Anna & Co. ~ 32 Weeks

Last month (in the sweltering heat!) we had maternity pictures made for little Anna.  These were done by Swanky 5 Studios and I just love them!  They're also going to do Anna's newborn pictures and I can't wait because they always seem to do something unique :)

Anna's 3D Ultrasound

A few weeks ago, we excitedly went in for Anna's 3D/4D ultrasound.  I was SO hoping she'd be more cooperative than Ben was for his (remember he kept his arm over his face almost the entire time, or turned toward my back!).  Wellllllll......believe it or not, she was actually WORSE!  Boy, did I think the pictures from Ben's ultasound were "iffy"...wait 'til you see these, ha!!  That's OK, though...we did get one or two good looks at her face from the side or top, and I thought she really looked like Ben in the womb!!

The ultrasound tech said we had a few things working against us...one was that she had her face pressed really hard up against me - so that made a lot of her face pics look distorted, especially her nose.  Her nose and mouth also looked strange in a lot of the images because the umbilical cord was right over them.  Apparently, they can "look through" parts like the cord sometimes, but it might look odd (which it did).  Also, since she was so pressed up against me, there wasn't much amniotic fluid,which is a must to get a good ultrasound pictures.  Maybe the waves have to have that to go through to make a good image?  Oh well...given those things, maybe we didn't do so badly after all!

We did get to see her moving around in general, which was amazing, of course.  At one point, we saw her open and close her mouth so clearly, and another time, we could see little fingers in front of her face!  Here are some pictures....

This one is of her face slightly from the side (the brown picture) and the 2D black and white picture is her profile.

Here's her face again, looking down with her hand over part of it - you can tell the hand by all the fingers showing.  It was so neat to watch her waving those sweet little hands around!

 Another face and hand picture, but I especially loved this one because it looks like she's sleepy, rubbing her eyes.  Check out those FAT CHEEKS!!

And, finally, we made SURE to verify for the third time that she was "still" a she...IT'S (still) A GIRL!! :)

Anna ~ 32 Weeks

These days, little Anna is stilllll kicking a LOT.  I just read that this week is the peak of her movements and from now on she'll move less and less because she'll be getting cramped in there!  She is turned head down now, and should weigh about 4 pounds.  Mama is feeling a lot better, maybe because I started taking probiotics and iron supplements.  I try to remember to take a Tums every night before bed because I've started getting bad leg cramps in the middle of the night like last time.  The doctor told me that Tums would help even more than eating bananas!  I'm also trying to stay out of the pool (anything to avoid more Cryptosporidium!), but it's hard with Ben...he keeps saying, "Mama in!  Mama in!"

Anna's room is finally coming together!  I found curtains,

fabrics, paint colors, a cute storage bench...

I only need to get a crib (trying to narrow it down between two choices), dresser and chair.  They're not washed yet, but I did put all her clothes on hangers and organized them by size to get a better idea of what else we might need.

At my 32 week doctor visit today, everything looked great as it always has so far - Praise God for that! :)  My feet are starting to swell a little some days, but other than that, I'm so blessed to have had a GREAT couple of weeks here lately!  Here's the latest belly shot progression...we missed a few weeks in between 20 and 28, but we'll try to make up for it in the next few weeks!

25 Weeks

Wow!  Only 15 more weeks to go...This little baby feels like she's "cooking" a lot faster than Ben did, ha!!  Lately, she's been kicking a TON, making my belly bounce and jiggle all around :)  I had another doctor's visit this week to take the awful Glucose Tolerance test - thankfully, I passed it just fine so I won't have to drink that terrible stuff anymore.  I did test a little low for hemoglobin, so need to start taking an iron supplement. 

I was looking to see if I had any ultrasound pictures I hadn't posted yet, because I"m not really in the mood to post another belly shot right now, LOL!!!  I didn't have any, but did realize I hadn't posted this of when we announced that we were having a baby (and didn't yet know the gender!!)

I made this little sign to go with the pink and blue cupcakes I took to work that day (and, of course, sent some to work with Mark, too!).  It was SO cute, because just about everyone came by my cubicle that day to let me know that they were going to eat a PINK cupcake for me!! Ha, ha!!  I think by sheer force, our coworkers and friends willed us a girl!!

Since she did end up being a girl, we already had a name picked out for the most part.  We had picked it the first pregnancy before we knew what we were having.  Since I was just about worn out the first time around with so, so, so many questions about "What are you going to name him?"....I was ready to get it out there what this little girl's name was going to be!! 

On Mother's Day, we had brunch with Mark's mom Susanah and his stepdad Raoul, and announced then that we would be naming her  ~ Susanah Julia Williams ~ and calling her "Anna".  We just love the name Anna and were honored to name her after Mark's mom, and since I'm the fifth generation of "Julias" in my mom's family, we though it would be great to carry on that tradition and have Anna be the sixth generation to have that name :) 

We can't wait to meet you, Miss Anna!!

21 Weeks and Counting ~ Over Halfway!

Last week, went to see Dr. Hallman for our next appointment, which came at 21 weeks.  He measured my belly and listened to her heartbeat and all was well with the baby :)  It was a pretty uneventful visit, thank goodness!  At 21 weeks, Baby Girl is now about 11 inches long and weighs just under a pound.  From the looks of my belly, she sure does seem bigger than that, ha ha!!!  Here's the progression starting at 10 weeks....

I'm pretty puzzled as to why 14 weeks and 20 weeks look almost the same ~ I think I was suffering from some serious bloating!  Whew...glad that's gone (for the moment ;) !!

You’re Not Going to Believe This, but…

It’s A Girl!!!

I’m still getting over the shock, as I had honestly just assumed all along that it would be a boy. I was very content knowing Ben would have a brother so close to his own age to grow up with, and then WHOA! A girl?! I don’t think it has really sunk in yet, but I am excited!!!

We really weren’t supposed to go for our Anatomy Scan for another week, but my friend April and I were talking about how we were dying to know the gender so I could shop for the baby at fun consignment sale this week. Well, one thing led to another, and before you know it, April’s friend (an ultrasound technician) at her OB office was “sneaking” us in to “take a peek”!! So here we go at lunch one day (so the doctors would be gone!)…I first stopped at Panera to get her friend some lunch, then waited for April to get there, too.

First text from April: “Try not to look pregnant” Whoops. Of ALL days, that was the day I wore the big ol’ comfy tent-like, empire waisted shirt that just screams~~MaTeRnItY!!~~. Ha! So, despite the fact that it was 75°, I grabbed my coat and held it in front of me the whole time.

Second text from April: “Tell Mark to come sit in the lobby 2 minutes after we go in” More laughs….I think we’re on an episode of Mission: Impossible!

April brings a cute 31 brand bag and I bring Panera, so as to look like we’re bringing her friend lunch and her party order. They buzz us on back and we act like we’re socializing until the coast is clear. Well, we really were socializing – fun girl-talk about Jake Gyllenhaal, TV shows, pets, husbands, where to get the best pictures taken of our children, etc…SO, when the ultrasound room cleared out, in we go.

While I’m getting ready, April goes out to the lobby and waves Mark in very suspiciously – ha ha ha!!! So here we all are, and as soon as the ultrasound shows the baby, Mark says, “I think I see it” – meaning the “turtle” like the one we saw on Ben’s ultrasound. So, she wiggles the baby around a little more, and then says…..”Nope!” “It’s a girl?” we ask….***insert April going nuts with excitement*** YES, it’s a GIRL!!

Wow! I was pretty much speechless. Mark said he knew all along – and in fact, he had worn his pink tie that day for the occasion :)

Here are the pics we got!!! You can see the gender in this one…three little lines = Girl!

Here she is opening her mouth...she did that several times!

Ahhhh....

....I think the fog is lifting!! I can actually stay up past 8:30 at night now!! The entire past few months have been pretty rough ~ extreme exhaustion, colds, stomach bugs, you name it...I had it. I honestly never thought I'd be up for more than an hour after Ben went to bed ever! But, it seems like things have turned a corner :) I'm finally sickness-free (thank you, God!) and have a little bit of energy in the evenings and it's so nice for a change! Last week, I had a week-long bought with morning sickness (the kind that comes and goes all day) that was a bit unexpected since at 16 weeks, I'm in the second trimester. Today and yesterday have been a little better (I even felt the baby move for the first time today!!), and I'm really hoping that nausea will be a thing of the past VERY soon.

Since I never once felt sick while pregnant with Ben, Mark and I are wondering if this little one might be a girl?? Everytime I ask Mark what he wants it to be, he gives me a different answer (very funny). So I don't know about him, but for me, I can honestly say it really doesn't matter. I can see great sides to both possibilities! Of course, I want more than anything for the baby to be 100% healthy with no complications. We won't have to wait long to find out what we're having, though ~ our next appointment will be the "big" ultrasound in only two weeks!! Yay!

Another Real Baby!!!

Wow! We just had our NT scan done again, and this is the first time we've seen any evidence of a "real baby" in there...we saw legs, arms, and hands flying everywhere! It was amazing to see our little baby in there, looking like a tiny person :)

And an answered prayer ~ the test came back fine. The baby was MUCH more cooperative than Ben was for his test, and they were able to measure the back of the neck several times really well, and the number was great. They also saw a nasal bone, which is a very good sign of a healthy baby. The heartbeat was 152 bpm and the baby was 5.8 cm long (not including the legs!). Already growing so fast!! Here are some pictures...

10 Weeks Along

Hi Little Baby! This weekend, we reached 10 weeks ~ you’re now an fetus instead of an embryo! Lately, you’ve been making Mama very tired, hungry, and giving me lots of stomach pains. I haven’t felt you move yet, but probably will in the next few weeks! This weekend, we heard your heartbeat twice with a home fetal Doppler machine. I’m so excited to be able to hear it this early!! The first time, we heard it right away, but after that, it was a little tricky to find again. You should have seen the smile on Daddy’s face when we heard it, though!!

I can’t believe you’re only 1.2 inches at this point. So tiny, but I know you’ll grow fast. We have been giving thanks and praying for you every day, Little One. Can’t wait to meet you…Love, Mama

Big as a Blueberry

January 3, 2011
Today I went to the OB to have bloodwork done to confirm the pregnancy. It was VERY uneventful....just waiting now until January 26 to go back to see the heartbeat!!

January 26, 2011
Well, today was a big day!! My follow-up appointment to see a doctor about my bloodwork and to get an ultrasound was today. I tried not to think about it too much by keeping busy with other things, but yesterday I got so anxious about whether or not the baby would be OK (i.e. Would we see a heartbeat?), I could hardly stand it. I even called and got my appointment moved from 4:00 to earlier in the day 11:00.

Thank goodness everything was just fine. God sure is good to me. The baby had a heartbeat of 136 and measured 1.1 cm...about the size of a blueberry! They estimated me to be about 7 weeks and 4 days along, making our due date (GET THIS...)

9 - 10 -11 !

How cool is that!??

I'm not sure why (maybe the size of the baby is still so small?) but it was very hard to see him/her. Here are the ultrasound pics we got, though...the baby is laying in the bottom of the black "bubble".




Afterwards, Mark and I stopped for lunch at Chick-fil-A to celebrate ~ what a wonderful day!

Shhhh! *happy new year's*

December 31, 2010

Today we found out we're so blessed to be expecting another baby! We had no big plans for New Year's Eve this year except to just eat take-out, drink champagne and enjoy some yummy chocolate-covered strawberries. So when I was out picking up dinner, I made sure to pick up some sparkling cider for me, too!

We decided to ring in the new year at 10:00 rather than midnight because honestly, a good night's sleep was more appealing than watching the ball drop on TV! So, I waited until Mark popped the bubbly and then gave him the good news :) He really couldn't believe it and was so incredibly happy ~ and surprised!!

I think that was my best New Year's Eve EVER!

Unfortunately, we won't be telling anyone for a while....I'm not even 4 weeks along yet!!