Name Poll

We're looking for a little input on Baby Girl's name. There are no guarantees that the "winner" will be what we end up naming her, but I figured this would be a fun way to put our finger on the pulse of our loved ones' opinions. Her name won't be officially decided upon until we see her sweet little face in the delivery room, but this might help us whittle it down to one or two. Have fun!

This poll is also open to the general public on twiigs.com, a neat little polling site I came across.

more at twiigs.com...

Birthday Pool

It's time to start guessing when Baby Girl will make her official debut! We'll name her after the winner! Not really, but you'll get bragging rights. ;)

Click the following link to hazard a guess:
http://www.expectnet.com/games/babywedewer

Good luck!
James, Andrea & Tommy

32 Weeks - New Ultrasound

Here are a few shots from Baby's 32 week ultrasound. Now that she's so big it's difficult to capture more than one appendage at a time, so we focused on her cute little face. The ultrasound tech kept commenting on what chubby cheeks she has at this point. We can't wait to meet our little chipmunk! Her estimated weight is 3 lbs. 14 oz. (based on measurements from this ultrasound).

Profile. Her forehead is the bright white curved line on the left. You can also see her upper arm extending up like a little chicken wing next to her body:

Face. Now, for this one you have to look a little harder. Concentrate on the crescent moon shape toward the top, which is the left side of her face. Cheek and chin comprise the brightest part of the picture. The void just the to the left is her nasal cavity. And above that you might be able to spot the little black slit between her eyelids...her eyes are open!

Pretty cool, eh?

The night before the ultrasound I felt a very strong rolling sensation in my belly. This was the biggest movement to date, really. The end result? Baby Girl decided to reposition herself in the womb so that she is head-up-bottom-down, known in the obstetrics community as breech. She still has several weeks to change her mind, but I thought the timing of her move was pretty funny.

Here are this week's belly pictures. I'm growing out of everything that isn't completely elastic. I can tell she's growing leaps and bounds because the skin on my stomach is starting to itch from the stretching...time for lots of cocoa butter in hopes that I don't get too many stretch marks.

30 Weeks - 3/4 to the Finish Line!

30 weeks down, 10 more to go! (I think we're working on monthly photos instead of the weeklies I promised earlier!) Baby Girl has grown a LOT in the past three weeks. According to my favorite pregnancy website, www.babycenter.com, she weighs nearly 3 lbs. and measures approximately 15.5" tall by this point. I've had a few Braxton-Hicks contractions, nothing painful, but gentle reminders to slow down and encourage Tommy to walk on his own instead of riding around in my arms.

We are making great progress on her nursery. I've been very busy sewing...how domesticated! I just finished making her diaper stacker (my first-ever sewing project using a pattern) a throw pillow and curtains to match her bedding. They all turned out great and I can't wait to share pictures once we get the room painted. We (meaning Daddy) will be painting very soon and I'll post pictures once we have the right shade of green on the walls. Look how much she's stretching my skirt! I'm wearing the same one in the Week 22 picture for comparison.

Week 27 - Third Trimester

Wow, I've been a slacker with Baby Girl's page (and a slug with her brother's, too). We went on a 3,000 mile road trip for two weeks, so I have a good excuse! I will post pics and stories from our trip on Tommy's page as soon as I can.

If baby's growth was in question before, she's definitely putting on the ounces now! Here's my latest belly picture, taken at 27 weeks. No, Shannon, I wasn't sucking in in that last one! Ha ha.

And here's a bare-belly pic, so you can compare apples to apples. :)Today was our monthly OB appointment and all is going well. Baby's heart rate pitter-pattered along at 147. Doc pointed out that my uterus now stretches several inches above my belly button, which explains the heartburn when I eat a large meal! We return next month for an appointment and one last ultrasound to check our little princess's growth.

Week 23

All is going well with #2! We had our monthly appointment with our OB on Friday and Baby's heart rate is 154...very steady. And comparing this week's picture to Week 22, it almost looks like my belly shrunk. I guarantee it didn't!

Week 22

She's still growing! It's hard to believe a couple of weeks ago I was excited about already being at the halfway mark...now I can't help but think I'm ONLY at the halfway mark. Las Vegas' soaring temperatures aren't helping to make this phase of pregnancy any easier. We've been well into the triple digits lately and it's quite miserable. Thank goodness for air conditioning!

Baby Girl's weight, approximately one pound, is starting to press down on my pelvic bones already. A pound doesn't sound like much, but it can certainly feel like a whole lot more at times. I don't remember this shift happening nearly as early with Tommy. I'm trying to limit lifting heavy loads - groceries, Tommy - to ease the discomfort.

Tommy is getting more and more excited about the baby. Now that he can see my growing belly I think he might understand that Baby Sister is inside. He even goes so far as to speak directly to her...he crawls next to me on the couch, leans over my belly and says, "I love you, Baby Sister!" with a pat and a smile. It's the sweetest thing. He's still, by the way, talking about how he helped to pick out the lamp for her room.