ultrasound update...

My doctor posted the ultrasound results this afternoon, everything came back normal for pumpkin seed (aside from the heart which they couldn't confirm yet from the pictures they had to work with). That resulted in a huge sigh of relief from us!  The radiologist recommends another short ultrasound since the pictures of the heart didn't turn out due to fetal positioning. So hopefully my doctor requests another ultrasound...will need to call her tomorrow to make sure she does that...but looks like we'll have another chance to see whether pumpkin seed is a boy or girl...he/she better cooperate this time :)

20w0d

We had the big ultrasound this week...we had been looking forward to this ALL week. I had my regular OB appointment in the morning and I'm measuring right on track and the heartbeat sounded good.

Later that morning, we went to the ultrasound clinic and spent the next 40 minutes looking at our sweet little pumpkin seed. Unfortunately he/she was sleeping and wasn't in the mood to cooperate for mom and dad. We did get a few arm waves though...so he/she knew we were watching :)  The u/s tech was able to get some good shots but had trouble getting clear shots of the heart and outflow from the heart (which she said is more easily captured when the baby is facing up or towards my belly button). She told us that depending on what the radiologist thinks, there is a chance we will be called back in a few weeks to try again. The tech tried numerous times of poking at the little peanut to get them to flip but no such luck. For most of the appointment we either got the butt facing us or the butt in the air. She did get pumpkin seed to flip facing upwards to get a few profile shots but then it was quickly back to one of their two favorite positions. She didn't focus on any particular spot for too long and said everything looked good (even though they aren't technically supposed to say anything but Joe kept asking, "is that normal?" after every measurement...so I think she bended the rules a bit to give us some reassurance). So who knows. We should get the doctors comments early this week.

Next came the gender part. The tech was going to print out a picture and write the gender on it, then seal it in an envelope for us to open later.  So my monitor went off and Joe backed up so he couldn't watch the tech's screen anymore. The tech said even though she didn't seek it out yet, she did have an idea of what she would find, based on what she had already seen...but when it was time to get a good shot of that area, pumpkin seed played shy and wouldn't cooperate. There was a tech student job shadowing that day and the tech typed into the computer what she thought...the student agreed but was still hesitant to say because she wasn't 100% confident without being able to get a clear shot. So we opted to not know her educated "guess" and will hopefully get called back in for another chance...or we'll have to be team green until October, boo!

Otherwise, pumpkin seed is measuring right on target (within one day)....and weighing 12 ounces already which is right in the middle of where a baby should be at right now. The little heartbeat was a strong 135. We saw two arms, legs, feet and hands...he/she also looks like they have mom's profile.

I know I'm biased but here is the cutest little baby I've ever seen:

And two little feet and the cutest little butt that I can't wait to pinch in a few months:

And now for the regular weekly stats...

How far along?  20w0d or 50% YAY!!

Total weight gain/loss: +8 pounds (quite the jump from last week so I was a little worried but my doctor isn't concerned with it yet).

Size: Large Banana or Cantaloupe. Pumpkin seed should be around 10.5 ounces and 10 inches head to feet.

Baby Development: Baby is swallowing several ounces of amniotic fluid each day, which is good practice for their digestive system. Their taste buds are working now too (which means I need to start eating more veggies since studies show babies respond better to foods they've already tasted in the womb).

Best moment this week: Seeing our baby, it was our first u/s and so freaking cool.

Movement: Yes, I think so.  It is infrequent yet but sometimes when I'm laying on the couch or just about to fall asleep, I feel a whooshing in my belly.

Symptoms: No major symptoms, just noticing I'm slowing down a bit and get warn out a little faster. And my fingers are starting to swell a bit, the wedding ring is definitely getting tighter. Not sure how much longer I'll be able to wear it. Most nights I have run my hands under water to get it off.

Food cravings: Nothing new

Food aversions: None

What I miss: Alcohol...the holiday weekend and all the grilling out made me really thirsty for a drink.

Milestones: The ultrasound, of course :)  And passing the half way mark, I can't believe we're halfway there already.  SO much left to do...

baby poll...

Only a few more days to get your final guesses in...will we be team pink or team blue...or will baby be stubborn like his/her mom and not let us see?!?!?

Make your prediction now :)

we survived...

...the tornado storm of May 22, 2011. We were very fortunate to not have any damage and enough warning to take cover...the folks of North Minneapolis were not as fortunate. Our day started out as normal, I started laundry and we made a trip to Target for groceries. We even went to lunch for our nephew's birthday at Applebee's. We had not watched the news that day so we had no clue severe weather was a possibility. We just had spurts of downpours, no big deal, right? While at Applebee's, Mark was checking his phone and said more rain was coming so we better get to our trucks while it was clear. We headed home from there around 1:30pm. Joe had planned to go golfing with a buddy at noon but with the rain, they had to push it out until it cleared. When we got home, he was kinda crabby that he couldn't go golfing yet...so he headed downstairs to play xbox.  I got comfy and planned to catch up on some DVR shows. As I was picking up the kitchen, Shiloh needed to go out...I thought I better get her out before the rain hits again. This was probably around 2:15pm. As she was outside, the sirens started...I thought it was kinda strange but figured it was just a thunderstorm warning and they were just being cautious...then the emergency alert system came on and started beeping and said there was a tornado warning for Anoka county...I was like what?!?!? Finally the news came on with a doppler radar, there was a tornado on the ground, near 100/394 and it's path was headed right towards us...I yelled for Joe to come upstairs. We then started to get blankets and pillows collected downstairs...and then we just waited and watched the sky. Joe started to see things that were NOT rain or hail falling and said we all need to go down now. That scared me because Joe never goes downstairs, he always stays upstairs watching while I head down with the dog. It didn't get bad enough that we needed to crawl into our designated tornado spot (under the stairs where our well is located, there are no windows and probably the safest spot in the house)...but we were definitely in the basement and ready to go in if need be.

After it had passed, I watched the news and actually saw the tornado touch down in Forest Lake, live from a traffic cam. Later they had live footage from North Minneapolis...so devastating to watch. I can't even imagine. I guess the Twin Cities hasn't seen this much damage since a storm in 1981. The rest of the afternoon was pretty clear and by dinner time, it was sunny and clear skies. We took Shiloh for a walk after dinner and we found red shingles on our street...no one near us has red shingles...so we knew it was likely that tornado storm had come very close to us...and thankfully it didn't touch down or resurface near us. During the storm, there were possible sightings near Blaine and Ham Lake, which had our family and friends worried...but we haven't seen or heard much about it, so it must not have developed into anything major. I've only seen pictures of debris on the news from our area, so we lucked out again!

I know we are not in the clear yet...they predicted an above average tornado season this year. And with the spring warm up occurring so late, we've only just begun :o/