Stubborn, Strong-willed, Uncooperative

Yes...these are all adjectives that describe our unborn child.  If you can remember back 4 weeks ago to my 20 week ultrasound, you will remember me saying that our little boy was not in the right position for the ultrasound tech to see his profile and spine.  This is what we saw 4 weeks ago...

Because of this, my doctor scheduled me to have another ultrasound yesterday (at my 24 week appointment) to try to get a view of the things we couldn't see last time. It took about 10 seconds for the lady to say something like "Well, the baby just doesn't want me to see what I need to see." She said he was sitting with his bottom down, looking face forward AGAIN. As soon as she turned the screen around, this is what we saw...

Looks very familiar don't you think?  Needless to say, I was very excited when she and my doctor told me we get to have ANOTHER ultrasound at my 28 week appointment!  He wants to try again to get those shots that he hasn't been able to get yet.  I was trying to figure it up today, and I think we've gotten to have a total of 9 ultrasounds so far.  Don't get me wrong, I am definitely not complaining.  We love seeing our little guy every few weeks, and I've decided he just likes having his picture taken.  :)

One of the neatest things about this ultrasound was that I got to see him blinking.  (Brad wasn't able to see it.)  It was the weirdest thing!  The lady captured this picture just as he was blinking.  I'm pretty sure his eyes are closed in this one...

We also got to see his nostrils, lips (of course he was moving his mouth...eating I guess), and his boy parts. 

It is still so surreal that this little baby is growing inside me.  Every time we see him, we get more and more excited (if that's even possible)!  My doctor said everything is looking perfect, and he would bet that I will have an easy delivery.  I sure do hope he's right about that! :)

Everyone I talk to always asks me how I've been feeling, and I can actually say that I feel great.  I have been extremely hungry...it's like I'm never full!  Those of you who really know me will probably laugh and say that me being hungry isn't anything new, but I promise...it is wayyy worse!  My eating consists of breakfast, a morning snack, lunch, another snack (or 2), supper, and maybe another snack.  Every night, as soon as I lay down to go to bed, I'm suddenly hungry again.  As for any other "symptoms"...I've had heartburn just a couple of times.  I never had heartburn before I was pregnant, and I'm still not 100% sure what I've felt in the past couple of weeks is heartburn.  Is it heartburn when your throat is burning?  That's the only thing I've felt, and I'm blaming it on heartburn.  I've also woken up twice over the past month or so with leg cramps.  My calf muscle is always sore for like 2 days after I get one of these cramps. 

Ohh...and a new milestone is that we can actually SEE my stomach move when Cooper moves and kicks.  On Friday, I could really feel him moving around, so I layed down for just a few minutes to feel it.  I pulled my shirt up just enough to see a small part of my abdomen, and sure enough, it looked like an earthquake!  I yelled for Brad, and he was quickly able to see it too.   We sat there and watched my stomach move for a few minutes, and now, every time I feel him moving, I want to look down at my stomach. I LOVE it!!!! 

We're planning on starting on the nursery in the next week or 2 once we get completely finished with our bathroom remodel.  I really can't believe that our baby boy will be here in just a little over 3 months!

Movement for Daddy!

Well, after about 4 weeks of me being able to feel Cooper moving, kicking, hitting, and whatever else he's doing in there, Brad was FINALLY able to feel a little bit of what I've been feeling.  For the past several weeks, I have been able to sit on the couch after we eat supper and feel tons of movement from our little guy.  I always thought I could feel it with my own hand, but whenever Brad would try, he didn't feel a thing.  That all changed last Saturday (November 13th) when we got in bed, and I told Brad to try to feel again.  I guess laying flat on my back helped because he was finally able to feel him about 4 or 5 times in a matter of a couple of minutes.  They were some of the hardest kicks I've felt so far.  I'm so glad that Brad can finally feel him now.  :)  It's so hard to explain the feeling of having little baby movements in my belly, but now Brad actually has a little better understanding of what I've been talking about.  I've noticed that Cooper moves around the most when I'm hungry or right after I eat.  I guess he gets his eating habits and love for food from me!!!  If that's the case, Brad might be in trouble!  haha

23 WEEKS

Halfway there...20 weeks!!!

We went back to the doctor on Monday for our 20 week appointment, and Cooper got an A+ for all of his stats, but he's hovering around a C for his ultrasound etiquette. During the ultrasound, the lady did confirm that he was a boy which was definitely a good thing. She also got MOST of the measurements she needed except she was unable to get a profile shot and a shot of his spine. It's looking like Cooper is either stubborn or camera shy. He better get over this camera shy thing before he's born considering I plan on taking a million pictures in the first year of his life! :) The good news is that we get to have another ultrasound when we go back in 4 weeks! So that means we'll get to see our little guy again at 24 weeks at the doctor and then again at 28 weeks when we go back to Precious View for our last 3D/4D ultrasound. We did get to watch him for a few minutes on the screen, and he was moving around a lot (just not in the right ways she needed him too). I can already tell he's going to get his eating habits from me. The past few times we've seen him, he's been munching away.


As of Monday, he's weighing in at 13 ounces which is in the 50th percentile. We were also told that based on my lab work from last month, there is only a 1 in 10,000 chance that Cooper will have down syndrome or spinal bifida. Those are the best chances you can have, which was great news to hear! It looks like our little guy is healthy and growing like a weed. The 2 ultrasound pictures we got weren't the best, but I keep telling myself that in 4 weeks we'll have a couple more pictures.

I must admit that this frontal view of his face does look kind of creepy.  You can see his eye sockets, and if you look closely, you can see the lense of his left eye.

This is another view of the front of his face.  This was pretty much the only shot he would let us get.