Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

 That's what little boys are made of...and I guess we should know!

Well, it is time to start spreading the news, I guess.  Yes, I am with child again and praising God for a healthy growing baby boy!

We had our big ultrasound and everyone kept saying it was a boy because he was moving so much and not cooperating for the scan.  Hmm, he already has a reputation, poor thing!  We had a tech student at first and she could not tell the sex at all.  Even when the second, more seasoned tech came in she could not find out after many tries!  And then finally we got the money shot (as seen above).

No great profile shots but I like this one of him stretching out his spine a little (it's better without the glare from the camera...darn you shiny paper!)

And this is my favorite (also not a great quality photo of it) with the little hand waving at us :)

We had thought about not finding out the sex with the pregnancy, but as the ultrasound date kept getting closer I was finding myself wanting to know...but not wanting to wimp out!  My reasons for not wanting to know didn't seem all that important any more, so when Ben said, "Let's find out.", I didn't hesitate to say, "OK!".

This pregnancy has been really good, almost too good at times.  I felt so good during the first trimester that I had almost convinced myself something must not be right!  I was probably the only pregnant woman wishing she had morning sickness!  Of course, now that things seem to be going along well I won't complain about that at all!

Our due date is February 3rd, 2011.  I love that I can feel the baby moving now.  Tobi has no idea why we keep telling her there is a baby in mommy's tummy.  Yesterday after we told her she was going to be a big sister I heard her repeating "Big sister" and "Little Brother" a few times.  However, I did hear her say "Little sister" when she was playing with her babies yesterday.  Sorry to disappoint you, Tobi girl!  She has no idea how life is about to change for her :)  Who am I kidding?  I am probably the one who is going to have the biggest change!  But I am ready and excited for it!  I am so thankful for this gift!  And I am thankful that I have a God who I can trust completely, especially in those times where the future is unclear!

Update:  I originally posted this last Thursday for a total of 15 minutes.  No sooner had I typed those words about trusting God for the future than I found a message from my doctor on my phone.  I had just seen her that morning but the official ultrasound report (from the day before) had not come back yet.  She said they would only call if there was something to report when they came in.  Well, she called, left a message that she had some information to discuss, but the office was closed.  So Ben and I had no choice but to hope for the best and prepare for the worst!  For the next several hours and a fitful night's "sleep" I prayed and pleaded...first for a healthy baby, but mostly that God would give us the grace to deal with whatever news was ahead of us.  As it turned out the call the next morning actually allayed a lot of our fears. They did find in reading the ultrasound that there was an increased measurement of the nuchal fold on the back of the neck, which at times can be one of the markers of down syndrome.  However the doctor seemed very optimistic since it was just barely in the range of "abnormal' and there were no other markers present.  We went yesterday (Monday) for a level 2 ultrasound which confirmed for us the doctors thoughts.  In every other respect this baby looks healthy, strong and on target.  Of course these are all scans and screenings not diagnostic tests...so we don't know anything for sure, but the likelihood of this baby being born healthy seems probable.  We are thanking God once again for reminding us of His sovereignty, His closeness to us and His providential care...regardless of the circumstances we face now and in the future! 

Another good thing from the 2nd ultrasound, more pics:
A better profile pic... 

 

Here is our 3D shot...kind of weird because his arm is over his face...but you can see his nose and lips pretty well.