The downward slide...

So I can't believe we are finally at 20 weeks! That means that we are now halfway done and all of the sudden time seems to be going by much more quickly. I think it will really hit me later this week when it is officially 2009 and therefore the actual year in which our baby girl will be born. Today we realized that we still have a lot of things to get in order to be ready. One of our bigger priorities is a new camera and camcorder to capture all of the memories to come. We spent quite a bit of time at Best Buy tonight looking at stuff only to realize we could get a better deal online. Hopefully we will get that squared away soon.

Our trip to Seattle turned out nice except we couldn't believe all of the snow we got!! Marshall had his fair share of snowman (and snowbaby) building. Now that we are back in Fresno it seems so much drier and warmer! Also, now that we are back I was able to add my 19 and 20 week photos as my friend Amy so kindly pointed out I had been slacking on :) Definitely getting bigger but that belly button just wants to stay as it is for a bit longer...


The view from my parents' front door


Marshall and his snowman and snowbaby


Peter the giant snowman



Marshall with our adorable nieces



Lunch with Mari & Jen at Red Robin

A baby GIRL!!!

Marshall and I had our BIG ultrasound on Thursday and found out that we are having a baby girl!! We are so excited and it is almost surreal to know. I am also really surprised that the old wives' tales ended up being right! The appointment went really well and the ultrasound tech that we had was really nice and knowledgeable. Our baby girl was moving around and even trying to do a somersault near the end! The best part of the whole appointment was hearing that everything looked great and the baby is healthy. We told our families in person yesterday which was really fun and now we are snowed in at my parents' place in Washington. This weather is so cold and unusual for the Pacific Northwest!! At least we still have power and are having fun just hanging out and relaxing. I am posting a few of the pics from the ultrasound below. We also got a DVD of the ultrasound that Marshall has posted over on his blog, so go check it out at www.theartofanticipation.blogspot.com.

Profile


Face



Tiny foot



The "Money Shot"

Who came up with this stuff??

In anticipation of Thursday's ultrasound Marshall and I thought it would be fun to put some of those old wives tales to the test! All in all we found 16 tests total on the internet and here are the official "results":

1. Heartrate over 140 bpm - GIRL
2. Shape of my belly - GIRL
3. No morning sickness - BOY
4. Ring test (it swung side to side) - BOY
5. Chinese Gender Test - BOY
6. Lots of Headaches - BOY
7. Cravings for Sweets - GIRL
8. Feet not getting any colder - GIRL
9. Dad not gaining "sympathy" weight - GIRL
10. Color of urine - BOY
11. My face is not getting bigger - GIRL
12. Carrying the weight in my hips - GIRL
13. Not craving Orange Juice - BOY
14. Face is breaking out - GIRL
15. Less Moody - BOY
16. My head faces south when I sleep (I know, what a weird one!) - GIRL

So there you go, according to those old wives we are having a GIRL! Can't wait to find out and see what the real answer is!

Week 18

Can't believe that we are almost to the halfway point. Overall I have been feeling pretty good... the only thing is that I feel like I am being stretched from the inside out and I still have the intense heartburn! Luckily this week has gone by fast because that means we are all the closer to the ultrasound and getting a chance to see our baby! Marshall and I went out to pizza tonight and then went through a neighborhood nearby that has a really fun atmosphere and tons of Christmas lights. We then ventured to the mall to finalize our Christmas shopping (not quite yet done, just a few final things now). I also took my 18 week picture tonight... keep in mind that I had quite a few pieces of pizza (seriously), but it definitely looks like this baby is having a growth spurt!

Let the countdown begin!!

A lot happened today. First off I called the midwife's office and postponed my first appointment with her until 1/6/09 so that I could keep my OB/GYN appointment with Dr. Peters on 12/18/08 and get the big ultrasound (anatomy scan and sex determination) done with Marshall there. After that I called Dr. Peter's office to confirm and it turns out that a request I made last Friday to get a copy of my file sent to the midwife actually "terminated" me from Dr. Peters' practice and canceled ALL of my future appointments! I was really sad that I hadn't thought it all through and now instead of having too many appointments in December I had none. Also, I knew it would tricky to reschedule the ultrasound as Marshall has a really tight schedule at Kaiser. I did try and keep a positive attitude and the receptionist told me she would try and see if she couldn't help me and would call me back. She didn't call me back for almost nine hours (!!) but luckily when she did she was able to get my file back, reschedule the ultrasound for 12/18 and put a note in the file to transfer it to the midwife's office after 12/18. How exciting!! Now that means if we have cooperation we should be able to see our baby and determine the sex in just 10 days! Wait, make that:

Shop 'til you drop... literally

This week seems to have flown by! On Monday I had my blood drawn for the AFP screening which, while notorious for false positives, provides results as to whether or not our baby has a higher risk for certain birth defects. We should be finding out the results in about two weeks, so hopefully everything is ok. Other than that we have been busy doing our holiday shopping. It is amazing how exhausting it has been for me! Luckily we have been able to break it up over several days or I don't know if my legs would have held out on me. Every night that we have come home I have propped my feet up on some pillows cause they ache so much. It is so crazy to think that we are flying up to Seattle in less than two weeks! Other than that, last night I woke up at 3:30 am and could not get back to sleep. The last few nights I have been experiencing round ligament pains, which basically is just a fancy term for the fact that my muscles are stretching to make room for the growing baby. Rather than fight it, I just went out to the living room and watched QVC with Marlee for a few hours. For some reason I always like to watch QVC if I can't sleep since it is actually another live person who is up at the same time as me! Also, due to scheduling stuff, it turns out that we might still keep our appointment on 12/18 with the OB/GYN and then officially switch to the midwife in early January. I still have to call and figure out some stuff tomorrow, but I think that is the plan for now. If so, that means we WILL be having our big ultrasound that day and find out whether or not we are having a boy or girl... so exciting! Even if we find out that day, we think we might do the big reveal in person up in WA since we will be flying out that next evening.