So, even though I have not been officially blogging the past 20 weeks, I have been keeping a journal and calendar of all the latest and greatest! As much as I love detail, I will try and keep this recap short and sweet. Not really :-)
On June 30th 2009, Bill and I got the best news of our lives! We were pregnant! After quite some time of trying to start our family we were relieved and scared all at once! As excited as we were, we knew we wanted to hold off on sharing our good news for a little bit.
On July 4th weekend, after several rounds of blood work and the a-okay from our specialist, we shared our wonderful news with our family!! We were headed up to Blue Ridge to spend the weekend with Dad, Cheryl, Hope, Ron, Nat and Ethan and found ourselves spending the ride thinking of creative ways to tell them all! In the meantime, we had to share the news with my Mom, Bill's sister Caren and the rest of the out of town family! So, one by one, on our drive up to Blue Ridge we called our family. It goes without saying that EVERYONE was beyond excited.
Once we got to Blue Ridge, we waited for the perfect time to tell everyone. We had plans to go tubing down the river so as we were discussing plans Bill questioned, "Can pregnant women go tubing?" The room went silent and then everyone started to realize what we were trying to say!! The rest was history. What great news to start a holiday weekend!
The next 8 weeks were so tough. We wanted to share the news with everyone right away but, we kept our news a secret! I continued to have repeat blood work studies done to make sure all was well and then we got our 2nd ultrasound at the end of week 7! We could finally see something this time although, our baby was still VERY tiny of course!! Bill's Dad and Beverly named the baby "The Grand Dot" because of how small the baby was. We loved that cute little nickname :-) Take a look:
With the great news of the 7 week ultrasound, my specialist released me to the care of my normal OB/GYN. This was a big step for us and we felt like we could finally breathe, knowing all was "normal"! We had our first appointment with our doctor on August 17th when we were 10 weeks along. No ultrasound at this visit but, we did get to hear a Heart Beat!!! 164 BPM! Perfect! We were thrilled to hear our baby and left with huge smiles on our faces!Not only did we have the excitement of the baby these past few weeks but, we also had more good news....we SOLD our townhouse and MOVED into our first house! I have a few pics to share but, I will have to post more of the "finished product" We love our new digs and can't wait to bring Little Boy Gordon home to our new place!
With two weeks to the end of the first trimester we were chomping at the bit to tell everyone our news! A few friends knew by now but, they were of course sworn to secrecy :-) Finally, at 12 weeks, the cat was out of the bag! We announced our news on FACEBOOK LOL!!! It was the easiest way to get the word out fast and boy was it so much fun! I keep making it a point to print all of our FB comments out so we can put them in a scrapbook later! They all meant so much to us!Not only were we itching to tell people but, by week 14 were anxious to see our baby on ultrasound again! I mean it had been almost 7 weeks since our last ultrasound ;-) My doctor's office only had us scheduled for 1 more ultrasound at 20 weeks!! How could we wait that long???? So, we did what any anxious, impatient couple does...we scheduled an elective ultrasound at a studio here in town that does both 2d and 3d ultrasounds!! It was a great experience! Our baby was so small still but, the tech was able to capture a few 3d shots and he even said if he had to guess, we were having a BOY!!! The tech said it was still very early to judge but that was his guess ;-) Take a look!
If you look closely you can see a little face, a body, and legs and feet. There is even a little arm up by the head! This is a picture of a picture so not the best quality but, you can see something right ???? :-)
As great as it was to see the baby on ultrasound we were not thrilled with the studio we chose originally. We felt like the pics could have been higher quality and we did not get a CD of any of our images as promised. We got a recommendation from a friend who is expecting a week after us to try another studio in town...it was even closer to home so we bought a package with them to see the baby at 16 weeks and then later in the pregnancy between 24-28 weeks!! Boy was this a much better experience!!! We loved this place!!! We heard the HB again and it was 156 bpm. The baby measured at 5 ounces, I believe was 5 inches long and had 10 fingers and 10 toes! And guess what!!! We found out we are having a
BOY!!!!
Can you tell? Two little leggies and the "stuff" in between.
Here are some other photos from our 16 week session:
We could not share the news fast enough! Calls to our family, friends and of course, Facebook! Bill and I went straight to the store to buy our little boy his first outfit!! Well, we got two! We could not resist. Now, in the Jewish religion there is a lot of superstition including shopping for our unborn baby. We couldn't help ourselves! Take a look!
We had lots of fun events keeping us busy the next few weeks! We had our dear friends Katy and Trey's wedding, the Jewish high holidays, the U2 concert and our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch with the Summerfield's! Before we knew it! we were 18 weeks along!!! Here's a pic of me at 17 weeks! And some more of Bill and I together at the pumpkin patch.
By now, Bill and I had already made several trips to the baby furniture stores trying to find out what "style" of furniture we might want. Boy was this an ordeal! I think we made 4 trips total before we finally decided. Good thing we started early ;-) With the holidays approaching, we were told there could be delays in ordering so we were advised to order sooner then later to avoid any issues. If the furniture arrives early, the store said they could hold the furniture until we were ready to have it delivered!
We went with a more modern style furniture. We know this will be furniture our baby can "grow into". We think it will look great and we will probably change out some dresser knobs to make it look more "baby-like". Below is a link and a photo of our furniture. We went with a Licorice color and got 4 pieces. The crib, tall dresser, long dresser and hutch! It almost looks black but, does have some brown tones to it! Oh, I almost forgot, we got an BEST chair too. It's a glider/rocker/recliner! Sorry no pic yet on that one! Now we just have to agree on bedding :-)
http://www.bonavita.com/products/collections/product-collection/metro-collection.html
We of course have had our monthly doctors visits as well! It always feels like forever between visits and I had been getting very antsy because I had yet to "feel" the baby. I know it's early but, at least it would calm my nerves a bit!
We are glad to report all is good! We had genetic testing and our AFP screening which screens for Downs Syndrome. We also had our 20 week ultrasound! Baby Gordon was not very cooperative! I may not feel him yet but, he would not stay still for our tech. He was flipping, kicking and hiding his face but, she did snap a few pics and all was confirmed....It's a BOY! All of our baby's measurements were right on target. At 19weeks 6 days he measured at 12 ounces and had an expected due date of March 11th 2010 just as we thought!
With a shower planned in MD for December, we enlisted the help of Laura Beth to get us started on registering! Babies R Us, I will be seeing a lot of you in the next few months to years :-) I never knew how much stuff we would need :-) We still have some updating and deleting to do but, what a relief! Thanks LB for your help!
Well, I know I must have left off something but, I think I have filled you in on as much as I can remember at this point. We are at 20 weeks and halfway there! I cannot believe how fast this pregnancy is going. I am feeling pretty good.... minor things here and there.....ankle swelling, lack of sleep, etc.
I think it is time to thank Bill for being the best husband ever. He has taken great care of me, making sure I am eating the right foods, getting enough sleep, and even massages my feet when they are swollen ( In case you did not know, Bill hates feet!) I know he will be the best dad and take care of our little boy all the same. Bill hopes to blog from time to time too so get ready!!! I promise, between the two of us, we will be blog more regularly so you wont have a novel to read each visit.
Me at 20 weeks:
