Meet our Little Girl

Meet our baby girl!  Quite a difference 8 weeks makes, let me tell you!  Our first ultrasound picture taken at 11 weeks (left) was very clear and she was pretty cooperative...but that was because she wasn't aware of her surroundings so much.  The picture taken yesterday at almost 19 weeks (right) is blurry and not very good because our little girl is feisty and doesn't like being prodded.  Every time the sonographer tried to get a good picture, she'd turn away from the camera.  When we were taking pictures of her spine (yes, she has a spine now!!) she moved from her side to her back and basically mooned us.  When we tried to get pictures of her individual feet, she kicked at the camera.  When we tried to get a good shot of her face, she brought her fists up to cover her eyes, so we just got to see her nose and mouth.  At one point, she was so mad at being prodded that she kicked me where the camera was a second before and I both saw it on the screen and felt it in my belly.  So funny!  This little girl has some spunk!

Since the ultrasound, what I had put off to just being air bubbles has become clearly my little feisty girl kicking me and punching me, perhaps in revenge for the prodding for an hour she took yesterday.  She seems to have inherited my temper already!

Coolest things about the ultrasound:  The detail we were able to see was incredible!  Modern medical technology is amazing!  We saw each individual bone in her body, including the two bones in each arm, and the tiny little toe bones.  We saw her making fists and rubbing her face.  We saw her bladder, stomach, kidneys, brain, and heart (including all four valves functioning).  And as if seeing THAT wasn't enough, they switched to infrared to see the fluid moving through her heart, umbilical cord, and kidneys to make sure they were working properly.  And she's only about 6 inches long right now!  It was amazing.

Jon and I both looked at each other when they were measuring her thigh bones from the bottom and we knew, without a doubt, that it was a girl.  It was very clear.  But we waited until the end and asked them the gender.  The sonographer confirmed our suspicion and told us it's a little girl.  I'm already falling in love with my little girl and her spunky personality.  I look forward to getting to know her better in the coming months and years.

It's a...

GIRL!!  Baby Olfert has officially been confirmed as a girl.  She was moving around so much that they had a hard time getting measurements, but that just made it easier to get a glimpse.  We're both ecstatic and looking forward to testing out names!

Baby Bump!

So I woke up last Wednesday morning (the 31st) to a nice little baby bump.  I assumed it was because of the large Thai food dinner I had the night before and thought nothing of it.  But then, it persisted.  It's like the large dinner suddenly forced the bump to show.  Quite frankly, I kinda like it!  I'm 4 months 1 week as of yesterday and I want people to know I'm pregnant and not just chubby.  So tadaa!!  Bumpalicious!

Also, I am officially losing my belly button.  Yep, it's happening.  It's so weird to have it slowly being flattened out.  Also, according to many various sources, my uterus is about the size of a small melon at this point (picture your favourite cantaloupe or honeydew).  Baby is about 5 inches long from head to rump.  Bones are starting to harden from cartilage to actual hard bone so I should be able to feel baby doing their somersaults and flailing around that I saw them doing on the ultrasound.  That will be super cool.  I've had some bubbly sort of feelings happening periodically, but only sometimes and I'm never quite sure if it's stomach grumblings, gas, or baby.  

In other news, I've still only gained about 6lbs at this point.  I look preggers but there's only 6lbs of extra weight on me in that picture.  Go figure.  According to my doctor, 6lbs at this stage for someone at my pre-pregnancy weight is really good.  I'm only supposed to gain between 15-20lbs the whole pregnancy so I'm right on track.  I've definitely noticed that my hunger has increased in the last two weeks, but as long as I'm snacking (it doesn't really matter on what) then I can keep it at bay for a few hours at a time.  It used to be that when I got hungry only carbs could make me feel full, but now it's anything.  

I'm still off sugar for the most part.  Baby doesn't seem to want it all that much, which is fine with me.  I have occasional chocolate cravings, but mostly it's been carrots.  Carrots, carrots, carrots, and...egg rolls.  However, I am happy to say I haven't given in to the egg roll cravings yet.  But they keep coming back so I'm sure there will be a time that I will drive to Chinatown down the street and get some.  But for now, I can deny the craving and I'm keeping my weight gain on track.  

Also, Jon has been a huge help.  He's been helping me with laundry and he cooks for me when I'm too tired to do so, and he always ends the day by filling my hot water bottle and giving me a full back massage.  He's pretty much the best.  And he talks to baby sometimes too, which I find really cute.  He's so excited to meet our baby and to be a dad.  

Anyhoo, my next post will likely be announcing whether we're having a boy or girl, so stay tuned!