The toughest week so far...

I could never have anticipated having to write this post. Not only did I not expect to ever have to write this, it saddens me to know that it comes before the announcement of Eli's birth.

On Thanksgiving afternoon, we lost a wonderful woman, my mother-in-law. Debbie Bailey is Keith's biological mother and inspiration. I married a wonderful man with unbelievable manners, respect, and the kindest heart. I know that Keith would not be half of the man that he is today without the wonderful mother who raised him.

Debbie suffered from emphysema for several years, and has not been living the kind of quality life that she deserved. Her heart and desires were in a place that exceeded beyond her human abilities with the disease that was killing her. While it is sad that she has left behind many loving family members, we all know that she is truly in a better place. She no longer has to struggle with limitations that have been placed on her in the past years.

I must also add that 'Blogging Baby G' was inspired by Debbie. She was physically stuck an hour away, and could not be a part of the pregnancy like she would have wished. Therefore, she inspired me to start a blog to help share this experience with her. She wanted nothing more in life, than to meet her new grandson. She was so proud of her future grandchild, and we hoped it would be enough to inspire her to get better. While she won't be on this earth to share in the life of Eli, Keith and I are joyous to know that Eli truly has a guardian angel looking over him.

I do want to take a moment to thank everyone that has said prayers and called with their well wishes. It has meant a lot to have such a strong support system.

Despite the week's unfortunate events, Keith and I did manage to find some joy, yesterday. I have had an appointment scheduled at a 3D/4D ultrasound office for several months, and we did not want to cancel it. So, we went ahead and followed through with our appointment. It was certainly worth it, and we got some great pictures. We couldn't believe that we got some of the shots we did, surreal! I have attached them below, so you can share in the fun and games. Who do you think he looks like?

20 Week appointment

Well, the 20 week appointment finally came! We are over half way to Eli's birthday...can you believe it!?! God, I just remember how far away it seemed in the beginning. Heck, 12 weeks felt like an eternity. I also remember trying to imagine what it was going to be like to finally find out the sex of our baby. But, surprise, surprise...we found out early! I can't believe we got lucky and found out at 16 weeks. Heck, to be honest we really had a 90% certainty Eli was a boy at 12 weeks. We were certainly part of the lucky crowd that didn't have to wait. I think I would have been clawing paint off the walls in anticipation before the appointment (although, I love surprises...believe it or not).

So, everything is looking good..great, actually! We had our ultrasound first thing, followed by the follow-up 20 weeks appointment where we ask a bunch of questions. I have gained a total of 8lbs so far (take that for what you want). I still don't have a belly 'really'. Yes, you can easily see a pooch, and depending what I am wearing..you will see more of it than other times. However, I suspect that I am still looking like I am about 14-15 or so weeks preggo? I'll post pics and you can be the judge.

The ultrasound went well, and Eli didn't have the hic-cups! He was active at times, but not uncooperative. There was a moment where I swear he looked like he was running in place. Also, the technician took close-ups of his hands and feet. Can I just tell you, our baby some how managed to obtain orangutan hands from somewhere deep inside Keith and I's family trees... ha ha...they are huge! Check out the picture.

I swear we aren't naming him after Eli Manning, but if his hand remain in this proportion to his body he could conceivably be a quarter back or perhaps something else that requires your hands to be the size of a poodle. :) Seriously though, everything on him looks good. He weighs 12oz, and was approximately the size of a coke can during the appointment. According to the research, he is about to hit a big growth

spurt in the next few weeks. I anticipate this growth spurt will also bring on a spontaneous belly and weight gain, on my end. Although, I am thinking that the Braum's double dip ice cream cones and chocolate cake might also help contribute to that arena, as well.

I do have to add. After the appointment Keith and I did go get our flu shots. It kind of became a mad dash to see who still had the vaccines available, but we finally found them at Tom Thumb. Now, we just twiddle our thumbs and wait for the Swine flu shot. We also made a quick stop by the store to get something in celebration for Eli's Pre-20 week birthday. Opting out of the clothes options, we went with this really cute pair of shoes...aren't they precious!

And speaking of shoes...the 'kicking front' is still seeing minimal action. I certainly will feel him ever so often (nearly everyday). However, Keith has still yet to feel the little guy in action. This all goes back to where everything is located inside my belly. Eli has a perma-buffer preventing me (and Keith) from getting the full force of his blows. But, as always, I promise to update you when things change.

IT'S A BOY!

Well, it's official, Baby G is in fact a Baby B....boy, that is! :)  

Keith and I were preparing for what we expected to be two normal (and uneventful) appointments yesterday. Howeve

r, I started to call around to my offices to see what the appointments included, as I had growing concern about the 

fibroid I was told that exists on my uterus.  I was seeing if we were planning to monitor it or look into it further.  Come to find out the office that did the NT Scan 4 weeks ago, had us down for an ultrasound to 'check it out'.

So, our first appointment was with the midwife.  We got to hear the heartbeat, ask a ton of questions, and measured my stomach (really just made sure the 

uterus was where it was supposed to be.....it was).  After one successful appointment, we anxiously waited for our ultrasound at 2:30.....

We got to the office, had some blood drawn, and were escorted to the back room.  We were told that 'Valerie' would be in shortly.  When Valerie got there, she was a rock star!  She immediately got to work and showed us Baby G.  She ask

ed us ahead of time if we wanted to find out the sex, and we told her yes.  (Yes, we know that it was 

originally suppose to come in the form of a surprise party.  But, our nerves and excitement got the best of us, and we ditched that idea.  Not to mention, we really wanted to see the 'evidence' for ourselves'.)

There was Baby G!  Bigger than last time, and

 perfect! :)  Valerie started 

snapping pictures right away, arms, legs, profile, and 'the money shot'.  There was no denying it... Baby G, was in fact a boy.  He had no problem showing off the goods.  He was very uncooperative with Valerie, though.  He was moving a lot, had the hic-cups (again), turning over, and doing a lot of crazy stuff.  Keith looked at me at one point and said, "you don't feel that"?  I laughed, and said, "no".  Valerie did explain that based on where the placenta is located (in the front of my abdomen), it was actually acting like a buffer...so it might take me a bit longer to feel stuff.  However, ther

e was a point that he wailed out and threw a bunch.  It looked like one of those 'sock it bop ems'...or better yet, the old time fights from the old 'picture shows' with no sound.  Baby G, just straight arm punched me.  I was pretty positive that I certainly felt that!  I think seeing it on the monitor helped 

put the sensation into perspective fo

r me.  So, after that I could swear I felt other little hits throughout the day.  I can only describe them as a pin ball machine, or better yet..like rain drops.  Just random little 'pings' all around my stomach, with no rhyme or reason.  They hap

pen so quickly that I have to think twice about if I actually felt anything.  ha ha...I'm getting a kick out if.  But, I am yet to report the big 'first kick' post...or I guess in his case 'first punch'. 

So, Valerie's job came to an end, and she left us with a handful of photos!  Seriously, she was a rock star.  Then, the doctor sat down, and s

tarted doing a very thorough examination.  He checked EVERYTHING out (brain, spine, face, heart, ect..ect).  Baby G got a clean bill of health, so we are very excited!

Now that we had all of this amazing information, how were we going to share it with the world?!?  Well, first off, it appears that we pissed off a lot of people with our decision.  I guess it wasn't a good idea to tell everyone we knew, but weren't telling them.  We were just trying to buy time to come up with some creative.  

At the end of the day, I didn't give myself enough time to do anything over the top, so I fell back on the 'cake re

veal'.  It was still cute and fun, though.  Around 4:45 I decided to do the cake, so quickly baked it...dyed it blue, and let it cool.  Then around 6:00 I was quickly throwing icing on it, and trying my hardest to cover up every stinking' little blue crumb that I could find.  I was meticulously checking for any blue specks that I left on the counter, in the sink, ect...  

Due to the last minute nature of our 'reveal', we weren't able to have everyone over that we would have liked for the 'cake cutting', but it still became a fun event.  Also,  it became more interactive in the facebook world, than I would have imagined.  With the simple white cake on display for everyone to see, I think it was driving people crazy.  Finally, we cut, and our secret was out.....'it's a boy!"

Baby G's First Movie

Keith made this video for us today!  It has Baby G's heartbeat, too!

The NT Scan with ultrasound pics!

Ok, so many of you didn't know we had an upcoming ultrasound appointment, well that is because we just booked it a few days ago.  It is called an 'NT Scan'.  It is used for early 'prescreening' to test for down syndrome and trisomy 18.  While we are staying positive about the results, we really wanted the test to get another peak out 'Baby G'.  Our last ultrasound was at 7 week and our next one should not be until 20...so we were getting anxious.This was an abdominal ultrasound like you see in the movies.  The doctor went to work and start moving around my belly when Baby G showed up!  The little one was beautiful...I couldn't get over seeing its little arms and legs.  It was a little baby, and not a tadpole (like when last seen at week 7).  Poor thing had the hiccups, though! :(  I felt so bad for it, but it was kind of cute.  Every few seconds their entire body would jump.  Also, Baby G was moving around, moving it's arms and legs, rolling over, covering it's face...just about everything.

Also, we heard the heartbeat, as well.  A strong 160!  We will also have an appointment at 8am on Thursday morning with our midwife.  That should be a standard appointment, but we will get to hear the heartbeat again!

Here are some of the pictures from our wonderful day! :) 

Our first appointments and ultrasounds

Well, my first appointment was supposed to be at 'Week 8' (according to the OBGYN office..even though I knew they were off).  I was actually having some pretty severe cramps and stuff, so I called the office.  They went ahead and told me to come on in a few days early.

Keith and I went in, and they said everything appeared to be fine with my cramping.  They did go ahead and do a ultrasound just to be safe.  The office thought I was 8 weeks, I was thinking more like 6 to 7.  This would imply that you would see something on the ultrasound machine, instead there was nothing......black hole....

I was panicked!  I couldn't stand that I couldn't see anything.  They said I was probably too early to tell, but I couldn't imagine being any earlier than 6 weeks.  So, they told me to come back 2 weeks later..

Those were the hardest 2 weeks!  I had the 4th of July to distract me, but it was painful.  We also didn't tell anyone during this time without knowing anything.  I was pretty much assuming the worst this whole time.  I tried to take it easy and distract myself.

...Finally the 2 weeks passed (July 6th) I had never been so excited for a Monday following a 3 day weekend!  Keith and I went in nervously.  They started to do the ultrasound and I was seeing nothing......then, we saw a baby!!!  Not only that, but Keith immediately spotted the heartbeat!  Wow, what a relief...how exciting!  We saw the little white flicking light that was the heartbeat, and was told it looked to be very strong.

That was such a cool moment, and suddenly everything got really real!