4D Ultrasound!

For Valentine's Day, Arthur got me a gift card to Motherhood Maternity and an IOU for a 4D ultrasound and a maternity massage.  I was mostly excited for the 4D ultrasound because I wanted to be able to see Baby Finn's face.  He told me that he talked to the people at Fetal Fotos and they said that the best time to get the 4D ultrasound is between 28 and 32 weeks because he won't be as squished in there.

There are some differences between 2D, 3D and 4D.  2D is just the black and white lined pictures you see in your normal OB ultrasounds at the doctor.  That's the kind of ultrasound we used to find out his gender.  3D is what it says, which is 3 dimensional pictures of the baby.  4D incorporates the movement of the video.  So, if you just get a 3D ultrasound, you only get to see non-moving pictures of the baby.  If you get a 4D ultrasound, you can actually see him moving around inside.  We went for the 4D because it comes with a video and so I can watch it again and again.  :)

Arthur and I looked forward to 28 weeks for a long time.  The week of the ultrasound, I drank a lot of water.  The day of the ultrasound, I drank so much water, I thought I was going to drown.  I hear that drinking a lot of water helps the pictures look really clear due to the extra amniotic fluid or something. 

After work on a Wednesday, the day before I was 29 weeks, Arthur and I went to Fetal Fotos.  We went in and the girl took us back to the ultrasound room.  I lay on the table and she started the TV.  She put the ultrasound wand on me and we saw Finn's profile first.  She would get the image just right based on the position on the 2D ultrasound screen.

Once she found a good spot, she turned on the 4D so we could see him.  It was incredible!  He had the umbilical cord up by his face so that was a little bit in the way, but you could still see his cute nose and eyes.  She moved it around a bit, and was able to finally get a shot that didn't have the cord in the way. 

In my opinion, he looks just like baby Arthur.  I will post some pictures of Baby Arthur below so you can see the similarities!

PS, look how cute Baby Arthur is!  Look at his happy little smile in the second picture!!

Here are some of my favorite shots of Finn's face in the ultrasound.  Notice how similar the nose and mouth is to Arthur's! 

The ultrasound girl also took some pictures of Finn's feet and hand.  Here is a picture of Finn's feet crossed.  You can see his toes at the top.  Finn also has the same feet as Arthur. 

Here is a picture of his hand.  You can see where the arrow is pointing, that's his pointer finger knuckle.  If you look down from there, you'll see his pinky finger curling to the left. 

Seeing little Finn this way really helped me feel connected to him.  It was much more real knowing that I have this little human inside of me that looks so much like Arthur.  I'm sure that as he gets older he will look a little like me too.  :)
 

Halfway!

I've put off blogging for a few days because when I got back from vacation on Tuesday, I blogged that night.  I spent a whole hour typing up an amazing blog, and I accidentally hit something on the keyboard that deleted the whole post!  When I went back in, it autosaved with nothing on the page... so everything was lost.  So, I'm trying this again.  :)

On Friday, Arthur and I had our 20 week doctor appointment with an ultrasound.  Because I wanted to record the ultrasound, Arthur invited his mom so she could handle the video camera while Arthur and I focused on the ultrasound.

I had to work until 2:30 that day, so I rushed to American Fork after work after my last meeting to make it there by 3.  Arthur, his mom and I went in and sat and waited for our names to be called.  I had some apple juice and some Mike & Ike's to help get Finn moving a bit for the ultrasound because I heard that makes it more exciting when you're checking him out.  :)  They called us back and we went into the room.

There was an exam bed with paper on it for me, a big ultrasound machine, and a big leather couch for Arthur and his mom to sit on.  I got comfortable on the exam bed and looked at the big screen on the wall.  It was nice that they had a TV mounted there, so it was pretty similar to Fetal Fotos.  The ultrasound tech got started and we were able to see baby Finn on the screen!

She said that everything looks good, and that he's healthy.  His heart is normal, and he is measuring slightly bigger than 20 weeks.  Because he is measuring only 5 days older than 20 weeks, he didn't change my due date.  It's still July 11!  Arthur's mom was really happy because that's her birthday.

Here are some of the pictures from the ultrasound:

This is his arm.  You can see his little hand has 5 fingers!

Here's his profile!  His nose is looking super cute.  He definitely has Arthur's upper lip.  ;)

Here's his junk proving he is a boy!

This is Finn's long leg.  She measured his bones and said his legs look great!

I have another appointment in 3 more weeks to check in on how things are progressing.  I'm very excited to see him again!  :)

After the appointment, I was super relieved that everything is looking normal.  I have announced my pregnancy in phases, to different people at different times.  I haven't made an official "all friends" announcement on Facebook because I have over 500 people there who are from all different parts of my life.  I wanted to wait to make sure that everything is looking good before I made a 100% public announcement.

I had been thinking of different ways to do it, and I found a fun picture online of a onesie that made me smile.  I posted this and got a bunch of likes and comments, so it sounds like people are pretty excited for Finn to be here!

19.5 Weeks, Almost 20!

I seem to blog on Sundays because it's usually the day I wake up super early and can't go back to sleep.  This Sunday is no exception.  I was up at 6:10 or so, because KitKat was meowing at the door.  Her new favorite thing is to go outside and play with the deer that live on our mountain.  She doesn't get too close to them, she just likes to watch them and occasionally run around them.

Since she was bawling at the door asking to be let out, I figured I'd just get up and eat something before I started to feel gross.  I made myself some hot chocolate with whipped cream and cinnamon sugar toast.

This week was good, nothing too crazy happened at work.  One thing I really like about my job is that it's very consistent, week over week.  It doesn't happen very often where something will throw me off.  I like to know what my schedule is in advance, and so my current position is really good for that.  I'm definitely a planner.  :)

This past Thursday was Valentine's Day.  Valentine's Day for Arthur and me is usually pretty low-key, and we usually have dinner at home together.  Ever year, we switch off to cook for each other.  Arthur did the cooking for us for the first few years of us being together, because I was never really a good cook.

I was looking through some old Valentine's Day pictures, and I found a few from the past.

Here is us on our first Valentine's Day together.  We hadn't even known each other for a year yet.  Arthur made me a delicious dinner and we opened presents and decorated Valentine's cookies.

We look so young!

Here's another one from a long time later, 2009 I believe.  This was our first Valentine's after we were a married couple.  Arthur made me an extravagant dessert display and we decorated cookies:

In 2011, Arthur outdid himself, and made the biggest display of treats ever.  I don't think I took any pictures of us that year.  Just the delicious treats:

I was in charge of dinner in 2011, and Arthur likes to call that the "Disaster Dinner" because I burned everything and it all tasted horrible.  We switch off every year now to cook, and of course 2012 was amazing because Arthur cooked.  He made beef wellington and risotto.

This year was my year to cook.  Because of the disaster dinner 2 years prior, I was stressing it pretty bad, pretty early on.  I took care to plan the menu in advance, and thought up a few different options in case something went bad.  I ended up on New York steaks, cheese and spinach ravioli, asparagus and sauteed shrimp.  The steaks were marinated all day in a red wine vinegar and Worcestershire sauce.  The marinade recipe was called "Classic Steak Marinade".  It was really good.  Here is a link to the recipe:  http://bbq.about.com/od/marinaderecipes/r/Classic-Steak-Marinade.htm

Arthur ended up cooking the steaks for me on the grill because I think he was a little scared that I would burn them and ruin delicious thick steaks that were not cheap.  He did an amazing job, and they came out perfectly.

We both sat down at the table and ate together.  We opened presents and had dessert.

Here is a picture of our table.  You'll be able to see my fancy dinner and the wrapped gifts we got for each other:

I got Arthur a hoodie and a gift card to the fish store.  I also got him orchids and Reese's peanut butter cups.  He got me the "Holy Trinity" of Valentine's presents.  He calls it the "Holy Trinity" because there are 3 things that every girl needs on every Valentine's Day.  Flowers, Chocolates and a Teddy Bear.

He also gave me a cute "easy to do" scrapbook and filled out the first page.  This, along with the sweet card he wrote for me made me cry.  I was so emotional!

The pictures of Finn made me cry the most of course, and then the picture of my fake belly made me laugh.  Arthur's cute little cutting job of the pictures into heart and oval shapes are the best part.

Arthur is so thoughtful, and always makes every holiday super special.  One thing I definitely want Finn to know someday is how much his parents love each other.  I think that is so important, and I never want him to question what a happy, healthy relationship looks like.

You can see over the years that I've never had a Valentine's Day where I haven't felt super loved and important, and I can definitely thank Arthur for that.  :)

How far along:  19 Weeks, 3 Days
How much time left:  20 Weeks, 4 Days

Top two symptoms:  I've started to feel a lot better.  I have the occasional headache and nausea when I haven't eaten, but for the most part, I'm feeling pretty normal.  The newest symptom I've been feeling is cramps in my abdomen area.  They aren't like period cramps, they are more like growing pains cramps.  If they were in my back, I would worry a lot more... but they are more in the front panel right below my belly button.  I think he's growing.  :)

Favorite thing I ate today:  So far today, I've only had hot chocolate and toast.  My favorite thing I ate this entire week would probably have to be our Valentine's Dinner.  I'm starting to have stronger cravings more often.  Uh oh!

Mood:  My mood has been mostly stable, with the occasional cry fest.  Most happy or sad things make me cry at the drop of the hat if I'm watching them on TV or on the computer.  I have a very low tolerance for dumb people these days.  My ability to smile at people and just let them be their dumb selves has gone.  I am more likely to get grumbly and complain under my breath if someone is driving me insane.  I'm not sure if this is normal, but it is what it is.

Worried about:  I worry about a lot of things, most of them being related to getting ready for Finn to get here.  Things like finding a crib, and getting his nursery ready.  Things like knowing my birth plan and understanding all of the options available to me.  Things like how I will handle telling everyone my birth plan.  I think I will make my 20 week appointment the milestone that will force decisions to be made.  :)

Excited for: My 20 week doctor's appointment!  It's this coming Friday in the afternoon!  I have a longer appointment scheduled so we can have our ultrasound and he can do all of the measuring.  I am so excited.  I would like to record it with my video camera.  That will be Arthur's job!  :)

What is it? Boy or Girl?

I know how important it is to apologize to someone if you haven't had a chance to talk with them in awhile, especially if they are upset with you.  So, let me begin our conversation today with an apology.  I am really sorry for not blogging in awhile.  I had a bunch of days where I was really struggling to feel happy about much of anything, so I felt like no news was good news until I had a happier perspective.   

I had hoped with the 2nd trimester starting that my nausea would magically disappear and that my headaches would just vanish.  They didn't, and so I got a little depressed. 

I also went to my 14 week doctor's appointment on Friday, January 11.  Both Arthur and I were told at our 10 week appointment that if we got there at a non-busy time that maybe we could have an ultrasound.  We purposefully booked an appointment at 9:00 in the morning so they would have no excuse of being busy with us being the first appointment of the day. 

At the appointment, everything was fine.  My blood pressure was normal, and baby's heart rate was 161.  The doctor asked me if I had any questions and of course I did.  I asked him about baths, because I'm having 1 a day now to help with the growing pains and crampy legs.  He said it was fine as long as the water wasn't so hot that it made my skin turn red, and as long as my body temperature didn't get too high. 

I also asked him about deli meats.  He said that in his over 2,000 deliveries, he'd never seen a woman who had contracted listeria from deli meats.  He said they were probably fine.  I do trust what he says, but I also know that I tend to be the 1 in a million (so you're sayin' there's a chance) that gets the bacteria.  So, I am just cautious.  I might incorporate some deli meats from somewhere that I see them cut it in front of me.  I dunno.  I'm glad that I'm not craving it too bad anymore.  However, I WILL eat myself a fat sandwich (from Subway, of course) that has lots of no-no meats on it as soon as this baby is here.  :)

The last question I asked was about my ultrasound.  I wanted to know if it was going to happen that day.  He said that he normally does an ultrasound at 20 weeks unless there is something wrong with the heartbeat, etc.  Because I'm checking out to be completely normal (thank goodness), he reassured me that most problems seen in ultrasound won't even be visible until then anyway.  I took peace from that and realized that seeing my baby was just 6 short (HA) weeks away.  *sigh*

A few days after that at work, I found out that I didn't get the position that I had applied for.  I was bummed for about a day, and the pregnancy hormones didn't help much with that.  Unfortunately, it exaggerates everything for me... so feeling sad is like feeling like it's the end of the world.  I tried to focus on sayings like "everything happens for a reason" and "it wasn't supposed to happen right now".  That helped a bit. 

Yesterday was date night for Arthur and I.  He sent me an email while I was at work that had the subject of "Off at 4?" and the email said "Date night!  Are you off at 4?"  I thought it was cute that he was so excited.  For us, date night usually consists of dinner somewhere with a Groupon and then home to let me sleep off the food, which is why the excitement was funny to me. 

I started feeling gross around 2 or so, and wanted to lie down.  I got the rest of my stuff done for the day and was ready to leave around 3:15.  Arthur was able to pick me up by 3:30, which I really appreciated.

I got in the car and was pretty grumpy and miserable because of how awful I felt.  Headache, nausea, etc.  He asked me if I needed something to eat, so I told him yes.  We went to Taco Bell and I got some food.  I ate it and started feeling a bit better.  I could tell he felt bad for me so he asked me if I wanted to go to Babies R Us and pick out something with some coupons he had.  Of course I did!!

We went there and it took us awhile to decide on something, because there was nothing that was gender neutral.  I kept commenting, "this will be a lot easier when I know if it's a boy or a girl."  I also said "I'm 15 weeks today, we could do Fetal Fotos."  Arthur was concerned because he didn't know how much it was and so I let it go again.  We decided on a cute blanket with owls on it.  It was brown, so it was good for a boy or a girl.

After Babies R Us, Arthur said he wanted to go to Costco to get some  paper towels because we are out.  We were closest to the Costco at 5300 South, which is close to Fetal Fotos.  I asked him if we could just drive past so I could price check.  He was pretty hesitant and sounded like he didn't want to.  I persisted because I really needed to know how much it costs so I could figure out if it would ever be possible.  5 more weeks seemed like eternity.

He drove over and parked, and I assumed he would just wait in the car.  He got out with me, which I appreciated.  We went in and I asked the girl for pricing and options.  She got me a couple of brochures, and went over how much it costs.  It wasn't too bad, the lowest priced package was only $79.00, which included a DVD, pictures and a 2D gender check. 

I was getting ready to thank her for the information, and went to leave, and Arthur said, "We'll do that one."  She said "Are you Genevieve?"  And I thought, how does she know my name?!

Arthur said "Surprise, you have a 5:00 appointment!" and I realized that Arthur had already booked a session for me!  I started crying! 

I think I freaked the girls out at the front desk because it was more like bawling.  I felt like I had just won the lottery.  I danced around and hugged Arthur and couldn't even see straight.  It was one of the most emotional times I've ever had in my life, ever.  I realized that I was going to find out if I was having a boy or a girl!

We went in the ultrasound room, and it was everything I had ever read about.  a very comfortable bed, dimmed lights, peaceful.  She put the goop on me and it was warm, unlike the freezing cold goop at the doctor's office for the heartbeat.  She put some music on, a lullaby on the piano.  There was a big screen TV at the other side of the room that I could see where the picture would appear.

She started the ultrasound and moved the little wand thing around.  The second I saw the picture of the baby, I started to bawl.  I felt bad for her because she was trying to get a good view, and my crying prevented her from being very productive.  I finally calmed down after a few moments and just watched.  It was so amazing to see the little head and the little body.  She took a bunch of pictures as she went along so I was able to know what was in each shot.

Then... she went to check for the gender.  She found it!  But, you'll have to wait...  :) 

I'll blog a little bit later today with the news!  Can you tell what it is?