Baby!

The long awaited first appointment of our new baby finally came last week!  With each baby this first appointment has seemed to come quicker.  Probably because I have more things to keep me busy and not thinking about it all day.  It was still an anxiously awaited event though!  I was so excited and nervous for this appointment.  I was more nervous going into this appointment than with the others.  I think it was because it took us 4 times longer than it ever has for us to get pregnant.  I was so nervous that we would go in and the baby would not be okay.  It is the one reason why I'm grateful that I'm sick right now.  At least I keep telling myself I'm grateful.
The morning of the appointment walking into the clinic I was so thankful to be finally walking in and to get to see our new baby.  Then I walked up to check in and saw my doctor had a 20 minute wait.  Isn't that just how it always goes?  So I started on the paperwork and before going in to my appointment we went and talked the financial lady.  May I say that our insurance coverage has gotten much worse in the two years since Mary was born.  It will be even worse next year when this baby is born.
Then it was time to go in to wait in the exam room.  When the doctor came in we had been at the clinic for almost an hour and Mary was not very happy about it.  She just laid her head on my chest and cried while the doctor did the ultrasound.  I tried to cheer her up by having her look at the baby, but she just wasn't having it.  The highlight of the appointment (besides seeing the baby and knowing that it was doing great) was Avery exclaiming the baby was in an ear!  Take a look for yourself, does it look like it's in an ear?

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A couple things:  Sorry for the quality of these pictures.  Our scanner is not working so it's just a picture of the ultrasound.  Second, just to clarify.  I was not only 8 weeks 6 days at the appointment.  I just forgot the date of my last period and counted back wrong.  I was 10 weeks at my appointment.  The doctor took one look and said this baby is way bigger than 8 weeks!  

During the ultrasound the baby was waving at us.  The baby was measuring 5 days ahead of the estimated due date.  The doctor kept saying everything looked so great.  We're very happy.

Before my appointment my friend Holly sent me a link on how to determine the sex of the baby at the first appointment.  I'm skeptical about things like that, but read the article.  Click here to read it yourself.  Basically if the placenta is on the right side it's a boy, if it's on the left side, it's a girl.  Using this theory our baby is a boy.  In the ultrasound the placenta shows on the left, since the ultrasound was taken through the abdomen you flip it and so the placenta is actually on the right.  Meaning boy.  In 9 weeks I guess we'll see how accurate this method was for us!  Everyone is already guessing a boy, only because we already have two girls.  Some people are already using "he" or "him" when talking about the baby.  For now Louis and I are just saying, "the baby."  It's hard to see in the ultrasound where the placenta is, so I labeled it for you.

I am still sick.  This last week has been especially tough.  I am crossing my fingers that I only have a week or two left of feeling like this.  It is very hard being sick for 2 months.  I have medicine that helps and I also eat every few hours so I always have a little something in my stomach.  Eating that often means I have already gained weight, but I'm hoping that I will be able to steady that out when I'm not sick anymore.  The baby bump is already making a appearance as well.

4 weeks

8 weeks

10 weeks

I took that last picture by myself.  Can you tell?  Right now wearing clothes is hard.  Anything pushing on my stomach bothers me.  I'm looking forward to morning sickness to pass so I can wear clothes again!  I have not been exercising because, well guys I'm throwing up!  I don't want to exercise okay!  I am looking forward to starting again though.  I have a goal to be more active through out this pregnancy.  I have felt a few flutters the last few days that may have been the baby, but nothing definite yet.

Avery and Mary are both excited about the baby.  Avery will ask to kiss the baby and give it hugs which is extremely sweet.  I think she's going to like when she can feel my belly move.  Avery will tell everyone she's having a baby brother.  If it ends up being a girl she may be a little disappointed.  Whenever Mary sees my stomach she runs over and pats it saying baby!  I'm not sure if she understands there's a baby in there or if she just thinks a stomach is called a baby.  Mary is now as old as Avery was when she was born (22 months) so I know that she will definitely be able to understand what is going on later on during the pregnancy.  

That's all I can think of to share for a pregnancy update.  We are so very excited!  I love looking at the ultrasound pictures and already feel so much love for this baby.