As of 4/5/08, the Selinski family is one member larger!

This is A.M.'s friend Rachel posting the important details of Peter Jacob's arrival. I just got back from the hospital, and Mommy and baby are doing well, though Mommy, of course, is tired and in shock at how different real life labor is from the labor described on A Baby Story.

Here are the stats. Peter Jacob entered the world this morning, April 5, 2008, at 7:44 AM after a 16 hour labor. He weighed 8 pounds, 1 ounce and was 20.5 inches long. He has brown hair and a nice lower lip, half of which he likes to suck into his mouth. See for yourself:



He's a keeper! He has long fingers with equally long, well-shaped fingernails. The doctor says he is as healthy as can be. It's a happy day for this family!


4/6/08: Here are a couple more photos, per A.M.'s request.

Nursery

The nursery is complete. See what you think.....

We made collages of all the baby cards we have received and put them into frames as our wall art.

We love our blue and green "patchwork" bedding and window covering. I ordered it online so hadn't seen it in person but love it even more than I thought I would.














The dresser/changing table is from a great friend who saw our need and had the perfect piece of furniture for our baby's room.

We have a shelf above the dresser with some special baby items we have received. Under the shelf are pictures of P., the dogs and I that we had taken last Oct.















We have a diaper genie, a recliner rocking chair, and monitor. The theme accidentally ended up monkeys and Boxer dogs. Sock monkey on the shelf is from my friend J. The monkey hanging on the crib is from my childhood friend J. and the Build A Bear monkey in the crib is from Katie who made him just for her little brother when she was home at Christmas. The pictures of us on the wall have our dogs in them and there is a small Nintendog Boxer on the nightstand.
















I am so happy with the nursery. I have sat in there many times over the past week just thinking and pondering. I can't wait to sit in the rocker with our son. Each part of the room has special meaning to me.

Now all we need is a baby.

39 Weeks!

The countdown is on! I had a doctor's appointment this morning and my first internal exam due to complaining of intense pain in my crotch. The pain started a couple days ago and has increased in intensity since. I told her it was getting really hard to walk or lift my legs due to the pain. She decided to check and see what was going on. My doctor found that I am 2-3 cm dilated and 60% effaced. She was able to feel his head and said he was right there ready to come out. I know this doesn't mean the baby is coming tonight or even this week but it is a good start. The most exciting thing about being dilated and effaced is that I am a good way through the first phase of labor already. My doctor said I can pretty much count on a shorter labor because of my progress already. She said some women come in to the hospital at just a finger tip dilated and in labor and have hours and hours to go before even reaching 2-3 cm. I am pretty excited now, things are starting to happen. Like I said, I do understand women can be 2-3 cm dilated for weeks and still not go into true labor but in my mind this is a wonderful start and I am thrilled to know things are working towards me having our son in the near future.

Oh, and I gained 3 lbs since last week. That wasn't great news but that's ok. Our boy's heart beat was 151 and my blood pressure was 122/80. At this point I am not doing anything to induce labor or bring him here any earlier than he has planned. They say you can walk, have sex, eat spicy foods, do squats on an exercise ball, and some other things but I haven't tried any methods yet mostly due to the fact that P. hurt his leg last Monday and is on crutches right now. I am hoping for a recuperated husband before our boy arrives. I need a husband that can walk and carry a baby safely at the same time and until that is possible I am ok if our little guy waits a little bit longer. Hopefully the timing will all work itself out.

That's all for now. I will keep you posted. Have a great week and keep us in your prayers!

Votes-Updated 3/29/08

Wow, Peter Jacob is the big winner. So P. says to me last night, "I won't call him Peter, it's too formal". We have talked about the name Peter for months now and he has never disclosed this information to me before. I don't want two PJ's in the house, too confusing. (I know, I just wrote out PJ's name in my blog but the story didn't make sense unless I did. For privacy and security reasons I kept my names to first initials until now though PJ is still not his full name, just his initials.)

Peter Jacob-8 votes. (10 votes if you count the votes just for Peter.)
Daniel Archer-5 votes.
Mitchell Reed-4 votes.
Reed Archer-3 votes. (6 if you count the other votes for Reed.)
Wyatt Reed-3 votes.
Wyatt Archer-2 votes.
Wyatt Mitchell-2 votes.
Peter-2 votes.
Reed-2 votes.
Reed Mitchell-2 votes.
Daniel Reed-1 vote. (wasn't on the list, someone liked it though)
Daniel Jacob-1 vote (not on the list either)
Archer-1 vote.

What I gather from the responses is that any name on our list will work just fine. And that is kind of nice to know. The response to Peter has been mixed. People either love it or hate it but surprisingly enough it is in first place! I polled a whole group of people tonight about the name Peter and everyone said they didn't think of a boy's private part when they heard it or I said it. They all thought it was a great name and I had asked for their true, honest opinion. Glad to see it is a favorite even with the "boy part" thing. That is encouraging. It's been really fun to see what people say about the list!

I would love to get some more feedback and see what other votes come in. Hope you are having a great weekend!

Names

Ok, so after 5 people asked me today what we were going to name our son I felt a little pressure to come up with an answer. P. and I sat down tonight with baby name books from our friend R. and went through ALL the boys names in 3 of the 5 books. Here is what we came up with:

Peter
Wyatt
Archer
Abraham (Abe)
Reed
Mitchell

Peter Jacob
Peter Archer
Wyatt Reed
Wyatt Archer
Wyatt Jacob
Wyatt Mitchell
Daniel Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio's name in the movie Blood Diamond. We both thought it sounded cool because it used Archer, but it is his last name, not first.)
Archer Jacob
Mitchell Reed
Abraham Reed
Reed (?)

It's a good start right? What do you think? When you read them you have to put them with our last name to see how it sounds.

Regarding Peter-I feel this name is the most meaningful of all of them. It is close to my heart because it is my husband's name and he is a great person that I respect and love very much. But when I say it out loud I can't help but always think about how it sounds, what people think of when they hear it and the teasing he might experience by having a name so easily related to a boy private part. After considering the name Peter for a while now it is hard for me to find as much meaning in other names.

We have always liked the name Archer but it has come and gone off our list a few hundred times telling me I am not really sure exactly how I feel about it. It is unique and rare but at the same time sounds strong and cool. Last names used as first names is a new trend that I seem to like a lot. It means "bowman" and since my husband is a "bowman" or "archer" it seems fitting. It was our first choice of names many months ago and like wedding dresses they always say you should go with your first instinct or that you always go back to the first dress you tried on and buy it.

Wyatt is a new favorite. I thought it was too trendy to put on my list but tonight there was something different about it. P. loves western movies and Wyatt Earp is a favorite of his. He was a cowboy, hunter, miner, farmer and gambler. Seems like a manly name, like an old-time cowboy with rough hands from working the fields all day. Hard working, honest and strong. But it is by far the most popular and trendy name on our list and I am not sure I like that.

Mitchell is another new one we came across tonight. P. likes just Mitch. I don't have much to say about this name except that it means Who is like God which is neat. It is a form of Michael which is P's brother's name. It is popular but not too popular and I like that it is widely used which means people like it but not overly used to where every other boy these days has the name.

I just have to say I am so uncomfortable right now. My son has his foot or leg in such a bad spot I can hardly breathe, sit, move or concentrate. Ok, back to the names....

Abraham, or Abe, was a name that I always seemed to like. P. never really considered it until tonight when he added it to our list. It is a biblical name and I like the sound of it. It means father of the nations and like Mitchell is used but not over used. Hard to find a middle name to go with this one though.

Reed is one of P.'s favorite names. I like it but can't seem to find a middle name that sounds good with it. Any ideas? I think it sounds good with our last name too. It means a reed, duh. And it means red-haired which I am sure he won't be.

So there you go. I feel better now that I have some options. It was getting a little scary there for a while. I think I could be happy with any of these names which feels good. I would love to hear your opinion as long as you have only nice things to say. No just kidding. I do appreciate input on big decisions in my life, especially from those I love and respect. Will try to sleep now, looking forward to your feedback. Adios.

38 Weeks!

Ok, I am ready! Let's do this thing!

I had my weekly doctors appointment this morning. Everything went just fine. A quick check up of all the normal things and I was on my way. I gained just under a pound since last week so my total is up to 22 lbs. My blood pressure was good, baby's heart rate was 136 and he is still hanging out upside down, ready to make his head first exit into this world. Now if he would just make it! I know, I know, patience. He still is allowed 2 more weeks to cook and I need to let him do that if that's what he wants. I asked a few general questions like when to call and when to head to the hospital. So.....now we wait again, another week. Will something start happening this week? How will it feel to go into labor? Where will I be? What are we going to name him???? Ahhhhh! :)

Well, I am going to go back to bed now. I didn't sleep well last night then was up early for my appointment. We had a busy, but fun weekend so I am feeling like I need a little down time. The sun is out today but it doesn't feel warm. It was 17 degrees when I left for the doctor's this morning. Spring? Not here.

Here are a couple more pics from last week. One is from our dinner at the Potters house and one from church on Sat night where they celebrated P.'s birthday with an ice-cream cake. Those are our friends in the background, Luc and Charity.

Celebrate

It's been a week, and weekend, full of fun and celebrations. Today is P.'s actual birthday but we started the celebrating on Wednesday. Our friends the Potters had us over Wed for pizza, fruit salad and cake. It was a nice time hanging out, good food, good company..... :)

Friday P.'s co-workers had donuts for him at work then he and I went to Red Robin for a birthday Bonzai Burger. See picture. I made a cake and took it to work for him to share with his friends. I snuck the leftover donuts for myself. We shopped around town last night even though Grand Rapids was getting blasted with an Easter weekend snow storm. What a crock. This winter needs to come to an end, and soon!

Today was a nice day together. It was P.'s turn to run the slides at church tonight so he had to go in about 3pm and practice. I went with because I knew they were going to have cake for him and I wanted to be a part of the surprise, and have some cake. It was really cool of them to celebrate his special day and to thank him for his volunteer time and friendship. We really like our small Saturday night church family and are thankful for the friends we have made there and what the teachings add to our life. After church we finished off the big day with dinner at Famous Daves, a BBQ place P. likes a lot. It was a good day and I love celebrating my great husband. So happy birthday babe! Hope you know how much you are loved and appreciated. Thank you for everything you do for us and hope you have a great next year full of love, happiness, laughs, good times and babies. :)

And tomorrow is a celebration of another type. It is a celebration I feel many people overlook because we get so caught up in the egg hunts, big ham dinners and chocolate bunnies. But do we truly know and remember what the day is really all about? Easter is the day Jesus rose from the dead. 3 days before he was crucified to save us all and now has risen to return to heaven. My goal as a mom someday is to make sure my kids know and appreciate why we celebrate Christmas and Easter. Of course there will still be big ham dinners, egg hunts and chocolate bunnies but there will also be a time of reflection and study to make sure they understand the importance of these holidays.

Happy Easter to you all! Lot's of love to our friends and family.

Doc Appt

Nothing too exciting to report. Everything looks good. I didn't gain any weight, still 172. My uterus didn't grow either. His heart rate was 142 and he is still head down, body to the left and feet to the right. My Group B Strep came back negative so that is good. I have noticed a huge drop in movements from our little guy so my doctor wants me to count kicks and see if I can get at least 10 in an hour throughout the day. If I don't get 10 for two consecutive hours in a row I need to call in and they will check him out. I have yet to count today but will make sure to do that soon. You have to lay down, put both hands on your tummy and wait there until you get your kicks. So basically I need to set aside a few hours for this.

I made chicken enchiladas to freeze today. So far I have 4 meals and banana bread in the freezer for when the baby comes and I don't feel like cooking. The other meals are chili, chicken and rice casserole and taco casserole. I want to get a lot more made up because 4 meals are not going to last very long. I did finish organizing and cleaning the basement last week. It feels good to have that huge project done before the little man gets here. My bag is packed for the hospital and there are just a few little things left to do in the nursery and it will be all ready. P.'s birthday is Saturday so I am hoping to plan a few fun things and shop for something nice for him this week. All of our birthdays are going to be pretty close in date!

Well, hope you are all having a nice day. Love to everyone!

37 Weeks!

Our baby is full term! This basically means his lungs are fully formed and he is perfectly capable to survive on his own outside the womb.

I am feeling pretty good. No major complaints. More than anything I am just anxious. I am so anxious to have this baby. I am a little "nervous" anxious but more "excited" anxious and every time I feel a twinge of pain or a new sensation I wonder could this be it? But in reality my due date is still 3 weeks away and it will be a long 3 weeks if I keep thinking like this. :)

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. I will post an update afterwards. Here is a picture of P. and I from the shower a couple weeks ago. I got it from a friend last week and thought it was a cute shot of us.

The Nursery

No, not our nursery, the nursery at church. We worked the nursery tonight at church for the first time. They were in urgent need of last minute help and although we were not expecting to work tonight we were happy to help out. Let's just say I was out of my comfort zone. I was totally clueless and had no idea what to do. I have never been very good with kids. I don't relate well with little ones and it made me quite nervous to be responsible for a room of kids. Good thing P. was there with me. He took over when it came to the diaper changing and dealt with a little guy that wanted nothing to do with being there. Things got easier as the kids got comfortable and I settled in a little more too. All the kids were very well behaved and quite easy to watch. In the end it was a good experience for me but a little scary because I realized how inexperienced and awkward I am with kids. If you could have seen me those first few minutes tonight you would have laughed. But I am not worried. I know as soon as I hold our son in my arms I will know just what to do. I know my motherly instinct is in there somewhere, just waiting to come out.

For Good Luck Rub My Tummy

I found this shirt today at a consignment store and had to have it. It is too cold outside to wear out but it is a perfect shirt to sleep in and wear around the house. It is so cute and so me. Love the Buddha.

At the same consignment store I found a Diaper Genie for $5.50, a changing table pad for $5.00 and a Colorado State University (my alum) sweatshirt, sz 6 mo., for $1.50. What are the chances of that? So fun.

Oh, and I got a haircut yesterday. Was feeling bogged down by the long hair, needed a fresh change.

36 Weeks!

Ok, so I am not having a problem gaining weight anymore. Since my last appointment 10 days ago I have gained 5 lbs! That is 1/2 lb a day! They said, "172, good". I said, "172!!! I gained 5 lbs?!!!!!" The nurse said this happens after you go through a period of not gaining weight, your body and baby catch up with you. So, total weight gain as of today, 21 lbs. I think that is good. Enough.

Everything was fine today. Baby's heart rate was 148, my uterine measurements are back on schedule, and my blood pressure was perfect. Baby is head down and in a good position to make his way out. They did my Group B Strep test today but I don't know the results yet. And they found trace amounts of an infection in my urine and said they would do further tests and get back to me soon. I see the doctor every week now. Very exciting.

Oh, and P. re-tiled the back splash in our kitchen yesterday as a birthday gift for me. Here is a picture of him working on it. He is going to grout and seal it on Wednesday and then we will just do a little bit of touch up painting and it will be all finished. I love it already. Such a small thing can make a huge improvement in the look and feel of a room. He did a great job. I love my handyman of a husband.

Peter: the name

My friend R., who has written stuff up on names for me before, wrote this up for us on the name Peter. I think it would be such an honor to have a baby PJ or a PJ Jr.

Peter: the name
This is for A.M. who still has better reason to look at baby name books than I have, but really has to decide sometime very soon.

From The Last Word on First Names (1995) by Linda Rosenkrantz and Pamela Redmond Satran:

"For generations there have been pleasant childhood associations with this name - what with Peter Rabbit; Peter Piper; Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater; and, especially, Peter Pan. But as user-friendly as this makes the name, it has a solid, traditional side as well. One of the most important figures in the Christian hagiography is St. Peter, keeper of the Gates of Heaven. Born Simon bar Jonah, he was given the nickname Peter (which means rock) by Jesus to signify that he would be the rock on which Christ would build Christianity. Centuries later, there was Peter the Great, the czar who developed Russia as a major European power. Never as widely used as some of the more traditional Anglo-Saxon stalwarts, Peter has an enduring appeal to parents seeking a name that is outside questions of style and trendiness, familiar but not faddish. Peter also has some interesting derivatives: The Brits like PIERS and (more American-sounding) PIERCE (as in Irish-born actor, Pierce Brosnan), both of which were introduced to England by the Normans. Other versions around the world include PEARSE (Irish), PIETRO (Italian), PIET (Dutch), PEDRO (Spanish), and FERRIS (Celtic)."

From The Guinness Book of Names (1974) by Leslie Dunking:
"biblical; Greek (translation of Aramaic); 'stone'."

From The Baby Name Wizard (2005) by Laura Wattenberg:
"Popularity:#148
Style: Biblical, Timeless
Nicknames: Pete
Variants: Pedro, Pierre, Piet
Sisters: Theresa, Mary, Kathryn, Susan, Laura
Brothers: Philip, Stephen, Paul, Thomas, Martin
"There will always be Peters, but for now the momentum is moving away from this biblical classic. Pete just sounds a bit out of sync with current tastes - a white-bread name in a low-carb world. Take comfort, though, that nobody actually dislikes this name. Its day will come again."

From The Baby Name Personality Survey (1990) by Bruce Lansky and Barry Sinrod: SIMON: "(Greek) 'rock'
Image: Most people describe Peter as unpretentious, honest, and open. Some, though, think Peter is ambitious and compulsive.
Famous Peters: the biblical disciple Peter; actors Peter ("Columbo") Falk, Peter (Easy Rider) Fonda, Peter (Oceans Eleven) Lawford, Peter (Lawrence of Arabia) O'Toole, Peter (The Pink Panther) Sellers, Peter (The Maltese Falcon) Lorre; singers Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, and Mary, Peter Frampton; rock musician Peter Spero; basketball's Pete Maravich, Pete Anderson; children's story hero Peter Pan; comic book hero Peter ("Spiderman") Parker; the nursery rhymes "Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater," "Peter Piper."

R.'s take: I love Peter. I would have used it myself if its combination with my last name wasn't so outlandish and ridiculous. It's solid and dependable and steady and good. It fits with many last names because of its universality - there are Peters (or Petrs, Pyotrs, Pedros) everywhere. It's historically and hagiographically significant. A winner.

Thanks for the great info R. I like it. We will see where it goes from here. As you know I have reworked my list of favorite names many times over the last 9 months.

I have my week 36 appointment tomorrow morning, 9:30am. There is no way I didn't gain weight this time. I ate a whole Costco sheet cake in 3 days. I have been having some pain in my lower abdomen today so will have them take a look at that tomorrow.

Another Year Older

Today was my 31st birthday. Well, yesterday was since it is after midnight here. It was a nice day and once again I go to bed thankful for my wonderful life.

I had lunch with my friend J. today at Panera. We sat and talked for almost 2 hours. We always have so much to talk about even though we talk or see each other almost every day. She makes jewelry and gave me a beautiful pair of earrings today that no one else has yet. I love them and maybe you can see them in these pictures. Here is her website if you want to check out her stuff. Chella's Collection at www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5547205

After lunch I went shopping.....for the baby of course. :) I can see how life changes once you become a mom, you no longer think of yourself, everything is for the kids. I went to Target, a couple thrift stores and the mall before heading home for dinner. We ordered Pizza Hut and had our friends the Potters over. They brought me a bouquet of flowers and P. had ordered a Costco sheet cake for dessert. My favorite, chocolate with chocolate icing. The only thing missing was my friend Ling who I always enjoy Costco cakes with. I received a lot of phone calls and cards and P. brought home a beautiful flower arrangement for me. It was an all around nice day. The sun was even out today. Don't let that fool you though, it was barely 20 degrees. I thought a couple times today that this was my last birthday without children. From here on out I am a mom. Weird.

Baby Shower

I had the most wonderful baby shower. It was more than I could have hoped for. My sweet hostesses didn't miss a single detail, everything was beautiful and so thoughtful.

They served a gorgeous spread of fruits, vegetables, cheeses, meats and crackers. There were chocolate chip cookies, cupcakes and M&M's for dessert. The cookies and cupcakes were handmade with lots of love. Each little baby foot on the cupcakes was cut out of fondant and I was so excited to have such a special dessert made just for me, and the guests of course....

The table was decorated beautifully. My favorite flower, the Hydrangea, was in the center and there was stork confetti spread all over. One of the hostesses made blue bootie cups that contained blue and green M&M's in them, so cute. They had fun games with great prizes that I think everyone enjoyed. We spent a majority of the time opening gifts. I felt so blessed by the friends that attended the shower and all the gifts that were brought and sent in by those that couldn't make it. I had such a fun time opening all the fun baby boy things. We received so many wonderful things including practical items like diapers and wipes, helpful items like a bather, swing and Bumpo, and of course cute things like outfits, bibs and booties. P. and his dad joined us towards the end of the shower and got to see me open some gifts and chat with some of our friends.

There were so many details. I wish I could talk about everything but I am sure I would bore you to death. I had such a good time and hope all the guests enjoyed themselves too. I feel so thankful for my wonderful friends who planned and gave the shower for me and for all my friends and family that showed up and made it such a memorable event for me.

My Girls

"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."
-- Unknown"No matter how little money and how few possesions you own, having a dog makes you rich." - Louis Sabin

35 Weeks!

35 weeks yesterday! We had a busy baby weekend this last weekend with our Childbirth Prep class all day Saturday and the baby shower Sunday. Must be a baby on the way or something!

The childbirth prep class was good. Most of it was review after reading so much online and in books but I am still glad we went. I learned some stuff I didn't know and saw some things I hadn't seen (and some things I wish I hadn't seen). The video of the lady getting an epidural and giving birth was a little hard to watch. I started to sweat during that part. But they did teach us some relaxation techniques and breathing exercises for when things get tense. I had a hard time picturing myself really using them though since it took concentration just to stay focused in class, wait until I am in hard labor.

Sunday was the shower but I will talk about that in another post. Maybe tomorrow because I have so many great things to share and pictures to put up. My friend Erin from CO came in for the shower and spent the weekend with us. It was so wonderful to see her. I was able to share hiccups and kicks with her and we spent lots of time catching up and talking baby. It was neat to be able to share this special event with her too.

So, 35 weeks! All my weekly email updates tell me things I already know. The baby is getting big and gaining weight at record pace. I am getting really uncomfortable, peeing all the time, and having a hard time breathing. I need to start getting a bag ready for the hospital, the nursery prepared and buy last minute necessities. They also recommended I double recipes now and freeze meals to prepare for the busy days ahead as a parent. Oh, and to start addressing baby announcements so it isn't such a big job once he is here. All good suggestions, we will see how much energy I can muster up to accomplish them.

I guess he is over 5 lbs at this point but we already knew that because the ultrasound told us last week. He is about 18 or so inches. After my next appointment I will start seeing the doctor every week. Sounds serious! :) I am doing great. Like I said, normal third trimester symptoms but overall I am still doing well. I can tell that in a couple weeks though I am going to be overly ready to get this guy out. I was dreaming of having this foot out from my ribs tonight and how good that is going to feel to finally have relief. I am waddling like a fat duck now and any amount of drink makes my bladder painfully uncomfortable. I have one of those nice lines that shows up on your belly around this time and found a few stretch marks the morning of the shower. They were hard to accept but I have come to terms with my new role as mommy and new mommy body that comes with it. So, 5 more weeks, give or take a little I am sure! After my class and shower I am feeling more prepared and more excited than ever.

Thanks to everyone who gave me my shower, came to my shower, participated, sent gifts, sent their love and who follow me through this blog. I feel very blessed. I AM very blessed.

Our Baby Boy

This is our little guy in 3D. Isn't he so handsome? I love his flat nose, full lips, knobby chin and full hair line. He is precious and I am so in love with him.

Here is a picture of his nose and lips, and I think that is his little knobby chin again. It is a really up close view. The arrows point to the bottom of his nose with his lips to the left and then his chin. You cannot see anything else on his face due to other things in the way.

We counted them, 5 toes. The arrow is pointing to his pinkie toe. His other foot is up against his heal so you can really only see half of his foot. Looks like he has his dad's big feet and you know what that means......big shoes. ;)

And here is a shot of his hair. The arrow is pointing to the fuzz that was very obvious. The ultrasound technician said he has lots of long hair that was very visible in the images we were seeing.

Seeing him has made me even more anxious and excited to meet him. He looks so perfect. I can't wait to have him a part of our life and be his mom. He is going to get so much love and we are going to have such a wonderful family. See you soon little man!

Fat and Happy

Our little boy is just fine. In fact, he is measuring ahead of schedule. Just like I expected. How can a big strong girl like me have a small baby? Just didn't make sense. According to the measurements he is a big boy, weighing in at about 5 pounds, 10 oz. Oh, and yes, he is still a boy. We saw confirmation of that again today. So cute! Amniotic fluid is sufficient. He is head down, body on the left and feet on the right confirming that his feet are up under my ribcage on the right side. We were able to see bones as she took measurements. We counted 5 toes on one foot as she measured it. We saw his organs including his heart, liver, kidney, and stomach all in good working order. He was breathing amniotic fluid in and out of his nose and we could see him swallowing. His eyes were closed the whole time but we did get a beautiful view of his flat asian nose and big full lips. He has a full head of hair. The ultrasound technician commented on how much hair he has and how long it is. I am going to guess he got that from me! :) Towards the end of the exam she switched over to the 3D ultrasound machine and we got to see our handsome little man in all his glory. He is so cute. I feel like I know him. The 3D machine was amazing. We were so amazed at the features we could see in such detail. His face was smashed up against the placenta so she had a hard time getting a picture to come out well but after a little work she was able to give us a clear shot of his handsome face. Again, it is hard to find words to describe seeing your baby's face for the first time. And not just an ultrasound picture but one with details that show how he really looks. I am so thankful for the chance to see him again today. In some ways I am glad I measured small and had the opportunity to take a peak at him again. And in some ways I would rather avoid the worries and just have a normal, uneventful pregnancy. I feel so blessed that everything went so well today and that we got to experience seeing him again, together. I appreciate that my doctors are attentive and cautious. Like I always say, better to be safe than sorry.

I will try to get some of the ultrasound pictures up here tomorrow. It's a little late and I am pretty tired. It was a long but good day. Thanks to all who called to check in with me today and for everyone who kept us in their prayers.

Today's Doctor's Appointment

My appointment this morning wasn't as uneventful as I had hoped. I haven't gained any weight in over 2 weeks since my last appointment. My uterus is measuring small, about 3 weeks behind schedule. And of course, I don't "look" 34 weeks pregnant. Everyone notices that and makes sure to let me know. The first thing the nurse said to me today was, you aren't really 34 weeks pregnant are you? I said, everyone says that. Then she weighed me and said I hadn't gained anything since my last appointment. She commented that it was odd but that the doctor would address it when I saw her.

My blood pressure was fine, and his heartbeat was strong at 145. I saw Dr. Bennett today, my favorite doctor at my practice, and I am glad I did because I needed the encouragement. She was a little concerned that the baby was developing a little behind schedule. At my last appointment they said I was on the low end of the weight gain scale but that they were not worried about it yet. But this week they decided an ultrasound would be helpful to see how he is doing. They said I should have at least gained something since the baby would have grown about a pound himself over the last couple of weeks, not to mention my own weight gain.

I am not that worried though. In my heart I am pretty sure everything is ok. I have always thought it was weird that I haven't gained much weight and that I look so small, except for my cheeks, since I have never been a small woman. I eat massive amounts of food and don't exercise due to the contractions and cramping that results from any activity that I do. I think my tummy looks small because I have a long torso and am tall. I don't know why I am not gaining weight, that is the thing I am probably most confused about. And I don't think my uterine measurement is that off schedule to be cause for too much concern. So, I have an ultrasound tomorrow at 11:30am to confirm that everything is ok. And most likely things are just fine. But...there is some reason for concern otherwise they wouldn't be doing an ultrasound tomorrow and that makes me a little worried. If my doctor is a little worried then I am too. P. is going to go with me. And I will update my blog after we find out how things look. Pray for us. I just hope he is healthy and his development is fine, just a little smaller than normal.