15 Weeks... Going on 16!

Yesterday afternoon we had our monthly baby check-up and everything is progressing well!  We heard our baby's heartbeat again and it is just such a touching experience every time!  The doctor said our little one's heart rate was 150 beats per minute and strong.  I got a good bill of health as well and the weigh-in was not so bad either!  :)

Our baby's development during week 16 according my to iPhone app: our baby is the size of an avocado (4 to 5 inches long and about 3 ounces.)  Tiny bones in our baby's ears are in place this week, making it likely that the baby can hear our voices... and the polka music we will hear this weekend at Troy's parents 40th Anniversary bash!
 
And baby's busily boning up in other ways. For one, the backbone (along with the back muscles) is stronger now — strong enough, in fact, to enable our baby to work on straightening his or her head and neck even more. Baby's crown-to-rump measurement is between four and five inches in length, and weight is hovering around three ounces. 

This little one's a looker — with a face that has both eyebrows and eyelashes — but a skinny looker since there's no baby fat yet. And here's the skinny on baby skin: It's practically translucent now.

Next month will be an exciting one as we will have a detailed sonogram on May 23rd to check our baby's development and our regular doctor's visit on the 25th.  I can't wait to see our precious little one again in a few weeks!!! More pictures to come then...

baby, bAbY, BABY!!!

Troy and I are excited to share with everyone that we are expecting our sweet little baby this October!  So far the pregnancy has treated me very well, with no morning sickness or other adverse effects aside from the pure exhaustion of building a baby!  I feel extremely fortunate for this!

We found out that we were expecting via home pregnancy test on February 13th and received confirmation from the doctor's office (blood test) on Valentine's Day!

Our first appointment with the baby doctor was on Monday, February 28th and at that appointment we saw our little one for the very first time!  It was a truly surreal experience for both Troy and myself.  At that appointment they measured the baby and calculated that I was exactly 7 weeks.

We went back for our second appointment on Monday, March 28th and at this appointment we heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time!  Troy recorded it as an audio file so that we could listen to it often and share it with others (please excuse the interference between the doppler device and the cell phone.)  The baby's heart was beating at an astounding rate of 167 bpm.  This is apparently normal and one way the doctor can tell the difference between Momma's pulse and baby's heartbeat.

This last Tuesday (April 5th) we had an appointment with a specialist for the First Trimester Screening which we opted to do.  At this appointment they did some blood work and another ultrasound.  Since our little one was not cooperating for the last measurement they needed, we got to watch our baby for almost 40 minutes!  We were shocked to see the transformation of our baby since we first saw it at 7 weeks... now it actually looks like a tiny human instead of a bean!  The baby was also very active during the sonogram which really tickled all of us including the ultrasound technician (or maybe she was just laughing at me because I was so tickled!)  

Our next appointment is Monday, April 25th and at that appointment I will be 15 weeks.  For any of you wondering when we will find out the baby's gender... well that will be sometime in October when our baby arrives because we want to be surprised! :)