Appointment with the Specialist

We had our appointment with the specialist about the baby today.  It went pretty well.  Much better than last week.  We started with a sonogram, and he was definitely awake this time!  It was so awesome to be able to feel him & see him move at the same time.  He was much more cooperative this time, and the tech was able to get great shots of his heart & the rest of his vital organs that couldn't be seen last week.  He's definitely still a boy, and has no problem showing it off.

The tech spent a long time looking at his heart, to the point that I was a little worried, but she let me know that it looked great, he was just covering his face with his hands & it was casting a shadow on his heart so she was having a hard time getting some of the pictures.  We also got to see him in 3D/4D, but she couldn't get a good shot because he was covering his face.  

The specialist we met with was great.  He reassured us that this is no big deal, & a totally fixable problem.  He also said it's not a severe case at all & made us feel a lot better about it.  He did say that clubbed feet can be associated with chromosomal abnormalities, like down syndrome, so the risk for the baby having down syndrome is slightly increased.  He talked to us about doing amniocentesis, but we are opting out because it doesn't change anything for us whether or not we know.  Overall it was a great appointment & put both of our minds at ease.  We will meet with our regular doctor on July 20th, & then with the specialist again on August 13th.  After he gets more pictures of his leg & foot, we will meet with a pediatric orthopedic surgeon so he can look at the pictures & discuss possible treatments.  

Thank you to everyone who was thinking about us and praying for us this week, it means a lot!

Sucking his thumb

Profile shot (from last week, he was sleeping)

If you look close, you can see his features--ear, eye, nose, mouth

Gender reveal blizzard cake from last week 

  

It's a...

Boy!!! Looks like my maternal instincts have already kicked in.  I knew this all along.  It just took seeing his, ahem, not so little, manhood to prove it.  We went in for our 20 week appointment first.  We had to see a different doctor because ours just had surgery.  She was really nice & gave me some tips on sleeping better & for a possible gluten intolerance.  I'm trying to watch the gluten I take in to see if that keeps me from getting sick at night.  It's been a lot better the past few weeks, but regardless, I should watch eating so much gluten because it's not good for you anyway.  After our appointment we had a quick lunch & then went back  for the sonogram.  I was so anxious!  When we got into the room she told us she would do the gender part last.  And in this case, it was after two hours.  She kept saying it was one stubborn baby.  He was asleep, curled up with his butt in the air & facing in, so all we could see was his back side.  He would not move for anything.  She poked & jiggled as much as she could and he just stayed asleep.  Does this mean he'll be a good sleeper out of the womb as well?  I hope so.  After an hour she had me get up and pee & move around a little bit.  When she started again, he flipped for about 10 seconds, so she got a pretty good profile shot, & then he went right back to his original position & started sucking his thumb.  It was amazing to see all this.  Last time we had a sonogram was at 8 weeks, and he definitely didn't look like a baby yet.  I didn't know they were going to do this, but she even got a 3-D shot of the side of his face.  It's just a little creepy, but very cool to see his facial features.  I was worried that because he wouldn't move, we wouldn't be able to see the goods, but she assured me that wouldn't be a problem.  Finally, she zoomed in & said "See that?  You've got yourself a baby boy!"  Chadd was beside himself.  It was pretty funny.  He shouted "I'm a man!"  (I had a dream we had a sonogram last week & they told us it was a boy & Chadd started screaming & dancing around the room shouting that he was a man.  In fact, I had two dreams about the sex being revealed to me last week & both times it was a boy.) She kept trying to get him to uncross his legs after this & he did eventually stretch them out for a short while.  She got a picture of the heart, but not clear enough, so she finally gave up & said we would have to come back for another sonogram.

After a few minutes, a specialist came into the room & explained to us that the tech may have seen a possible  problem with one of his feet, and that she would check it out further.  When she pulled up the image, she showed us that his right foot is "clubbed" (this is an awful term, so I think I will refer to it with its technical term, talipes).  It means that his foot didn't grow the way it was supposed to.  Instead of growing forward, it grew rotated towards the other foot.  I think Chadd and I were both in shock, especially after being so elated from hearing the gender news.  I didn't really know what to say or ask.  I did ask if his foot was formed correctly, and she said that yes, it is, it just grew the wrong way.  There are several different ways to treat it, and we really won't know what way is best until he's born.  We will have to meet with a specialist in a week for a consultation.  I know it could be much worse, and that this is a very fixable problem.  It just really stinks to know there is something wrong with our baby.  We were assured that sometimes this just happens, & that it wasn't anything Chadd or I did.  It makes me really sad to think of my child being in a cast & a brace for at least the first year of his life.  And like my sister-in-law said, it's scary being a new mom in the first place, but already knowing you are going to have to overcome difficulties makes it even scarier.  Everyone that I have talked to has said that it's really not a big deal, very common, especially in boys, & totally fixable.  Again, I am so thankful that so far everything else about the baby is healthy, and I know we will overcome this & that everything will work out like it's supposed to.  We are in good hands, and will be taken care of.  

On that note, I'm excited to finally be able to do some clothes shopping (I may have already done some.. a lot.. on Friday :)
Almost forgot... Chadd got to celebrate his first father's day on Sunday.  I got him a sweet coffee mug that has a mustache on it & says "dad".  We had breakfast with our neighbors.  I took my dad out for lunch at panera (fancy, right?) & then we had dinner with Chadd's family.  It was a great day.  Then on Saturday, we had a birthday/gender reveal party for Chadd.  We took his grandpa's boat out with his family & some of our friends for a little while.  It was really hard not to slip up and call the baby "he".  When we got back, we had everyone pick a pink bow or a mustache to wear.  I think the mustaches outnumbered the pink bows :) After an awesome dinner prepared by his dad (ribeye & pork chop sandwiches, yum), we got the cake out. My boss at the after school program owns our local Dairy Queen & made a blizzard cake for us with pink bows, mustaches, & question marks all over it.  After Chadd blew out the candles, he got to cut it and, drum roll, there was blue icing in the middle!  I'm glad we did this, it was a lot of fun keeping everyone on their toes, and a fun way to celebrate Chadd's birthday (with the help of Joe, he got a smoker & some bbq tools from me...I expect dinner tonight).  I don't know if there was much surprise, since I had expressed all along that I thought it was a boy, but it was a good time regardless.  

One Week of Waiting Left

One week from today we will know the sex of the baby! I feel like this is the biggest thing I've waited for thus far in my life.  This has surmounted even the wedding, I think (love you, Chadd ;).  I probably won't sleep all week.  I remember finding out we were pregnant in February, and then finding out that we wouldn't find out the sex of the baby until the end of June, and thinking "holy crap, that's months away".  Now we have just a week.

In other news, Chadd and I celebrated our second anniversary last week.  He totally surprised me by taking me to eat at the top of the Hilton.  I had told him I wanted to go to Steak & Shake.  So he took me to a steak house & ordered a shake (how clever, I know).  He had also already gone there during the day & told the hostess his plans (that I'd wanted to go to steak & shake, that's where he proposed, & that we are pregnant, etc.) & taken flowers & a card.  I was wondering why everyone acted so strange when we got there & kept looking at my belly.  It took a while for me to figure everything out.  Actually, I didn't.  Chadd had to explain to me.  It was a great night, though, with a wonderful husband & delicious food.  He also bought me a set of fiesta ware dishes & silverware for our new kitchen.  If we ever get our new kitchen.  We currently have our new dishwasher & microwave in the living room, cabinets are in, refrigerator on its way, but no contractor yet.  Hopefully we get that taken care of this week & we can start.  I can't wait to have everyone over once it's done...we are talking a total gut of our kitchen.  New everything.  

I am now 20 weeks & half way through the pregnancy!  Still craving cherry coke & chocolate milk, as well as green olives, watermelon, hot dogs, & DQ cheeseburgers.  The list goes on and on.  Also still having an aversion to certain meats.  My sciatic nerve isn't bothering me much anymore, which is great because it was pretty painful for a little while.  I now can't sleep on my back because it's hard to breath, and have found that sleeping on my right side is most comfortable (when I do sleep, that is..haven't really slept much since I've been pregnant.  Guess I should just get used to it).  I have been feeling a ton of movement, especially if certain music is playing.  We were at J.T. & Ashley's wedding (congrats, by the way!!!) & the dj played the cupid shuffle...the baby went nuts.  It also responds to certain foods when I'm eating them (no, it's not gas, I can now tell the difference).  I have graduated to mostly maternity clothes or shorts that have an elastic waist band.  It really sucked when I put on a pair of shorts that fit me 40 pounds ago & now I can wear them again.  Its for a different reason, I guess, so it's not as bad.  But still.  Bleh.  At least I have Jenni to walk with  sometimes now.  

Sunday is father's day, a first for our growing brood.  Can't wait to celebrate with my hubby, the dad to be. I know he will be a great dad.  He already is :) He is so worried about the baby & me all the time.  I also can't wait to celebrate with my dad.  I couldn't have gotten a better dad :) This week he came & got my car from work & changed the oil for me.  He also takes me to lunch on a regular basis, mows our lawn & has been great to talk to during out family's circumstances the past 18 months.  Not that I couldn't talk to him before, but I think we've gotten especially closer through the difficulties this year.  If I need anything he is there, no hesitations (remember when you moved that futon up stairs for us?  We need to move it back down now :).  I hope that I can be like this with my child.  He already is an awesome grandpa to our nephew, Reed, & I know he will be just as great with our baby.  A little side note, so far he does not want to know the sex of our baby.  He tried this with Reed, but found out by accident eventually.  And this was before he had a facebook.  I think inevitably he will find about ours as well, and I'd rather he found out from Chadd & me than by accident on facebook.  He is supposed to let me know what he wants to do this week.  For now, if you see him, please don't tell him what the sex is.  

Anywho, can't wait for my next blog because it will probably be about the sex of the baby.  Maybe.  Unless I get excited and blog again before that.  

7 DAYS!

June happenings, 18 weeks

Well, only 3 more weeks & we will know what this peanut is.  Needless to say, I can't wait.  I am so anxious.  At least we can count down the weeks instead of the months, now.
Since I last posted, I've felt the baby moving a lot & have been having a lot of pain because of my sciatic nerve.  My mom informed me that I also gave her a lot of pain, so what goes around comes around ;)
My new craving is chocolate milk... I can't get enough of it.  Prairie Farms chocolate milk, to be exact.  It gives me a belly ache but I love having a glass in the mornings.  That's what Tums are for, right? And, I figure it's better than craving cherry coke.  I'm also still having a slight aversion to meat, especially chicken.  I have been able to stomach boneless buffalo wings from Buffalo Wild Wings & a piece of fried chicken, but that's about it. Chadd got to hear the baby's heart beat on the Doppler, which was cool.  He also almost got to feel it moving yesterday but as soon as he put his hand on my belly it stopped.
According to what I've been reading, the baby's sense of hearing really started picking up last week, so I can' wait to use the music device that Chadd got me.  I wonder if the music I put on for it now will help to establish it's tastes in music later in life.  We are definitely going to listen to some Jack Johnson this week!
I also wanted to mention that I am so blessed to have the people in my life that I do.  It's great to have friends and family that are willing to do so much for us & lend us there baby stuff.  My sister-in-law, Mallory, sent me home with a huge tub of maternity clothes a few months back...And I have been adding to her stock pile :) My best friend, Jenni, has given me so much advice.  I think I ask her questions about pregnancy on a daily basis.  It's nice to know people with experience :) She's also lent me various items including a high chair, bouncy seat/play station, carrier, tons of bottles, containers for baby food making, and she said she's going to lend me her pump.  She's an awesome friend, I know.  I owe her big time.  A friend from work, Heather, lent me her bumbo, tons of maternity pajamas, a Doppler (love this!), and lots of other things.  My uncle's friend gave us her bassinet (if only I could figure out how to put it together).  Seriously, I am so grateful for all these people in our lives.  We would not be able to have all these things if it weren't for them.
And, two of our big ticket items are being purchased for us.  Our travel system is picked out & will be bought as soon as we find out the gender (thanks, mom!).  It is so cool, I can't wait to get it.  Would it be weird if we practiced pushing it around the park? ;) Our crib will also be on it's way soon.  Guess we, I mean "I", should really start getting serious about switching the rooms around so we can set up the nursery.  Chadd cleaned out his "game room" that will become the nursery (what a great dad already, I know).  We took 10, yes 10, trash bags to good will out of that room.  Now I need to finish cleaning out the spare bedroom so we can do some moving around.
I'm also excited to say we tentatively scheduled newborn pictures for the first week the baby comes home.  Amy Joy Photography is going to do them.  She did my nephew's pictures and they were awesome.  She has a great package that includes newborn, 3 month, 6 month, and 1 year pictures, so we are taking her up on that.  I think she's also going to do a maternity photo shoot in August, even though I already feel huge (it kind of stinks to lose all this weight, only to feel fat again a few months later.  I haven't gained much back, only 1 lb, but I feel like I'm not even in my body).  I bought the cutest outfit for the pictures.  Think Very Hungry Caterpillar.  Seriously can't wait.
As for the rest of this month, we have our anniversary coming up on the 5th, Father's Day,  our sonogram, & Chadd's birthday.  What a great month!!

I almost forgot to add, can't wait for Mallory & Darci to come stay with me in July for a girls weekend!!!  Hopefully Jenni can make it, too, and we are going to get some baby shower stuff done!  It's tentatively set for September 8th.  Seems like a ways a way, but really only a few months.  Can't wait to see what these girls have in mind... I know Jenni has mentioned some great ideas :)