It's A................

GIRL!!!!!

Abigail Ann (Abby)

We went for my ultrasound on Thursday last week and found out that most importantly she is nice and healthy. However, the little booger wasn't real cooperative and so we didn't get a good look at her. The tech said that she thought it was a girl but couldn't really commit to it. She was sitting with her legs crossed and her chin tucked into her chest so they couldn't get a profile shot of her either so they need to do another one when I go back in 6 weeks.

Well, you know that I am no way patient enough to wait another 6 WEEKS to find out for sure, so I found one of those places that does just ultrasounds for fun so I went there on Friday.

Luckily the first thing the tech looked for was gender because she didn't give us a good shot the rest of the time. But they said definitely a girl. (This time you could actually see little girl parts, where before they were going on just not being able to see boy parts)

It was very cool to see her moving around in there though. She was really active the second time. She was kicking those little legs and moving around, putting her hands up by her face and even opening and closing her mouth. At one point she moved her head back and then opened her mouth up really quick so it almost looked like she laughed. :)
(figures, she's already laughing at us)


Here is the "money" shot to show us she's a little girl.









And here is a shot of her looking at the camera with her little hand in front of one eye.





I have no idea if I can figure out how to put up some of the video but I will try.

Now we get to do all of the fun stuff like buy clothes and get her room ready!!!

Joe is already setting dating guidelines and has been making plans for us to move to a one room hut on an island with no boys. :)

20 weeks and Big Ultrasound tomorrow!!!!!

The baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He/she is also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a bananna. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his/her torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of his/her head to the bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, he/she is measured from head to toe.) The baby is swallowing more these days, which is good practice for its digestive system. He/she is also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).

We go in for the big ultrasound tomorrow at 1:00!!! I can't wait to find out what this little one is, and more importantly to find out that the baby is healthy and developing right on track.

We ordered the crib and dresser over the weekend and they should be in on the 10th. I can't wait to start decorating the room once we know what flavor this munchkin is.

I have been getting kicked on a very regular basis. This little one moves around quite a bit. Joe even got to feel him/her kick a few times the other day. :)

I will let you all know tomorrow how everything goes at the doctor.

18 Weeks!!!

Head to rump, the baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and he/she weighs almost 7 ounces. It's busy flexing it's arms and legs — movements that I have definitely already been noticing. The baby's blood vessels are visible through thin skin, and his/her ears are now in their final position. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his/her nerves, a process that will continue for a year after the baby is born. If its a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If its a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them during an ultrasound.

2 weeks until the Ultrasound!!! We have quite a little mover and shaker on board here. Some day's the baby is going nuts in there and then for the next couple of days after that it's pretty quiet. (It must have worn itself out) I am definitely feeling little movements going on in there every day now. I love it! Not too long before Joe will be able to feel it I hope.

Really Hard Decision

For those of you who don't know, for the past 6-8 weeks or so we have been having a lot of trouble with our little Kitty Cat Zoey. She started out having a little trouble hitting her litter box and then we noticed that she was kind of "leaking", so I took her into the vet for a checkup thinking that maybe she had a bladder infection.

The vet confirmed that she did indeed have a little infection and we put her on some medicine. Well after a week of being on meds she wasn't getting any better, in fact she was leaking even more. (now to the point where she was leaving little puddles when she laid down)

So I took her back to the vet and they gave me some pills thinking that maybe she wasn't getting enough medicine with the liquid. (pills were no easy task either) So we were told to try that for a week and if that didn't work we may need to take her to a specialist to see what was going on.

So we tried the pills, and then of coarse from being at the vet so much she picked up a cold, poor thing, (which of coarse she gave to Sammy)

After a while we realized that nothing was working so I took her to the STL Cat Clinic to see a specialist. The news was unfortunately not what I wanted to hear.

The Vet told me that my little Zo Zo has Spine Abifida and that there was nothing we could do for her as far a the leaking goes. (she also was beginning to get little sores from the constant issues)

So Joe and I had to make the VERY difficult decision to find her a new home. We had to do what was best, health wise, for everyone. We just cannot bring a new baby home to a house where the cat is constantly leaking urine all over. Plus, we would not be able to care for her in the way she needs to live a healthy happy life.

We took her back to the facility where we got her. The St. Charles Humane Society. I swear those people are angels. It is a no kill shelter where they also adopt out the animals. I am quite certain that they will give her the best care she could possibly get. And as it turns out, her Mom is still there so maybe she'll remember her :)

We took her on Saturday, which did NOT go well for me or Joe. It breaks my heart to have to give her up but I know that this is what is best for her, and us. I sincerely hope that this is harder on me than it is on her because this has NOT been easy.

I miss my little girl and I hope that she will be happy there soon. We are going to be constantly checking up on her and seeing how she is doing and even though they don't really want you to visit them so they don't get sad, I don't think I will be able to help myself. (I will just have to wait a little while.) We are also going to donate money to sponsor her so that they have the means to buy a new facility when they have enough money. I hope it will be soon.

Sam has been a little confused, but he is very happy to have mom and dad all to himself again.

I still miss my little one though. :(

Update On Home Renovations

Well, the walls are painted and the carpeting is FINALLY down! It looks sooooooooo much better. I feel like we are in a new home now.

The biggest thrill has been being able to walk barefoot throughout our enitre house. I hated having to put shoes on to be able to go down into the basement. Especially once we ripped up the old carpeting and there was nothing but dirty concrete underneath.

I also have to say it smells a whole lot better down there too. The other carpet was just nasty.

I think this year Festivus will be a socks only occasion. :)

The Big one is coming up!!!!!

Well, it's set, we go to the doctor to find out the sex of the baby on September 4th! I can't wait. Then we can finally start deciding on how to do the nursery, not to mention purchase the all important pink or blue baby clothes :)

We have names picked pretty much finally so I guess we will reveal those to everyone when we know for sure.

I think it's a boy, Joe hasn't really said, but he does always refer to it as a he. I would like a boy since that's what I have always pictured myself with first, but I of coarse would LOVE a little girl.
Everyone I know seems to have or be having girls lately so it might be nice to have something different.

We'll just have to see!

Was that? Yeah, I think it was!!!

I had thought that maybe I might have felt a little something now and then but wasn't really sure, and I know right around now is when the say you can start feeling the baby move.

Well, last Friday I was sitting down talking and got an undeniable little punch or kick or something. It really only felt like someone very lightly flicked me from the inside out. I kinda gave me the chilled and stopped me almost mid-sentence. I have since felt a few more little movements and flutters, but nothing too strong yet. Just kinda like butterflies.

I can't wait to feel more and for Joe to be able to feel it!