Is it a boy or a girl??!!

We are 20 weeks pregnant today!  I can't believe I am halfway through my pregnancy.  We had an appointment today for an ultrasound to make sure everything was forming correctly and to take some measurements.  Oh yeah, and to determine the gender of the baby!  WE'RE HAVING A GIRL!! 



Sweet Baby Girl



We saw so many things on the ultrasound.  The spine, the brain, the heart (with all four chambers beating away at 140 beats per minute), the stomach full of the amniotic fluid she's swallowing (yes, we saw her take a big gulp!), and a couple of well functioning kidneys (to pee the amniotic fluid out so she can drink it again, hee hee).  We even got a good look at the structures of her face and mouth especially.  The technician looked to see if there is a cleft lip or not.  She pointed out her lips, which are intact, no cleft.  I mentioned it looked like York lips to which Dan clarified to the technician, no upper lip.  She said there are two full lips, so it looks like she has mommy's lips!  All in all, everything is formed perfectly on our baby girl.  She's even got mommy's stature ranking in at the 58th percentile in size for her "age".  We may have a basketball player in our future!

I now know I am definitely feeling her move.  Small pokes from inside that I usually only notice when I'm lying down.  I think it's still too early for Dan to feel it from the outside, but I hold his hand on my tummy while we're sitting together watching TV just in case.  **Update** I wrote the previous statement three hours ago and Dan and I were sitting on the couch just now, the baby was kicking hard, and Dan actually felt her! Yay!



Look mom! I can stand on my head!  OR, I can put my feet on my face



There aren't many foods that I'm craving, but one thing that I can always go for is a grilled cheese.  Yum!  I usually get them when I'm at work, the nice man in the cafeteria makes a fine grilled cheese.  Add a side of pickles to that and I'm good to go!  I had switched from drinking regular coffee in the mornings to decaf which just isn't the same.  So recently I've been having hot chocolate or hot apple cider in the mornings, still a far cry from my morning joe.  A friend of mine suggested a decaf tea to me in a Bengal spice flavor, and when you add some sugar and milk, you get a delicious chai tea.  I now have a new favorite morning beverage!  Hard to say what I'll be eating next week as my taste for things changes quite frequently.

A few bump pictures at 20 weeks today!

A note from Lucy



Today Jess told me there's going to be another girl in the house!  Wow, I guess Dan is going to be outnumbered.  That's good news though, because I tend to like girls better.  Jess is still walking me every day she's off work.  She says she needs her exercise too for a healthy baby.  I'm trying my hardest not to pull her along, but it's really hard to resist the temptation of a squirrel.  The way they twitch their tails at me and squeak at me when I run them up a tree is just really annoying!  I'm also being really mindful of Jess' growing tummy these days, while I still enjoy cuddle time, I try to steer clear of the tummy area.  Jess warns me that soon the baby will kick me, then I'll be sorry.

I thought I'd share some things about myself with those of you who may not know me that well.

Favorite food:  Iams

Favorite snack:  Milk bones

Human food I would die for:  Cheese  (I can hear the drawer open and I know the crinkle of the cheese package from across the house! I also ate the cheese off the top of a pasta casserole grandma Cindy made that was sitting on the counter. Hey!  I left all the pasta for them to eat!)



Favorite sound:  The jingle of keys (I am a sucker for a car ride)

Favorite phrases:  "Go for a walk"  "Go for a ride"  (either of these can wake me from the deepest sleep, or encourage me to come in the house when I'm being defiant)

Until next post...

With Love
Jess, Dan, Lucy, and baby GIRL York!