Baby has a photoshoot

Yesterday was kind of a big day for us - we had our anatomical ultrasound. That's the big long ultrasound that lasts about an hour and they check every little part of baby and take measurements and make sure everything looks ok. It's also the one where they tell  you if it's a boy or girl, so that's what this ultrasound is most known for. But we were focused on just making sure we have a healthy baby. I know that most of the time, these scans go fine and baby looks great. But we've heard some scary stories lately about malformed kidneys and lack of amniotic fluid. I've been a ball of nerves all week.

But little one looks great! We saw both arms and legs, feet, hands, counted all the fingers and toes, everything looks great. Brain, kidneys, spine, heart and everything looked good. Baby was all bunched in a ball when we started and didn't want to stretch out, making it kind of hard for the ultrasound tech. She had me drink some ice cold water, but baby still didn't want to move. But eventually LO stretched out enough to get all the measurements. We discovered that LO likes to sleep with both arms above head.... Just like daddy! Baby measured a little small (25th percentile) but doc's not worried. She says maybe baby is about to hit a growth spurt. Baby's heartbeat was good and strong around 140. And here's baby!

Arms up! Look at that little nose. Looks like an Effnert nose to me. 

Scary face... baby was drinking.

Another profile view

Big yawn!!

Finally stretching out a little bit

Arms!

Hello, world!

Cute little feet.

I am so grateful today for a healthy baby. I was so relieved I cried during the ultrasound.

Another highlight of the appointment: The doctor was asking about my symptoms and how I'm feeling. I said that my heartburn is sticking around, but my nausea is improving and I have a bit more energy. Hans said "Ya, she's even starting to get an appetite back!" The doctor started chuckling and I was thinking... "what does that mean?" and she says "No, that's good! I'm just wondering when you're going to put on some weight for me." I think my jaw hit the floor. What? I'm huge! I'm out growing my clothes almost faster than I can buy them. I've been totally terrified of pulling a Jessica Simpson and gaining an Olsen twin. We've been going on walks every day and I've been watching my portion sizes, but I still thought I was packing it on. Turns out, I've only gained two pounds through my whole pregnancy and my doctor would really like me to put on some weight.

So I celebrated this good news with a slice of red velvet cake with lunch.

I'll also add, because I've already fielded this question several times: No, we didn't peek, and no, we weren't tempted. The ultrasound tech told us when to look away and we did with no problem. I thought it would be harder, but we were so preoccupied counting toes and fingers that we didn't even think about whether it's a boy or girl. Our doctor doesn't know either so she can't actually slip to us. The ultrasound tech said "I think I know" (I thought - a girl, it's a girl, otherwise she'd know! but Hans thinks she was just giving a standard response so as not to give anything away). So no, we still don't know. Sorry, folks :)