Still in the D-A-R-K...

Well, Baby Garrison is already showing us that he is one STUBBORN little child. Matt and I went to the DR on Tuesday for my 20 week appointment (and with the hopes that we would find out if Baby Garrison is a boy or a girl) and after three attempts to see his 'parts' during the ultrasound, the DR said that he couldn't get a read what-so-ever. The reason being--that our stubborn (yet precious) little one was straddling his umbilical cord. We could see the cord and all its knot-like looking curves go from his stomach straight down in between his legs. The DR tried rubbing my stomach to get him to move and I tried talking to him to get him to move (I told him to cooperate!), but N-O...he wouldn't budge. So, much to my complete disappointment about not finding out the gender, we're going to have to wait 4 more weeks until my next appointment to get another look into the inner-workings of Baby Garrison's organs.

On the flip side of my disappointment, there is great news to report. The baby is doing great and is growing perfectly (he's already about 306 grams--or .674 lbs). He's developing according to schedule and is healthy--which is the most important thing. So far, his nugget is in the 'normal' size range, so unless he goes through a cranium only growth spurt, his head should be more the size of a normal human being's and not the 'plus-size' of Matt's...which is great news for me since I don't look forward to the possibility of a broken tailbone like Laura got when giving birth to Matt.
The DR took about 10 different pictures of the baby and took all sorts of measurements, so here is the ultrasound picture he gave us to take home. I wanted to ask if he was kidding--because of all the really cool pictures of the head and body, he gave us the one of his leg. But, beggars can't be choosers, so I guess eventually (when we move) I'll get my whole file filled with all the other cool ultrasound pictures. Even though it's just his leg, I still think it's pretty cool. For those of you who look at ultrasound pictures and have no clue what you're looking at (I'm that way), here's a little explanation...

Baby G's right leg is at the very top of the picture. He happened to be upside down the entire visit, so just imagine that he's doing an upside down 'L.' From left to right in the picture, you can see his right foot (and little heel!), his right fibula/tibia (shin bones), the bend in his knee, and his right femur bones inside his leg. It's pretty cool how much you can see and how developed he already is (and he's only half-way 'made').

On a funny note, our little darling already knows when I'm talking about him. Since our appointment on Tuesday, every time that I say the word 'stubborn' in reference to him, he kicks me! It's kinda cute and funny now, but I know that as time progresses I'm not going to think it's so cute (I'll probably think it's more annoying!).

Well, we'll let you know if we find out the sex earlier than 19 July (my next appt.)...and chances are that we will. I just can't wait that long (we might pay another OB in Bitburg to do another ultrasound before my next appt.), so we'll see.

Amy's New Toy...

Well, despite Matt's objections, I rented myself a new 'toy' to use over the next 4-5 months. Matt thought that I would be obsessive about the toy and that it would do nothing 'positive,' so since receiving it in the mail, I haven't used it...up until yesterday. So, at this point, you're probably wondering what kind of toy I rented...so I'll spill the beans and fill you in on my excitement.

The 'toy' I rented on-line is a Fetal Heart Rate Monitor. It's a high-tech Doppler with a 2 MgHz probe. The company I rented it from is run by an OB/GYN and the Doppler is really safe (it's the same type that they use at the DRs offices-- and I had to get my OB's okay on it before I was able to rent it). The reason Matt didn't think it was a good idea is because he thought I would be using it all the time and get worried/freaked out if I couldn't find the baby's heartbeat every minute of the day. Since I didn't use it until yesterday (and I've had it for about a month now), I think Matt realizes that I'm not going to get obsessive compulsive about it. I have been really proud of myself for not trying it any earlier, as I was so excited when it came in the mail, but I wanted to prove to Matt that I wasn't going to be freakish about having it.

Well, yesterday, we were having a lazy day and slept in (until about 9am) and I thought I felt the baby move. I've thought I've felt him for a few weeks now, but I haven't been sure, so I haven't really made a big deal about it. Yesterday's movements felt a little bit different than what I've been feeling so I asked Matt if I could pull out the Doppler and try it out. When it came in the mail he said that he didn't want to have anything to do with it, but yesterday he said sure. So...we covered my lower tummy with some ultrasound gel that came with the Doppler and the search began. It was kinda hard to find the baby's heartbeat (my heartbeat was so loud) but after about a minute we found it. It was such an amazing feeling to hear the little pitter-patters of his tiny heart just thumping away.

The coolest part of the Doppler is that you can connect it to your computer and record the heartbeat to your hard drive as a wav file. So, after finding his heartbeat yesterday, I ran downstairs and connected the Doppler to the laptop (in hindsight, it would have been easier to have brought the laptop to me!) and recorded his heartbeat so that I could post it/email it out today. As the weeks progress, I'll keep posting new recordings on the site for you to hear. If you didn't notice, the link to hear Baby Garrison's heartbeat is over on the top of the page on the RIGHT.

I think it's totally cool and hope you do too...especially since we are so far away from everyone during this exciting new experience.