The doctor called

Hi! I'm just updating b/c the doctor called me today about my ultrasound on Monday. She said everything is fine so far. They didn't see any problems. They do need me to come in on September 2nd for a repeat ultrasound b/c they couldn't see complete images of the heart and spine, but aside from that Natalie looks healthy. The fluid levels are good. I'm measuring right on schedule. The said her weight was 275 grams (9.7oz).

Oh, and the AFP test came back (spina bifida) and it was negative, so that's great!
I'll update after my next ultrasound on the 2nd.

20 week u/s

Well, we loved seeing my little angel, but she wasn't very cooperative...We were there for about 1 hour and 20 minutes and Natalie just would not move in the right position. The tech couldn't get pictures of all 4 chambers of the heart or the sagittal view of the spine. i will have to go back in 2-4 weeks go get this done again.

The tech couldn't tell me if everything is okay or not regarding the images she did get. She said she's not allowed to say either way. My OB is supposed to be in tomorrow and will have looked at my u/s and call me.

My OB was out delivering a baby and wasn't there to meet with me after my u/s, which is what normally would happen. My sister was surprised that the tech couldn't tell me anything, but I guess if something were wrong they would want the doctor to tell the patient so that the patient could get questions answered.

The tech did tell me that natalie's heartrate was 143bpm and she is in the breech position (hope she flips in the next 4 months) right now. She double checked that she is a girl and we did get quite a few pictures of her. She also switched transducers so she could show her to us in 3D. She's still pretty small, so it was a little hard to see all her features, but she sure looked cute!

I have to go back so they can get more pictures in 2-4 weeks. I will make my appointment after talking with my OB tomorrow.

Please pray that nothing is wrong!

I will post pictures later

18W4D appointment

Today's appointment went well. Natalie was hiding low in my belly, so it took a minute to find her heartbeat, but it was beating at 140bpm. The tech thought she was probably curled up in a cozy spot sleeping. lol
Everything else is good. Lost 1 more pound, b/p was 112/72.
I think we've decided on the hospital that we will deliver at. It's not the one i delivered at before. There is a new one in the area that i've been considering b/c i've heard good things about it. The main reason is I might switch is because it is closer to us and to most of our family and friends who may want to come up to visit. I'm going to do a tour of it closer to my due date before I make my final decision. My OB says she really likes both hospitals. She has been impressed with the staff as well as the anesthesiologists at both hospitals.
So, that's all for now! :) my big u/s is August 4. I'll update more then.

We've picked a name! :)

Our baby girl will be named Natalie Corinne.
I think i've said before that Natalie means Born at Christmas/Christ's Birthday, which is fitting considering my due date. Corinne is just a name that i've always loved. It's pronounced ker-RIN. I've always thought it was such a beautiful name. It is a very old name, so i'm surprised it isn't coming back like the older names (Ava, etc). It was popular in the early 1900s.

Anyway, we really like it and are happy to have the name chosen. It was sweet. We weren't even really set on the name Natalie at first. We liked it, but it was still on a list of about 3 names. But ally and tommy started talking to the baby through my belly and calling her by the name Natalie. So it kind of stuck. We just decided on the middle name of Corinne yesterday.

IT'S A ...

GIRL! :)
Yes, we are having another baby girl! We are SO excited! Both of us were really excited for our appointment today. We really didn't have a preference at first b/c we already have one of each and see the wonderful things about both sexes, but once the tech said, "it's a girl!" we were both SO happy and excited. It's nice because having a boy last, it's been longer since experiencing having a baby girl (ally will be 6 in October!).
Ally was elated! And Tommy was very excited also, although I don't think he really cared all that much whether the baby was a boy or a girl. We took them out to dinner tonight and told them together. Ally kept saying that she wants a girl, so she was really happy. We talked about names. We're kicking around a few at the moment. Natalie is probably the one that we're most strongly considering. It means "born at Christmas" or "Christ's birthday" (depending on which book you look at), which is kind of neat since my due date is so close to Christmas. And it sounds good with all of our names. I also like Madeline and Matt likes Emma. So we'll see, but for now, those are the top 3.
Here are pictures! :)

Feeding the Ducks

Today, we went to feed the ducks with my friend, Meredith, and her boys. Her oldest son and Ally are in a Safety Class together. They've been friends for almost over 3 years, so they love spending time together. It's also fun to watch her younger son and Tommy together. They are starting to really be good buddies!
It was a lot of fun. The kids had a blast. There were only a few ducks that got close enough to feed, but the kids thought it was awesome. The fish were eating the bread, too!
One of the ducks was sitting on 3 eggs. :) The kids thought that was really neat.

We took pictures of the kids together. They turned out really cute.

Six Flags with the cousins!!!

Yesterday was one of the best days we've had in a long time. We went to Six flags with Matt's family!

The kids eyes were open with wonder as we pulled up to the gates and they saw the rollercoasters, ferris wheel, etc., from the parking lot. They have never been to an amusement park before, so they were squealing with excitement!!

I couldn't believe how brave Ally was! She's always been so timid, so I was really proud of her for going on two rollercoasters (they were the tamer of the rollercoasters, but still good sized!) Because of her height she had to ride with an adult, but she wouldn't have gone without one of us anyway. I was able to go on quite a few rides. I was very careful not to go on anything that jerks the body back and forth and stuff. One of the best rides was tidal wave. I've been on it before, but it was SO hot that it was nice to get soaking wet! lol I also went on the Tony Hawk rollercoaster. It is one of the tamer ones and Ally really wanted to try it. I figured if they allow someone of her height to go on it, it should probably be fine. It was a little faster than I thought it would be, but I didn't feel any pain or anything when I got off. I would say that it is faster than the Mine Train, but not too much faster. I went on that with Ally, too. I wouldn't go on the Ninja, Batman, etc. I felt those would be too risky for the baby. I think I was pretty careful.


It was kind of hard to tell if certain rides would be okay in pregnancy b/c EVERY ride had a disclaimer for pregnancy, heart conditions, blood pressure, back problems, etc. Even Thunder River, where there's no jerky movements, drops, etc. lol


I only got a few pictures b/c most of the time I was either on the ride with the kids or they were riding with their cousins while i was off trying to cool down.





We had a great time. The kids had a great time, too. I'm so glad we did that. It was great to go with Matt's family. It was great seeing my sisters-in-laws, nephews, nieces, and mother-in-law, and father-in-law. We all had such a nice time together. It will definitely be in the memory books for a long time. It's really nice that we were able to do something fun that everyone enjoyed. We split up for some of the time since the little ones couldn't go on the "big kid rides", but we spent a really good portion of the day together. My kids LOVE their cousins and I really don't think they'll ever forget this.







OH, and all 4 of us got in for $50! We had coupons that Laura found in boxes of Lunchables. They were "buy 1 discounted adult ticket, get a child's ticket free"! So that was nice! We still spent $26 on lunch, which consisted of 2 chicken finger baskets to share! lol But we expected to have to pay a ton for food anyway.


It was HOT and being pregnant, it was really hard to stay cool. I was sweating like a pig. lol Matt said that I was "sweating for two", which actually is probably true because all of my pregnancy books say that you should try and avoid getting too hot while pregnant. So i'm sure my body went into overdrive trying to keep me cool. I did all I could trying to take care of myself. Taking breaks when needed, drinking tons of water, stepping in air conditioned restaurants or restrooms when needed, etc. But it was still just so hot. I ended up having a horrible headache on the way home and Matt had to pull over so i could throw up (probably b/c i didn't have a 3rd zofran pill with me and drank a ton of water on the car ride home). Aside from the heat and sickness, it was a great day. The kids just loved it and were SO well-behaved! :)