Official Due Date

We had our first doctor appointment yesterday afternoon. I was excited to be able to see a little glimpse of this peanut. These ultrasounds are really hard to see, but I'll explain each one as best as I can. The first ultrasound is the measurement to determine our due date. As you can see in the bottom right of the picture, the length of the baby measures just a little over 1.5 cm. So small! Based on that we determine that I am approximately 8 weeks, making the baby due December 18th.

This picture is really tiny, but the doctor focused in on the heart and below the picture you can see the heartbeats. The heart rate was 171 bpm, and the doctor smiled and said -- It's a girl. :) I know it's still too early to tell, but Kaiya's was about that too.
And our final picture. This one probably gives the best look at the baby. Head is on top, little body below. It's so tiny... and no legs yet, just kind of curled up.
So that's the photo gallery. Always so precious to be able to see the baby inside. I'm feeling pretty good. These were my most difficult weeks with Kaiya - weeks 6-10. And I have to be grateful because even though I say difficult, never any throwing up... just a little bit of nausea if I don't eat when I need to and tiredness of course. :) So I'm hopeful that this will be similar -- if so, only 2 more weeks of it.

The only thing we are going to be watching closely is the chance of delivering pre-term again. The biggest indicator of delivering pre-term is that you have delivered pre-term in the past. So my chances are pretty good. Although this time we will be paying a bit more attention to things. Start doing internal checks at 30 weeks instead of the normal 36 weeks.

We have a lot of exciting things going on. All of our exciting things are stressors though! :) My sister, Rebekah is getting married in 2 weeks! Ruthie, Kaiya & I are heading home Thursday night for a shower we are giving Bekah this weekend. I'm exciting about going home, haven't been since Christmas! It's funny how we used to go home so much when we first moved here and now the visits are few and far between. We will spend the afternoon with Tony's mom on Friday, I'm hoping to see a few friends here and there and then we will head back on Sunday. Then... about a week later we'll pile in the car again and come back the week before Bekah's wedding. And I'm organizing the food for her reception. WOW!! It's going to be a lot of fun, but I'm looking forward to the challenge. We've had a few changes at the last minute after I found out they only have one oven in the kitchen. HA HA! But with help from family and some good brainstorming we have a plan. This will really be fun -- I'm excited to do this and I think it will feel like an accomplishment when its all over.

We are also still praying for direction after Tony's graduation. Please be praying that God clearly directs Tony. As for me -- I'm content to go wherever. And so thankful for the peace that I have about that. While that makes me not a lot of help to Tony in the decision process, at least I'm not being really opinionated! So please pray with us! :)