New Baby Pics

Today was another doctor's appointment, combined with a sonogram. We also got to do the 4D sonogram and I have several pictures from that. It was very cool to see what her features are looking like. I've posted my two favorite pictures from today. Check out those sweet little juicy lips in the sepia colored picture! :) Oh, and I was able to see the glowing lines that everyone has told me about that prove she's a girl! :)

We also went today and put a crib and a glider rocker on layaway at a store here in Longview. So yay! Maybe when she arrives she'll actually have a place to sleep. Haha.

In other "makes you feel inadequate" news, we went today and set up a registry at Target. Wow. I feel like I'm picking out all of this stuff, but I have no clue what I'm doing! I hope that's how everyone feels with their first baby. Even in my experience babysitting and with the stuff I know about babies, I still feel slightly overwhelmed. Like when we registered for our wedding, I pretty much knew what I was doing. I mean, how hard is it to pick out a toaster or a blender? And if we forgot something on our wedding registry, we're both adults and could either do without it or just get it at the store whenever. This is a registry for another person! A person we know nothing about, who is not the same as an adult. Requires different stuff for her care, never mind the fact that she's coming into this world with nothing and needs EVERYTHING!! I guess I'll just be praying that Karys is a patient little girl and doesn't mind going through a little trial and error with me. :) I guess it's like my mom told me: Don't worry about not knowing how to be a parent. You're baby doesn't know how to be a baby either.

Don't forget to tell me how precious you think my baby girl is! ;) Haha!

Results from Canton

I just realized that I never posted about my trip from Canton. First of all, sadly enough, I have no ladybug lamp. My sister and I went to every pavilion at First Monday (because we know we were in a pavilion when we found it) and found nothing. I was very disappointed. I went all day without buying anything, so at the end of the day we went to the indoor shopping area next door to where we were parked and I picked out a couple of things there. So I've posted pictures of what I bought. I got a bulletin board with ladybugs on it (that they put her name on for free...gotta love that!) and this cool light that they put a ladybug on. It may not be a lamp, but it's still pretty neat. And I had decided that I shouldn't buy anything that I am capable of making myself and I wouldn't be able to make either of these things. I'm a pretty crafty person, but I'm not an artist, which is why the bulletin board was a must have and I have no idea where to buy the glass cube, so I'm all about letting someone else make that for me! :)

Also, I went to Kohl's last week in hopes of finding myself some new shirts. I didn't end up with anything for myself, but they did have lots of clothes on sale for 90% off. So I actually got some things for Karys. I just tried to guess what size she might be in (because most of it is winter-y stuff) and since they were practically giving the stuff away, I won't feel bad if she doesn't end up fitting into it! I got this really sweet dress that was only like $3. The most expensive thing I got was a 3-piece set that was a fleece jacket, long-sleeved matching onesie and corduroy pants for only $6. :) Yay for sales!!

New pics

I realized this morning that this shirt in combination with the pants gave me that ever-sought after (at least for me) perfectly round pregnant tummy. So here is my pic. I am now about 23 1/2 weeks (24 weeks comes this Sunday). Things are still pretty good. I'm having to sleep with a pillow up underneath my side now. But I've gotten that pretty much all figured out so I won't complain. This weekend my sister and I are headed back to First Monday in Canton so I can get my coveted ladybug lamp (the lamp that is they center of design for her room). I'm very excited to stock up on some loot! :)

We're Halfway There!

I am officially at the halfway point in pregnancy (well, technically I hit that point on Sunday). I'm 20 weeks now and things are still great. I hate that some women have to go through such miserable pregnancies because for me, it's been a great experience! I really feel no different than usual, minus the fact that there's a little person who moves around inside me!! :) So far, I've only put on about 5 pounds, which makes me happy.

Today's doctor's appointment was supposed to include a sonogram (this was scheduled back in January). But since I just had a sonogram a couple of weeks ago, my doctor is having me wait until my next appointment in April because she said that in two weeks time, there will have been so significant growth to see. So I have no new baby pictures yet, but it will be cool to see her again that much later and see how much she's grown. The main reason I wanted to have a sonogram today was because I wanted to be reassured that she really is a girl! I told this to my doctor and she said that she knows this doctor I went to see in Dallas and that his pictures are so clear that if he says it's a girl, it's pretty much guaranteed that we're really having a girl. (FYI..when I bring up the whole, "what if it's really a boy?" thing, Ryan tells me I'm being stupid and just rolls his eyes! :)

I have posted a picture of something that I made for her room. And now anyone that doesn't know can know the name we have chosen for her. Her name is going to be Karys Elizabeth (the name Karys rhymes with Paris, in case you're wondering about pronounciation). If you're wondering how we picked that, basically I came up with it and Ryan eventually came around to my way of thinking! But I first heard of the name Karys a few years ago in a magazine. It's the name of Catherine Zeta-Jones's daughter (only spelled with a "c") and I have remembered it because it's so pretty. Then I found it again on a baby name website and saw that it means "to love." And Elizabeth is a family name. It's the first name of one of my aunts and the middle name of my sister and grandma. This frame that I made with her name on it is intended to hang over her bed. I'm doing the nursery in black, white, and red with ladybug accents...sure to be cute! :)

She Looks Great!

If you are reading the titles of my postings, then you are already aware that today we learned the gender for the baby...we are having a baby girl! I am over-the-moon ecstatic. :) The doctor we saw in Dallas today said that through his scans on the ultrasound there were no signs of Down's syndrome. There is still a chance that she could be born with Down's because sometimes babies with Down's syndrome appear normal on ultrasounds. That is really not a concern of mine though. I am going with the optimistic view that everything looked fine.

Okay, on to what happened at the actual appointment. And I found out that a Level 2 ultrasound doesn't use any type of specialized machine; it's called that because of the level of training the sonographer has completed. The doctor performing the sonogram is very highly trained. He started by measuring the circumference of her head and looked at different parts of her brain. Then he measured the circumference of her abdomen and showed us where her stomach is. It was also very clear where her spine was as well. WE got to see each of her arms and her hands. One hand was closed up into a fist, which was very cool to see because it was obvious what her fingers were doing! He showed us both of the legs and at one point when he scanned over the legs, they were kicking, which was very cool to see as well. He is very confident that he is not making a mistake in calling her a girl. He got a really good shot of the legs and there was no umbilical cord in the way so he was able to tell what wasn't there!! :)

I have 3 pictures that he gave us. The first two show her laying on her back and it is a side profile view. If you look at the head, you can see facial features like her nose and mouth. The bottom picture shows what helped him determine she is a girl!

Thank you so much for your prayers. You will never know how special you have made me feel. I will always remember this. And now you can join me in rejoicing over a healthy baby girl! :)

Important News

I found out the results of my Quad Test that I had last week. The test came back showing that I was positive for Down's syndrome. Now, before you start saying "Aww" and feeling sorry for me, let me tell you what I know:

*First of all, we are going to Dallas on Tuesday where I will be having a Level 2 sonogram so they can get a better look at the baby and hopefully tell us if they think the baby really does have Down's or if everything looks fine.
*In getting to go to Dallas Tuesday, two cool things will be accomplished: I will get to see my sister on her birthday, and if all goes well, we will learn the sex of the baby a couple of weeks early.
*From what I'm reading online, out of 40 women who test positive for Down's, only 1 or 2 of them will actually have a baby with Down's syndrome.

So I tell you all of that to say that I have chosen not to freak out or panic until I know the results Tuesday. And even if we find out this baby has Down's syndrome, I chose to take this test so that if something was wrong, I would have time to prepare for it and that will be my next step. What I am praying is that God would prepare me if He has decided that we will be given a baby with Down's syndrome. But I refuse to get negative until I know something for sure. And if I get an answer that is not what I'm hoping for, I will be upset and give myself time to be like that, but then I will move past that and do what I was chosen to do.

If I pop into your head in the next few days, I would love it if you said a little prayer for me as well, and hopefully I will be posting again in a few days to tell you "It's a _____" and everything's great! :)

Latest Dr.'s Appointment

Today's appointment wasn't too terribly exciting. But we did get to hear the heartbeat! :) The doctor says it sounds really good. I think she said it was like 158 beats/minute. I THINK that's what I remember...but I'm not very good with the memory! :) But I do know for sure she said it sounded really good. She actually said that several times.

I also had a test done today called a Quad Test. It was an optional test and Ryan let me decide if I wanted it. It tests for Down's Syndrome and a few other things. I decided I wanted it because if there's something that's going on, I'd like to know about it ahead of time to give myself time to wrap my brain around whatever it may be.

Only a month until we find out the baby's gender is revealed!!