It's official....it's a....

GIRL!

Our gender confirmation ultrasound confirmed it for us, we're having a baby girl! We got TONS of 3D pictures from the ultrasonographer--some look a little bizarre because baby girl doesn't have much meat on her bones yet :)

The ultrasonographer was very sweet and patiently pointed out all of the "girl parts" to us. She also explained what we would have seen had it been a boy. So, I guess my motherly instinct was WRONG! So much for that!

She liked to keep her hands up around her face, but we got a few pics of her face.

Here are a few pictures...

It's a.....

Girl. We THINK. Can't be 100% positive yet as the baby (being that it was created by two very stubborn people) wouldn't cooperate and uncross its legs! Arg!

Brian and I are pretty frustrated that we couldn't find out the sex of the baby for sure. Here's what happened, and you can make your own guess/decision...

We did the entire anatomy scan first. The ultrasonographer measured the baby's head, brain, spinal column, arm and leg bone lengths, looked at his/her stomach, heart, and other vital organs and everything came out HEALTHY! Go baby! She spent about 10 minutes doing this portion of the ultrasound. We noticed that the baby's legs were crossed when she was doing the leg bone measurements, but were hoping that he/she would uncross them.

The ultrasonographer tried to get the baby to move around and uncross its legs by poking at it, pushing it, having me get up on my side in different positions, but no luck! Baby Trump still wouldn't uncross its legs.

So... here's what we're left with, a direct quote from the ultrasonographer: "Well, what I can tell you is that during the entire anatomy scan, I did NOT see a penis. I'm 99% sure it's a girl."

What do we do with that?!?!

We called the office back to ask about a follow up ultrasound, but to pay out of pocket for another ultrasound can range from $275 to $410. And what happens if the baby doesn't want to show "the goods" again? Then we're out a lot of money! Yikes. We do have to go back for a follow up ultrasound at 24 weeks (which is 6 weeks away) because I have a low lying placenta, and they want to make sure it moves up and out of the way. At that point, they will give the sex determination another shot, but....it's 6 weeks away! And for two people who don't have much patience, that just won't work for us.

After talking to some other girls who've had the same thing happen, they suggested going to an imaging center in Cary (next town over) who specializes in ultrasounds for gender determination, which costs SIGNIFICANTLY less. We've got an appointment for Saturday at 1:30 pm. Let's hope the baby cooperates this time!

I want to be able to shout from the rooftops "We're having a ______!!!" We also want to be able to move forward with nursery painting, clothes buying, and registering, and really don't want to have to be "gender neutral" with everything. Wish us luck!!!

Papa Trump chimes in...

Well,

After strongly suggesting that I contribute to our blog, I have finally gotten around to collecting my thoughts and here I am! I will keep this short, but since I am behind in my posting, I will take this opportunity to recount the day that Kelly told me we were having a baby...

...November 14th was a bit stressful. I was up early and out to Cup A Joe to prepare some notes for a radio interview I was doing the following week. On top of this was the knowledge that in just 2 more days, I would be starting to study for boards, a daunting task indeed!

I called home from the coffee shop after I had finished my work and Kelly suggested we meet for lunch (mmmm...Pei Wei). We met, ordered our food and sat down. As soon as we were settled, Kelly told me about the "test" she took that morning. At that moment I was overwhelmed with emotion. I'm sure it was mostly joy, but compound that with stress from impending boards and it was enough to silence me. We sat there for a few minutes fairly quiet and then Kelly asked if I was ok. I thought about it for a second and then I knew that what I was feeling was excitement!

Later than night, we celebrated my last bit of freedom before going into exile to study - Kelly filled an empty beer bottle with water so that people wouldn't get suspicious! Little did they know that we were celebrating something WAY more important.

...anyways...that's it for now! More to come in the future...

T-minus 3 days! Oh, and the weekly check in...

Only three more days 'til we'll be able to find out the sex of the baby! Hopefully he/she will cooperate-- I'll be a little disappointed if we can't find out right away. Either way we're also going to do the 3D/4D ultrasound around 24 weeks, so at worst we should be able to find out by then. I can't wait. I'm pretty sure it's a boy (sorry, Carol!), but we'll have to see if there's anything behind this "motherly instinct."

Brian and I are still in the process of de-cluttering the old "man room" and guest room closets in order to make room for Baby Trump. We're making good progress, and should be done with the clean up process sometime next weekend. I can't wait to start on the nursery-- we've got some great ideas!


Ok, on to the weekly check in!

How far along am I? 18 weeks exactly.
Total weight gain: 5.5 lbs
Maternity clothes? Still only having to wear maternity tops--and not the ugly flowy ones yet :) Still wearing pre-pregnancy pants, go me!
Sleep: I'm adjusting to this whole "you can't sleep on your back" rule. I'm tossing and turning a lot at night, and am starting to feel VERY awkward when attempting to flip sides. Jess--using my Boppy Cuddle Pillow that you got me, it's the best!
Best moment this week: Friends surprising me for a 30th birthday dinner celebration at Lucky 32. I had NO idea!
Movement: Starting to feel some bizarre twinges, bubbles, and pokes. Pretty inconsistent, though.
Gender: 3 days, and counting! Keep your fingers crossed that he/she DOESN'T cross his/her legs!
Labor Signs: Nope.
Belly Button in or out? Still in, but starting to flatten. It looks pretty weird to me, actually.
What I miss: This week it was red wine.
What I am looking forward to: Finding out the gender, starting on the nursery.
Weekly Wisdom/Quote: A few people have told me to drink some caffeine just before going for the "big ultrasound" in order to get the baby moving around. We'll see if it works.
Milestones: Baby Trump is the size of a sweet potato (about 5.6" long, 6.7 oz)---for guys, that's the size of a small electric razor. :)

....Could This Be Movement??

I keep feeling very strange "twinges" down on the lower left side. The time is about right for me to be able to start feeling the little guy/girl, but it's hard to figure out if it's movement... so strange.

Any mommies out there want to weigh in on this?

Making Room for Baby Trump

Brian and I had an especially romantic Valentine's Day today (she says sarcastically). :) Nah, it was a good day, we knocked a few things off of our to-do list so at least we were productive!

We spent the first half of the day cleaning out the upstairs guest room closet in order to be able to have room for Brian's guitar cases/stuff. The plan is to turn the "girly" guest room (in the front of the house) into the new "Man Room/Guest Room," and the old "Man Room" will be the baby's room. We've started looking into furniture, bedding, and painting ideas for the baby's room, but we want to wait until we know the sex before we order anything. Once we find out, then it'll be full steam ahead!

After cleaning out the closet, we had so much junk that we had to bring an entire truckful to the dump (romantic, huh?). After that it was an exciting hour of grocery shopping, followed by walking the dogs, and then parking our behinds on the couch until it was time for dinner (fried ravioli---the baby needed them, he/she told me). At least we got to eat before Brian was called into surgery at 7 pm. Oh well, looks like it's gonna be a quiet night in for me, the kiddo, and the fur-babies. :)

Oh! By the way, Brian got me a cute Red Sox maternity shirt for Valentine's Day! Here's a pic--- can't wait to wear it when the season starts!

Weekly check in, etc...

How far along am I? 16 weeks, 1 day.
Total weight gain: 4.2 lbs
Maternity clothes? Just a few long-sleeved maternity tees from Target. Soooo comfy on the growing bump.
Sleep: Much better now that Brian is back. However, big mistake watching Paranormal Activity before bed the other night. :(
Best moment this week: Brian coming home from San Diego.
Movement: Too early....boo!
Gender: The "big ultrasound" is scheduled for February 24th! If the baby cooperates we'll be able to find out the gender!
Labor Signs: Nope.
Belly Button in or out? Still in :)
What I miss: Fitting into regular clothes.
What I am looking forward to: Feeling the baby move, finding out the gender.
Weekly Wisdom/Quote: Brian came home spouting off little tidbits of information he learned after reading "The Expectant Father" on his flight home from San Diego. He's after me to eat enough protein, exercise, etc. I guess he'll be my baby guru for the next few weeks! Ha!
Milestones: Baby Trump is the size of an avocado (about 4.6" long, 3.5 oz)---for guys, that's the size of a small stud finder. :)

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Over the weekend Brian and I were tipped off to a consignment baby sale at a local church in Apex. We hit it up and ended up getting out of there with a barely used Baby Bjorn for $15! Score!

Healthy baby!

Just got back from my check up, and according to Dr. McKenzie I'm right on schedule! :)

My overall weight gain thus far is good (up 5.2 lbs), and he says should expect to gain about 3 lbs per month give or take a few. I'm Rh positive, which is good b/c the baby's blood will be positive (which will ensure no anemia in the little one while in utero).

All bloodwork is great overall, and combined with our NT screening results from a few weeks ago the doctor doesn't think we need to proceed with the 2nd trimester screening (he thinks the ultrasound will just tell us anything we really need to know when they scan all of the organs/bones ---i.e. spina bifida concerns, etc).

Dr. McKenzie told me today that women are usually able to feel the baby moving (internally) somewhere around 18 weeks, but that it can be as late as 20-21 weeks. I've been feeling some flutters lately down really low, but it sounds like it's too early to be the kiddo.

The baby's heartbeat was 144 today-- I asked the doc if he had any guesses regarding the gender and he said it would just be a pure guess at this point and he didn't want to tell me one way or the other. But, he said, we can do the ultrasound to tell us the gender in as early as two weeks! Yay!

I went ahead and scheduled the "big ultrasound" for February 24th. As long as the baby is cooperative, we'll be able to find out if it's a he or a she! I was going to do it Feburary 17th (the day before my 30th birthday), but the time of the appointment wasn't fantastic. So we'll just have to wait three more weeks!

We'll post the sex as soon as we find out!