Leap Day News

Today was an exciting day for me and my husband and our growing family. I'm in the 19th week of my pregnancy, and this morning we went in for our second trimester check-up and ultrasound. We are very happy to report that everything about our baby at this stage of development looks normal and healthy (yay!). Baby was kicking up a storm throughout the proceedings, though I can't feel all of Baby's kicks yet: I feel a flutter now and again (= so awesome), but it will likely be another week or two before Baby is big enough for me to feel movement all of the time. All of Baby's bones are present and accounted for: seeing this up on the ultrasound screen was so amazing. And, Baby's size and shape all indicate that the due dates we've been working with (July 23-25) are still spot on.

Waving 'Hello!' Look at that hand--so darned cute!

This is also the point in the pregnancy when it's possible to learn the sex of the baby, if the baby cooperates and the parents wish to know. Paul and I decided we wanted to know, providing of course Baby decided to reveal this information to us. We would be excited either way, but knowing would allow us to relate more fully to Baby while Baby is still in the womb--our job as parents began 19 weeks ago, after all.

Well, Baby was acting rather demure this morning when the cameras were rolling, sitting up with legs crossed versus head down with rump up; the latter position makes it much easier to get a view of the necessary anatomy. However, our ultrasound technician with almost 30 years experience managed to find an angle where she could say...with quite a fair amount of certainty (85% she said)...that our little one is...

 A girl!

We're so excited! Our ultrasound technician froze the picture on the screen that she used to make this determination, and explained to us what we were looking at: "If it's a hamburger, it's a girl. If it's a hot dog, it's a boy." (How cute is that?) And we were definitely looking at a hamburger (ha!). Of course we don't have a picture of this, but suffice it to say it was super cool and wonderful (and did I mention cute?).

So, Paul and I are two very happy, proud and excited parents to our little Rosebud, which is how I've decided I'll refer to the little dear here on my blog. A few more photos:

Hand up to her cheek

Telling us it's all good with a thumbs up!

And, so we can all see how she looked when she was a bit younger, here is Rosebud at 8 weeks:

Amazing, huh? Our little Rosebud at 8 Weeks

Now, while we know with some certainty that our little one is a girl, we still realize it's in God's hands and it's still in the realm of possibility that our little one is a boy. We figure, though, that as long as we're open with our loved ones and with ourselves that the whole thing is still in God's hands, all will be well. And if our little Rosebud turns out to be our little Buddy instead, then it's all good! (Did you see the thumbs up in the picture above? Baby knows it's all good, and so do we! How can it not be?) Our awesome ultrasound technician even offered to take a quick looksie in a month when I return for my next check-up to see if the baby is in a position to offer a better view. So, perhaps we'll know with even more certainty then. But either way, we're happy and thankful for a fantastic doctor's visit today!

A Scranton Bear for our Scranton Baby :)

I picked up this guy for our little Rosebud this afternoon to commemorate receiving such exciting news about her on Leap Day. I couldn't resist posting something to my blog today, if only to see the "February 29, 2012" timestamp on the post, and what better news could we have to report than this?

Did anyone else experience something noteworthy today?