Halfway; 20 Weeks, 20 to Go

Well we are over the halfway mark, and on the downhill side. Things have been going great, other than not being able to sleep on my stomach, I can hardly tell that I am pregnant. We started doing aqua aerobics this month and most of the women in the class think that I eat a big hamburger before class every night, but that I can't possibly be 20 weeks pregnant. We had our first and possibly only ultrasound yesterday, so I can share pictures of the baby instead of myself this time (don't worry I haven't changed since the last photo). Knowing that we had an ultrasound the question that everyone has been asking!!!!! Drum roll please. It appears that we will be having a boy, but nothing is 100% until the big arrival day in June. With that being said there is a disclaimer for knowing this information; BLUE is not the only COLOR that boys can wear, decorate with, or play with. Just in case the doctors diagnosis is incorrect , we are still planning on using mostly gender neutral themes and colors.

The upper half of the baby's body including a bent knee over the stomach, the left arm on the side, with the bones visible (white lines near bottom of picture), fingers from the right hand just above the chest and the head.

A shot of the right foot and toes.

The ultrasound was an amazing experience, being able to see the baby so clearly yet it is still so small. Neither Doug or I were able to take our eyes off the moving screen as the tech moved around and the baby changed positions. Everything seems to be looking good, and the measurements of the baby exactly coordinated with my gestational day. Unfortunately, the tech can not reveal any problems that she sees, only the good stuff. We have our 20 week appointment with our doctor this Friday, which is where and when we will find out the full scoop on the baby's progress.

I will update again after that appointment and maybe add a picture of my belly.

New Aquarium

We'll get back to baby in a minute, but here are some photos of our new 75 gallon aquarium and the oak stand that we built with the help of Carmen's parents while they were here for New Years. The stand is done except for some door handles, and the tank is done except for some additional plants and most of the fish, which are still swimming in the small ponds to the right.

The whole tank set up, sorry about the light reflection.

The inside of the stand, filter etc.

A closer view of our lava rock reef and a few of the plants

17 Weeks, 23 To go

We hope everyone had a merry Christmas and that the new year is starting off well. We have had a busy December, and a great Christmas. The week after Christmas Carmen's parents came out for a visit. We enlisted their skills and support in building a new aquarium stand for Doug and my gift to each other (a 75 gallon fish aquarium). We also took them on a cold adventure up to Walden to do some serious hard water fishing, the water was hard, but the fish were not serious about taking the hook for any of us. We caught a total of 9 fish between the 4 of us and lots of hours freezing in the wind. The trip overall was fun and we saw a few big horn sheep up close.
After my parents left, we had our next doctors appointment at 16 weeks. Everything is looking and feeling good, I still have not gained any weight, but am definitely starting to grow. The picture above is from the 17 week mark. At our last appointment the baby's heart rate had dropped to 145 bpm, and we heard some "swooshing" as the baby swam around. I am feeling a lot better, and rarely have any sense of nausea. We have our next appointment for Jan. 30th to do an ultrasound and hopefully get our first glimpse of the baby and maybe it's gender. We will keep everyone posted!