The ultrasound went well!

Although I'll be honest; I don't really understand why people get SO gaga over them; I couldn't really tell what I was looking at half the time. But it was still cool to see, and the good thing is, the baby is not breech! YAY!

Here's a profile shot of the baby; it's not the best, since I had to take a picture of a picture :)



So the top/back of its head is to the right of the picture, and then you can see its nose and upper lip more on the left side (the baby basically looks like it's laying on its back, and it's kind of kicking itself in the nose with its foot). I admit, when I saw this profile shot, I did feel a rush of excitement, like, "Oh my gosh, there really is a BABY in there!" I think it's pretty cute, if I do say so myself ;)

Helping Haiti

I normally don't like to talk about donating to charities, lest it come across as bragging or boastful. But, there is this wonderful blog that I frequent (moneysavingmom.com), and she and her husband have committed to send $10 for each person that blogs about what they've done to help Haiti and leaves a comment on her website. Wow! Imagine how many people they'll be able to reach through their donations!

So, I am blogging today to let you know that we donated $20 to the American Red Cross's relief efforts in Haiti. It is so easy to drop $20 on nothing; I can go into Walgreens and easily spend that on candy and cosmetics that I really don't need, but people often clutch their wallets a little bit tighter when it comes to charitable giving. But we are all SO blessed. Even those in America who live in poverty will never, ever know the extreme poverty and devastation that Haitian people endure (even before the earthquake!) So please, if you can, donate something, anything, to the relief efforts. Heck, you can even TEXT your donation through the Red Cross! How easy is that? (Just text "Haiti" to 90999, and that will send $10 to the relief efforts, and the charge will show up on your next cell phone bill.)

And, of course, if you have a blog, be sure to post about what you're doing, and then link it on moneysavingmom.com by the 21st of January. Through efforts like this, my $20 becomes $30 to help those in need, and for people who live on less than $2.00 a DAY, this money is truly appreciated.

Finally got the ultrasound scheduled!

After a ton of runaround from my health insurance, we got our ultrasound scheduled for 3 pm tomorrow. I really hope the baby is not breech; we'll know for sure tomorrow. If it is, my midwives say they have lots they can do to try and turn it, including acupuncture, before they actually attempt to manually turn it. Fingers crossed that this is a moot point anyway, and the baby is exactly where it's supposed to be.

Shower pictures

Nancy threw me the cutest shower; we had the best time!




People had to choose whether they thought it was going to be a boy or girl, and then sit on the appropriate side.




I thought the way she had her house decorated was so cute!








The guys by the Wassail fountain; we had the best food and beverages. The Wassail was amazing, and then we had Chick-Fil-A nuggets, crackers and cream cheese dip, spinach and artichoke dip, and a chocolate fountain in which we could dip all sorts of fruits, rice krispies treats, marshmallows, etc.












My mom always has her presents wrapped so cute.


My mom gave us a bunch of cute "My first" outfits; "my first halloween," "my first 4th of July" etc.


I think this one is so cute; a "my first St. Patrick's Day" onesie.
















Me, Sarah, and Stephanie; some of the girls I was friends with in elementary school and junior high :)

Christmas pictures!

We had such a wonderful Christmas! We love hanging out with my family and Nancy and Jason; we miss Dan's mom, Gail, a lot, but hopefully she will be in Utah for next Christmas! Here's some snapshots from Christmas morning; we don't really have a lot from Christmas Eve, since we didn't even get in until 7:30 pm!




An adorable white, cozy bunting to bring the baby home from the birth center in; February in Wisconsin can be freezing, so this little sack will keep it warm!


Before the presents are opened...




Don't know why I have such a weird expression in this photo... anyway, I still get American Girl dolls every Christmas since I've been collecting them since I was 8 or so! Hopefully I will have a girl at one point to play with them :) This one is Rebecca Rubin, the daughter of Jewish immigrants living in NYC in 1914.






I can't wait to read this book to the baby; it's called "Hello? Is this Grandma?"

Our latest midwife appointment...

went fairly well, although she couldn't tell if the baby was breech or not, so now we have to have an ultrasound to make sure. It's weird; we've always been so hands-off and really not into any interventions (unless necessary, of course) and now, in the final stretch of the pregnancy, we have to have an ultrasound. Even though that wasn't my first choice, I am a little bit anxious to get a sneak peek at my baby! So then the question remains; since we have to have an ultrasound anyway, should we find out the gender? On the one hand, we've made it this far without knowing (and, aside from a few minor temptations, I haven't even wanted to know) but yet, it would be kind of nice to be able to say "he" or "she" specifically. Hmmm....

The reason she was concerned is because she heard the heartbeat so high up that she didn't think it could possibly be head down; plus, I said that the baby was kicking so much that I felt like I was getting bruised in my left ribs, and she said that was a common complaint among those people with breech babies; yikes! So they have to schedule the ultrasound at another clinic or hospital, since the birth center doesn't have an ultrasound machine, so we'll probably be doing that shortly.

If it is breech, they have a variety of techniques they can try to get the baby to turn; otherwise, I'll have to have a c-section, which I'd REALLY prefer not to! The upside to a c-section, though, is that I would know when I would be having it, so my mom could fly out and be there! That'd be nice :) But hopefully I'm just getting ahead of myself, and the ultrasound will show that either a) the baby is not breech or b) we can get it to turn very soon!

Updates

So, last week we suffered the big snow storm, as you can see from my previous pictures! The next day we went to our midwife appointment, which was just an absolute joy getting to in all that snow. Everything is going well, though; she said I'm measuring right on schedule (no more measuring big) and the baby's heartbeat is still going strong. It's dropped down to the 130s, though (I think she said 132?) which is normal for babies as they approach full-term. I'm 31 weeks tomorrow, so it's getting close!

This weekend, we had a bunch of fun holiday get-togethers, which is always nice. I got together with friends on Friday night for our annual Christmas party, while Dan went to his company's work party (I was going to join him there, but the party ended before I could even leave Meghan's house!) Then on Saturday we went and saw the Princess and the Frog movie with Tracy and the girls; it was so cute! I really liked the music, and it's a good film for all ages. That night, we went to my company's Christmas party, and they picked us up in limos (which they do every year; it's very nice!) before heading over to the owner's house for dinner.

Sunday we just kind of lazed around (well, I did--Dan actually had to go into work since he has a big project due soon) and then we went to see A Christmas Carol that night. It was a really good movie; I was surprised I liked it so much.

Other than that, not too much going on this week. We have our next midwife appointment on Monday the 21st (I can't believe I'm already to the point where I need to be seen every other week!) and we start our first childbirth class on Saturday. I'm really excited for that--can't wait!