Ultrasound

On Wednesday I packed up the kids and we set off for the city an hour from home. My midwife sent me to a high risk O.B.* for my 20 week ultrasound. Rodrigo took the afternoon off and met us there. I explained to Claire that we were going to the doctor's and they were going to take some pictures of the baby in my belly. And they might even tell us if she was going to have a little brother or sister. She thought about that for a minute and when I asked her what she thought it might be she said "Maybe it'll be a Ninja!!" And then showed me her best ninja pose. Ninja's are very cool in Claire's opinion right now!

And this was my face when I thought I saw what I saw flash across the screen... It wasn't a ninja! 

At least I'm pretty sure it wasn't a ninja (the jury is still out on that one!)... it was little girl parts!!!

Yes, it was a huge shock. I was completely sure that this baby was a boy! During my only other girl pregnancy I felt completely nauseated for the first two months. With all four of my boy pregnancies I felt just fine, with almost no nausea at all. I was so sure with this one! About two nano-seconds after Rodrigo snapped the above photo of my shocked face I crumpled into tears and the poor ultrasound tech had to pause what she was doing because I was sobbing so hard and she couldn't get a focus on anything. I didn't know I wanted a girl, I mean I didn't want anything really, or rather I would have been thrilled no matter the sex of the baby. But when I saw that she was a she, I was so happy about the whole situation, I couldn't stop crying. Ah...the joys of pregnancy hormones- and occasionally out of control emotions that go with them!

* I am going to a local birthing center and being seen there by a midwife for all of my prenatal care. However I am still considered high-risk because of my previous c-section even though I've had 2 VBACs (VBAC is a natural childbirth after a previous c-section) since then. My "advanced maternal age" probably doesn't help either. (insert eye-roll) So I have to be monitored occasionally by the high-risk guys in the big city!

Puppies Everywhere!

I'm pretty sure I mentioned before that both of our dogs gave birth a little while back. Our first litter of puppies when to their new homes over the past few days. All we have left now are these five little English Bulldogs, who will be ready to go to their new homes in less than two weeks. Now that the puppies are big enough to be playful, all of the kids are really enjoying having them around. Especially Claire and Emmett, they want to carry them around and kiss on them constantly. Have you ever seen a 21 month old carry around a doll, or stuffed animal? Yeah, always by the head or neck it seems...so we have to watch them really, really closely while they are playing together to make sure that doesn't happen! But both the puppies and the little ones enjoy it so much we make sure they get lots of time out in the soft grass to play every day!

Belly at 18 weeks

So we finally got a new camera this weekend. Turns out my other one had really and truly died and there was no fixing it. I really missed having a camera! It was a bit over a month that we were without it. That was a long month! 

Rodrigo and I were out in the yard taking pictures with our new camera this afternoon trying to learn more about it, when he started taking pictures of me and our new baby belly. Someone finally asked me at the store today if I was pregnant which made me really happy, because until this past week I really didn't look pregnant, just sort of bloated... I feel like this week my belly just sort of popped out. 

So this is me at 18 weeks pregnant (well minus a day or two). I always start feeling really awkward with the camera pointed at me, I never know how to stand, or hold my hands, or smile. It just feels strange, especially when I'm not busy doing something else. Those kind of pictures taken when I'm busy doing something are ok.  But like Rodrigo told me today, in 40 years we are going to be really happy we have these pictures. So I let him shoot away to his heart's content. ♥