IT'S A GIRL!!!

I had my 21 week sonogram Monday afternoon. Joel took the day off to go, and we both were so excited! The sonogram technician said she was going to check everything with the baby, and she wasn't kidding. I told her we definately wanted to know the sex, but it was the very last thing she got to. She measured all the bones, head, stomach, heart and everything else that you could possibly think of. The baby was laying with her butt up and head face down, so we were able to get a good view between the legs. There was no mistaking that it's a girl. I couldn't believe it when she told me. I've been waiting so long for a baby and then to find out what it is. It feels so different knowing that it's a girl instead of just a baby growing in my belly. We can now say "she" when referring to the baby instead of "the baby" or "that kid" (Joel said that was the one I said all the time). Below is the picture showing it's a girl!

The sonogram went pretty good except that she wouldn't show us her face. She was laying flat on her face and wouldn't move. The sonogram tech tried for a good 10-15 minutes to try to get her to move to no avail. She even tried an internal sonogram and that didn't work either. We got her to roll just a little bit at one point, which was long enough for the tech to get the readings on the face, etc. Joel said that she's already shy like me and was embarrassed because she knew people wanted to take her picture and were looking at her. I still laugh about that comment. When I was little, I would hide behind Mom and Dad's legs and under the table at my birthday parties. I was so shy!!! Below is a good picture of her spine and then one of her face. You can really see her eye sockets in the second picture and her arms and legs.

The sonogram tech said that a doctor (not my regular doctor) would be in to check things out. The doctor came in and looked at the baby's measurements and told us that she is only in the 12th percentile. They want her to be at least in the 50th percentile. She measured 20 weeks 4 days and I was 21 weeks 1 day. The doctor said that they aren't too worried about it right now, but they want me to have another sonogram around 28 weeks to make sure that she is following the same growth pattern. I'm glad we get another sonogram since we didn't get any good pictures of her face on Monday. I'm not for sure when we got the picture below. It may have been with the internal sonogram and it's upside down.

I get to do my glucose test at my next appointment. Everyone says how awful it is, but I don't think it will be too bad. I just have to drink this bottle of stuff they gave me an hour before my appointment and they'll draw blood. I'm sure the stuff tastes awful, but I'll be glad to have that test past me.

After our appointment on Monday we went to Babies R Us and registered. It took a couple hours and we both were overwhelmed and didn't really know what we needed and the differences between everything. We ordered the baby furniture that afternoon and it should be here within the next month. I'm going to order the bedding in the next few days and once it comes in, I'll be able to pick the paint color and start painting! I can't wait to actually get started on her room.

Her name is going to be Ainsley, and we haven't decided on the middle name. I can't believe we're over halfway there already. These next four months are going to go by so fast between getting her room ready, the holidays, baby showers, travel, bridal shower, and getting ready for Thomas and Jamie's wedding. I know she is going to be here before I know it and can't wait!