We just couldn't wait any longer!!!

It looks like 9 out of 24 of you were correct...


BABY Z IS A BOY!!! We accidentally found out at our last ultrasound (saw "it" when the u/s tech was making measurements of the legs, so she printed out a shot for us to keep) and we wanted to keep it a surprise, but I couldn't wait any longer. We've even picked out a name! Please meet Zane Alexander Zivney :)

We are so excited we're having a baby boy!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ultrasounds, purchases, and gifts, oh my!

Yesterday was our growth ultrasound and we got to see our "chunky" baby (at least that's how the u/s tech put it, because it looks like Baby has chubby little cheeks!). Baby is measuring about 1 week small, and the tech estimated Baby's weight to be about 3 lbs 9 oz. I guess we've got some growing to do!! Baby is positioned so that its head is down, its rump is up under my right ribs, and its legs are curved around to my left ribs. Baby also has one arm up near its head, the other down by its side. At least now we have an idea of what each protrusion is!

When the tech was looking at Baby's face, she zoomed in and showed us that Baby was moving its little tongue in and out of its mouth, like it was practicing sucking. Baby also had a grouchy look on its face, probably because someone was poking it with an ultrasound wand. "Quit waking me up, Momma. Just let me go back to sleep!" Here are the ultrasound pics, some of them with my comments in green to clarify what we're looking at. The sonograms are a bit confusing!

Baby's face.

Feet

Face again.

Side view of face.

Baby's profile!

After our doctor's appointment, we went to Babies-R-Us and bought our crib mattress, along with a breathable bumper, a mattress pad and two sets of crib sheets. We put the mattress, pad and bumper on the crib last night, so the crib is officially set up! Next we'll move on to something else... we need to get a dresser! Anyone know of somewhere we can get a nice (but not too expensive) espresso colored dresser??

Derek with the crib mattress

Ta Da!

Just a shot showing the inside of the crib so far! Sheets aren't on the mattress yet, that's just the mattress pad.

One more thing: this time we're giving a shout out to our friends Travis, Emily and Macie. They bought us the Fisher Price Rainforest Bouncer chair! Apparently their daughter Macie just loved it :) Thank you!!!

Oh how our baby grows...

Hello everyone!
We had our 3rd ultrasound appointment and my doctor's checkup today, and things look great. Baby was laying face down with its legs near my lungs and very stubbornly refused to let us get a good look at its face until the ultrasound tech made me empty my bladder and then, voila!, baby turned its head just enough for us to get a quick look. It looked like a little alien ghost. :) The tech basically collected all the measurements she needed, and she said everything looked on track. Baby's heartrate was a steady 167 bpm, and based on measurements Baby weighs 1 lb. 1 whole pound! It was fun to watch the ultrasound monitor because I could see and feel Baby kicking at the same time. Very exciting stuff!

Back during our 2nd ultrasound, they discovered that I had a low-lying placenta covering part of my cervix. They said that it was nothing to worry about yet; for most women with low-lying placentas, as the uterus continues to grow, the placenta moves with it away from the cervix (if it it's still covering the cervix by delivery-time, they have to schedule a c-section). This was part of the reason why they scheduled a 3rd ultrasound (to check my placenta location) and luckily when they checked today, my placenta had moved up and was no longer covering my cervix! Woo hoo!

In terms of the constant headache/migraines that I mentioned last night, the doc said it may be related to my blood pressure (which was raised slightly higher than normal for me today). I've got to make sure I keep calm so I don't get "pregnancy-induced hypertension". Yikes!

We've added the sonogram pictures below.

Baby's spine (looks like railroad tracks!) and head, face down.

Baby's foot, toes pointed to bottom right.

Looking straight down at baby's head, note the two ears!! Like little flowers to the left and right :)

Baby's face and belly! Baby is looking at us, laying on its side. Note little black eye socket.

Baby laying on its side, looking at us. Again, you can see it's little eye sockets.

Derek says our baby is just beautiful and I agree! :) We get to go back for a growth ultrasound when I'm 32 weeks, so we'll get to see Baby one more time before delivery. Apparently it will look much cuter, with baby fat on its little face and in its cheeks. Can't wait.

Testing, testing.... 1, 2, 3.

Helllllo world! Our New Year's Resolution was to create a blog that will allow us to keep family and friends updated on the "baby situation" (thanks Dan, for the idea!). The hard part is not creating the blog, but instead keeping it updated so we'll see how this goes!

To give a quick recap, Derek and I are expecting our first baby at the end of May 2009 and we are very excited. We're planning to wait to find out the sex of the baby until I deliver because we think that this is one of the few, true surprises left in the world. We've had 2 ultrasounds so far, one at 12 weeks to make sure things were progressing properly and one at 18 weeks to take measurements of Baby and determine the gender it we so chose (we didn't). Here are copies of our ultrasounds for your viewing pleasure!

Week 12 ultrasounds. Baby moved around so much, the ultrasound tech asked what I'd fed it before we came in. I replied "peaches". So, we think Baby likes peaches!

Week 18 ultrasounds. From top down: Baby's foot and toes of other foot, Baby's arm and head, Baby's profile! This time Baby was much more relaxed but sitting low in my belly, and the u/s tech couldn't get very many clear measurements so we get to go back in for a 3rd ultrasound at the end of January!