24 weeks + growing!

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” –Hebrews 11:1

It seems like so long ago since we last saw our little one. I imagine you all have gotten use to so many updates in a matter of days and weeks, so now nearly a month later I know you all are as anxious as I was today to see my little one’s sweet face. The ultrasound tech today was quite amazing and managed to get a really clear image of a profile of the baby’s face. Yes, it’s amazing…I’m certainly in love with this little one’s face.

Here’s a photo of the front of the face. I promise, E.T.’s not the daddy!

The baby was very active again today and now it’s very evident that the baby has grown quite a bit in the last four weeks since our last ultrasound. It was a lot easier now to see the features and views of the baby as the ultrasound tech scanned and sized the baby. We quickly heard it’s heartbeat which is always a relief — 155 beats per minute. The baby was seen with it’s hands near it’s head and wiggled quite often. We were even able to watch it opening and closing it’s mouth and moving it’s little hands and feet. The baby is definitely growing. At 17 weeks they estimated the baby to be just 8 ounces. At 20 weeks they estimated the baby to be 11 ounces. At 24 weeks the baby is now estimated to be 1lb 6 ounces! Yes, it’s taken 24 weeks and I’ve finally passed my starting weight by one pound this week after feeling so nauseous and being sick so often during the second trimester. Apparently that one pound is all baby!

At the end the doctor came in who saw us last time and again was very reassuring. He said everything is looking great and the baby is growing perfectly as expected. He said nothing has changed to leave him with any concerns and at this point as long as the baby keeps on track growing the real test for our little one will be after birth to see how it adjusts to life outside the womb. He was all smiles telling us he felt it was a very isolated case of spina bifida and thus far everything still indicates a promising outcome given the circumstances of the diagnosis. I suppose now all we can do is continue to watch our little one grow and pray that it remain strong throughout the pregnancy and the days, weeks, and months after it’s born.

Is it a girl or boy?
I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve been asked this now. We’ve made it this long not knowing and we’re sticking to waiting for this amazing surprise. After doing the same with Hope I am reminded of how some of the best things in life we don’t know – it gives all the waiting for our little one that much more anticipation for the exciting day we’ll see the baby in person.

Today was the first time we brought the kids to the ultrasounds we’ve had to begin doing at Winnie Palmer Hospital and it was definitely a memorable family moment having them with us this time. The two times before I admit I was a nervous and emotional mess still uncertain of the details of the baby’s diagnosis and so this time around it was a much more uplifting experience as we were all anxious to see the baby. Of course Hope tried to be sneaky asking if we could find out if the baby was a boy or girl. We continually have told her no for months now and explained how amazing of a surprise she was. Needless to say she’s anxious and for very good reason. She still really wants a baby sister but we know she’d be happy with either. Today once we got home she was so anxious and wishing for us to find out that she took a bit of time and made us this note to let us know just how much she hopes to find out.

Oh, how I love her…and all of you still nudging us to give in to find out but we’ve made it this long and we have no intent now to find out until the day the baby is born. If you don’t understand I suppose you’ve never experienced what an amazing surprise that is…and we are confident that in a few months Hope will come to understand our reasoning and it’ll bring her and all of us great happiness.

Of course I have heard many of you expressing yourselves telling us what you “think” we’re having. I suppose the anticipation is going to be fun for us all the next few months. This past week the topic came up and though I had already planned to do this, some nudged me to me to make another poll. Yes, I dare make another poll after how much the last one upset so many people.I suppose it won’t harm anything to have those of you who care to participate in voting to see what those following our family think we’re having. So have some fun, vote, and I suppose we’ll all find out if the majority and you all are right on the baby’s birthday!

We return for another ultrasound on December 15th and we’ll be back visiting my doctor and the pediatric neurosurgeon on December 1st so hopefully you all won’t have to wait quite as long for another update. December will mark my entry into the third and final trimester of this pregnancy where I imagine I’ll be going to the doctor a lot more often until mid to late February. Yes, we have less than 15 weeks (105 days!) until the big day…we still don’t have an exact date that the c-section will have happen but we anticipate it being in the next 14-15 weeks. Something tells me this time of waiting will pass faster than we all expect. So for now we’ll just continue to wait and pray that the next couple of months continue to go smoothly.