It's A Girl!!

Just a quick post to update anyone that missed out on yesterday's news...

We are having a little girl! We are very excited and she looks great. All the measurements are right on and she was very cooperative with the tech to get all the measurements he needed to get. Hopefully that means she'll be a cooperative kiddo. :)

We have decided to name her Elaine Marie. This is a combo of John's Mom's middle name and Amanda's Mom's middle name. We are going to call her Lainey.

Ultrasound photos will be up in a few days when I get the scanner reset. Love to you all!!

Babies, dogs, and elbows

In baby news, our appointment yesterday went well. The baby's heart rate was 146 and sounding good. We have an appointment set for Friday at 3:00 for an ultrasound and hopefully the baby will show us whether it's a boy or a girl. As for me, my belly has popped out a bit and my own jeans aren't comfortable anymore. My CT scan was negative for active bleeds, but they can't see any potential aneurysms. We may have to redo it with contrast later in the pregnancy or have an MRA to determine if there are any problems.

Landis has decided he doesn't like his job as a service dog in training. We are in the process of figuring out where he's going to go, be it with us for a little while, or someone else adopting him right away. It's a little disappointing that he didn't make it, but at least I'll have a say in where he goes. He's a good dog and learned all of his commands, but was frustration barking and whining when in the presence of other dogs or animals. He has never liked being restrained when he thinks he wants something on the other side of a barrier. I thought he'd grow out of it, but I guess not. We'll see soon where he ends up going.

In elbow news, John's MRI showed no tears or damage to his ligament. He has some fluid where the muscle connects to the joint, so they think it's a bad muscle strain that hasn't had enough time to heal. He's on four more weeks of rest and a slow build back to pitching. We hope he'll get back to playing sometime in late June/July.

We'll update you after our appointment on Friday with the gender news!!

Some baby news and other news too

Well, last week on Wednesday night, I felt what I can say for the first time was about 15 seconds of for sure baby flutter. I'd felt a few flits and twitches before this, but this time I knew it was definitely baby and not the burrito I had for lunch. It's pretty neat! I haven't had a continuous flutter since then, but still getting those flits and pinches. Our next doctor's appointment is May 19th. We will likely make an appointment for another ultrasound for that week and we hope to find out if it's a boy or a girl then.

In other news, I finished my last day at work on Saturday. It was also my official goodbye to Lexi. I didn't expect to get too emotional since Lexi has been cared for by other people for about 3 months now, but I guess being pregnant and the fact that I've had her for 10 years got the better of me. It was a tough goodbye, but one that is best for both of us. She is being doted on and spoiled to pieces by a lady I used to work with. I have an open invitation to come see her any time and Suzi is going to email me pictures and updates regularly. Lexi is currently living at Remuda where she lives the easy life munching hay and going for a couple of trail rides a week. Suzi is really enjoying her and I couldn't have asked for a better situation. It was totally set up by God and we all know His plans are the best ones!

Unfortunately, at this point, John's elbow isn't feeling too good. So we don't know what is going on in the baseball arena right now. We are going to San Diego this week for John to have an MRI and see the team doctors. Hopefully we can get a diagnosis and it's nothing too serious.

Love you all!

Ultrasound pictures!

We got quite a few pictures this last time. Hope you enjoy!

Facial profile:


The token alien face pic. :)


Arms labelled. Hands are on the right.


Full body with spine and jaw.


Lower legs. You can see the two lower leg bones on the left with the knees on the right.


Peace out!

It's A.....

Baby! We still don't know boy or girl though! Our appointment went well today. All measurements were right on and everything growing in proportion. It was really neat to see and hear the heartbeat (158 bpm), see where the stomach and kidneys are, the bones in the arms and legs, etc. We will likely have a repeat in about 4 weeks. At that time we hope we will have a definitive answer about the gender. Today the tech said, with multiple disclaimers about how unsure he was and not to paint the nursery yet but if he had to guess, he'd guess it's a girl. Who knows though?? We will scan and upload the pictures this weekend. We got some good ones and a rather alien looking one and one with the baby throwing up a peace sign. :)

And in other good news... my insurance said no pre-authorization was needed for the CT scan, so I'm scheduled for that on May 5th. Thanks for your prayers about that! It also seems that the ovarian cyst has begun to shrink and they said they typically disappear by about 18-19 weeks. We love you all and while we wish we knew for sure what we are having, it's kind of a fun mystery. Things are changing daily with me, so I will probably put up more updates than there have been in the last few months, so keep checking in!

Doctor's appointment update

We had our appointment today. Seems like things are right on track. We got to hear the heartbeat... 165 bpm! No ultrasound today, but we are scheduled for a detailed ultrasound on Friday afternoon. Hopefully we will get to find out what we're having on Friday! The doctor is also getting me pre-authorized for a CAT scan to check for aneurysms in this trimester. They say that MRA scans have too much radiation to be safe, so a CAT scan is what we'll have to do. If you can pray for a speedy pre-authorization, we'd be so grateful. She said her last one took three months to get authorized and we don't want to wait that long. The scan is safest for the baby in the second trimester.

I lost 1/2 a pound this month, but it's not something she's worried about yet. Despite the lack of weight gain, my shape is certainly changing! I can't sit down comfortably in hardly any of my pants anymore, so I went ahead and bought a few maternity things. Hopefully they'll last me a while since they are pretty roomy right now. :)

I also got a new pillow that will hopefully help me be more comfortable at night. Sleep is elusive these days, and only going to get harder to find as I get bigger! I believe that my last day at work will be May 10th. We are moving to our summer schedule, which last year meant split shifts and 110+ degree weather. I don't think I'd cope well with that this year. Hopefully John's elbow will get better soon and we hope to be heading out of town by the end of May anyway. I am thinking that I will get the bracelet business back up and running now that I will have some more time. And hopefully it will help supplement our income.

Thank you for all your prayers and we will update you on Friday after our ultrasound appointment!

Last week of the first trimester!

Based on the fact that I've had little to no nausea and have generally felt pretty good for this first trimester, there's not been much to say! I managed to make it through with only one episode of sickness, but I think it was more related to low blood sugar and high stomach acids than baby stuff. Don't eat just strawberries on a hungry, empty stomach.

Overall things continue to look good. I'm still not really showing, but I think that will change soon as all the books and info on growing babies says they grow very rapidly at this point. I've only gained about 4 pounds, but I know that will change really soon too. Other than getting winded easily at work and some low back pain, I am really feeling pretty great.

My next appointment is a week from today. So we'll have more of an update for you next week! Love you all!