scan. Apparently Asa's decided to jump on the family growth track, as he's gained (all approximations which are notoriously known for being off in the 3rd trimester) over 2 pounds in 3 weeks! He is now estimated at a whopping 8 lbs. 8 oz. (which is what I weighed at birth). He was 6 lbs. 3 oz. at our last ultrasound at 36 weeks. It's interesting though, the breakdown of measurements leads me to believe the weight is distributed over some long legs (measuring over 2 weeks "ahead" at 41 weeks 2 days) more than over a big belly. ;) His abdomen measures much closer to average than his legs do. :) The ultrasound tech also sounded SHOCKED (seriously! which surprised me, because you know they see ALL sorts of babies) at how much/how long his hair was. Her jaw dropped open--I'm not kidding! :) So we have a long, hairy baby, just as we suspected. :)

Here he is sleeping (you are looking at his face, face on). He slept the entire ultrasound.

(chin on the left, forehead on the right, closed eyes, little nose, and sweet mouth in between)

I lost 4 lbs. since last week. Who knows what that's about. Probably a mix of his rapid growth and random factors, like maybe I was wearing jeans last week. They're not worried--he's obviously growing! :) My blood pressure was still low, but my normal (110/64). We go back next Thursday (the day AFTER our due date) for another check-up if he's not here, and they'll do a biophysical profile. I've read that's common if the baby becomes overdue, and my amniotic fluid is on the low side of normal. It decreased 0.4 cm since last week, so I think they want to know if that is a trend (in which case, it looks like we'd be scheduling an induction sooner than later) or just normal fluctuations. I have been trying to drink 2 liters of water every day, but Matt and I have now made it our goal for the first liter to be done by noon and the 2nd liter to be done by 4, so anything I have during the evening is even extra fluid (the amniotic fluid level is determined by the efficiency of the placenta, my fluid intake, and his urine output), like icing on the cake. I appreciate that they are not worried, but they keep close tabs on things. :)

I also had a handful of questions, and I was SUPER DUPER glad about one of them (actually, all of them had the answers I hoped to hear)! I can wear my contacts during labor! Of course, I'd have to take them out if we ended up in a c-section situation, but I am really thankful I can at least start out with my contacts. Silly, but it's the little things, you know?

We'll certainly keep you posted! He seems awfully snug in there, but we know that can change in the blink of an eye. :)

Seeing is Believing

So, I really thought I could tell Asa was growing by leaps and bounds lately, but seeing how much BIGGER he was on the computer screen during the ultrasound solidified that assumption. :)

He is estimated at 6 lbs. 3 oz. right now, which the tech is great (and, ahem, he's supposed to gain about an ounce/day or 1/2 lb./week right now, which would put him right at 8 lbs. 3 oz. on our due date... just as I guessed, only I guessed he'll be late, but anyway, something I guessed sounds at least kind of right!). The midwife said his head, abdomen, and femur average out to the 50th percentile! The tech even asked, "Why did they send you for a growth scan?" Since everything is SO normal, they'll do one again at 39 weeks instead of 38. No cause for concern about his size right now. :)

Everyone says he clearly has my nose now, and his lips look SO full! I know you're mostly seeing bone structure, but his jawline almost makes him look like he has clown lips (don't tell Asa I said that). :)

His heart rate was in the 150s and strong, and I just might have been right about my fundal height seeming the same as 2 weeks ago because it turns out I LOST 5 pounds the last 2 weeks! I just can't keep up with this little guy (and Matt says I've been overdoing it, to boot). We had take out almost every night my last week of working because I was getting home so late and exhausted. I thought for SURE I would have gained at LEAST the "normal" 1 lb./week at this point if not more due to all that non-home-cooked food. Crazy.

My blood pressure was 110/62, I have had NO swelling since I stopped working, and they said everything is "perfect" still. I also found out that if everything is going fine, they'll let us go over til about 41 weeks 5 days (if anyone needs that info to make a fully-informed guess--SEE THE LAST POST!). If I get to 41 weeks, they'll do one more ultrasound to check the placenta, and if everything is fine (it's not deteriorating), they'll let me go a few more days.

He is head down and facing the back/side, so he's in perfect position. Actually, he had one hand up by his face and his other hand back along his side (they described it as a superman pose). :) But he's all set in the right position.

We have a consultation with our first-choice pediatrician on Tuesday, and then we go back next Wednesday for our 37 week appointment. This time next week, we'll officially be full-term!

Also, my mom is driving down RIGHT NOW to visit and we have our church baby shower on Saturday. :) We are looking forward to a fun weekend! I'm hoping to sew the curtains for Asa's room while Mom is here (or at least get the fabric cut), so stay tuned for FINAL pictures of Asa's nursery (until we add the little guy himself). :)

Big and Hairy

Those two words about sum up our monthly appointment with the midwives today.

Thankfully, they didn't use those words to describe me. ;) They were talking about Asa! We had a follow-up ultrasound today, because his positioning last time didn't allow them to measure his spine, observe all 4 chambers of the heart close-up, or see him face-on to check for cleft palate. They checked all of those things today, and everything is great! :) They also told us he's estimated at 1 lb. 13 oz. already. He's already almost TWO POUNDS!! No wonder random strangers are starting to notice my little baby bump. :) The tech also commented about him having quite the hair on his head. I noticed the top of his head looked fuzzy and had heard that's how hair shows up on ultrasound. Before I could even ask she commented on it... the top of his head looks quite fuzzy. :) He's still head down. While that could change of course, we are thankful he's still in the "right position" so far. :) Lastly, Asa is definitely still all boy. ;)

We go back in 4 weeks exactly. Then I think we'll be moving to appointments every 2 weeks. I have to do the glucose test sometime before I go back. Last time I passed with flying colors, so hopefully everything's still the same. :)

In other news, Matt has been a BUSY BEAVER painting Asa's room! He put Kilz up on all the walls and painted the base color--2 nights in a row! We finally settled on colors. They are two shades of a nice, warm caramel color. Of the 4 walls in the room, one will be a solid wall of the lighter caramel color (and I'm painting a tree mural on it later... but no, I didn't copy Brad and Joy! I didn't know they were doing that in our niece's room), the other 3 will have vertical stripes of the two colors. I LOVE the way it looks so far. It's just such a nice, rich color without being too dark. And this Friday Mom drives down with Asa's furniture--his crib and changing table! I just can't quite imagine the feeling of seeing everything in place in the room with his bedding and furniture. Exciting but surreal!

I will be sure to post pictures of the nursery as it progresses. :) Stay tuned!

Working and Counting

We are working on Asa's room today. We cleared everything out (again), this time that included the little entertainment center, twin bed, and headboard. That furniture will be permanently removed from the room (well, Asa will get the twin bed someday). I taped off the room, Matt removed brackets that hold the blinds, nails, and other assorted wall issues. :) I wiped down the walls, so now we are ready to spackle and then Kilz!! :) It's really going to happen! :)

We are counting down to 2 things... one is that we will see Asa again in 3 days. Our next appointment with the midwives is Tuesday, and we'll start off with an ultrasound. We are so excited to see him again! I also realized today that in just 10 days, we will be in double-digits until Asa's due date. Now, he could come before or after that, of course, but where has the time gone?? Double-digits???

We hope you are well and enjoying the weekend. We kicked things off with dinner at TGI Friday's. There is a coupon floating around on the internet for "buy one entree, get one free," and we had a $10 gift card I received as a door prize at our teacher appreciation luncheon. We had to wait a bit, but it was nice to get out together. :) Things are going well at work for both of us, though FCAT is looming nearer and nearer (March 10-12). I think we'll all be glad when that is behind us. :)

Alright, that's about all for now. We hope you have a blessed Sunday, and we'll keep you posted on pictures of Asa's room!

A Little Preview

of Asa!

Asa's profile

He held his hands in front of his face much of the time

He's waving to you!