Week 21 - Tummy

Aimee pointed out today that it seems her belly is noticably bigger than a few days ago. The last time we took a picture and compared it with the previous one, it wasn't a huge difference, so we didn't post it. But now it is definitely more noticeable, so here she is!

Her dress is the closest thing we will get to seeing the leaves change color down here in Florida. After a brutal summer we are looking forward to the milder weather which should be here in October.

We sincerely hope some of our family can come visit when the baby is here! It might be difficult for us to come to you!

The Baby is Moving!

I know this doesn't seem like new news because of my previous posting, but this IS new news! Aimee had thought she felt the baby move a few times lately, but every time she asked me to feel her belly I couldn't feel any movement. Not that I didn't believe her, but the baby isn't inside of me, so I can't feel it like she can. Tonight however was a different story. I felt the baby move several times, and I think I even saw the baby push or kick enough to see it from the outside! There is definitely someone in there!

Aimee still has not gained much weight, but the baby is gaining okay as of the last doctor visit, so we're not worried. I'm sure labor will be easier with as little extra weight as possible.

We need to start writing up our birth plan soon. We hope it won't be so complicated that the hospital won't follow it - our doctor advised us to keep it to one page if possible. Beyond that, he said, and everything will probably go out the window. This is important to us because we don't agree with many of the procedures that are done immediately following birth. We don't want to be control freaks, but we do want to be wise about the decisions made if we can help it. Please pray for wisdom for us in this area.

Sweet Sleep

Tonight after work Aimee and I ate some cornish hens that we cooked in the crock pot, went for a brief walk, sorted the never-ending pile of junk mail to be recycled, and then she crashed. I cleaned up, did some chores, downloaded some songs, paid the bills, and she was out like a light on the couch the whole time. Then about an hour an a half later, she woke up, went upstairs and crashed on the bed. I can only hope that tomorrow she will feel that she caught up on some sleep!

Aimee has been tired lately, a bit stressed at work, and while she isn't having any 'sickness' she still gets a little nauseaus here and there, and some foods still taste funny to her. We would appreciate your prayers, as the magic 'second trimester', the one where she is suddenly supposed to get her energy back, still isn't here and is obviously overdue!

One thing we are both excited about is that just about everyone we know seems to be having another baby! This is exciting because many of these other babies will be our child's friends most likley, as we will be around our friends, and so our child will be around theirs. It is great to know we have such good friends and a great church to support us. I can't imagine things any other way.

Week 18 Ultrasound Pictures

I finally got around to scanning in the ultrasound images. The main reason I wasn't in a hurry is because as I said before, they don't show anything much different than the previous ultrasound picture unfortunately. I was under the impression we were going to get one of those fancy 4-D ultrasounds, or that this one would be in more detail (since they sent us to a special office to get it done) but it is the same or less quality than the previous picture. I thought the nurse would at least give us the picture that shows the gender, but she didn't even give us that. Oh well. One really cute thing that happened and is captured in one of the pictures is that our little baby girl appeared to be waving to us, as you can see in the 1st picture!

The report is that she is nice and healthy, which is great. As for Aimee, she hasn't been sick in a few weeks now, however she still gets a little nauseas from time to time. Her belly is growing too! We'll get another belly picture up soon.

We are getting the feeling that the baby may be coming a little earlier than the original January 9 due date. For one, Aimee already felt the baby move, which doesn't usually happen this early. And two, at our second and third ultrasound appointments, each time they measured the baby's length, they said she was 3 days ahead. Of course they say it could easily be a week before or after the original due date, so we'll know for sure when the baby is here.

Aimee had another Doctor visit today, and this time we got to meet Dr. Kaufmann, the last of the three doctors to be met. I'm happy to say that they all seem like great doctors, but we especially like Drs. Kaufmann and Litt and we are totally comfortable with them. They are very respectful of how Aimee and I want to have the baby (naturally) and seem very willing to work with any special requests. We hear so many stories about doctors just telling the woman how they are going to do everything with no options, and that bothers me. If our doctor was like that, I think we would find a new one. But thankfully they seem great.

It's a Girl!

Just over an hour ago we found out we're having a little girl, and people are already trying to scare me with notions of paying for weddings and not being able to retire. C'mon people! We are very happy, mostly because the baby is completely healthy. She even waved to us! It looks like our initial intuition (as well as many of our friends) were wrong, and the ancient Chinese calendar was right after all. Right now the baby already weighs half a pound! The nurse said we don't need to worry that Aimee hasn't gained much weight yet, since the baby is gaining okay.

We will post some pictures of the ultrasound later (they really don't show anything new unfortunately) but right now I'm at work and don't have the tools to put the pictures up.
Stay tuned!

The Baby Moved!

First thing this morning, Aimee felt a little movement in her tummy! It's about that time that the baby starts moving, which is so exciting. She asked me why I'm not acting more excited... and I said "Well, I didn't feel it move yet!" We should find out the sex in 4 days.

On a positive note, Aimee hasn't had any morning sickness in over a week I believe, and she's able to make it a little longer in between meals when necessary. As for me, my back was all messed up last week and finally feels a bit more normal - I'd say 80%, and I can almost stand up completely straight, which is nice. Talk about something we take for granted! If I believed in evolution I would feel very bad for our caveman/monkey ancestors. But I don't, so I don't feel bad at all!

We'll let you know as soon as we get the ultrasound results.