It's A Girl!

During today's 24 week OB check up, the doctor was very nice and gave us a free sonogram so we could find out the baby's gender. Emily Lynn was not shy at all during this sonogram and we are so exited to meet her in a few months! Finding out the gender was almost as exciting as finding out we were having a baby. Now I can start buying cute pink outfits! :)

The appointment went well. I've put on 6 pounds over the last 4 weeks (holy smokes!) but the doctor said I'm right on track. My belly measured 21 cm, my BP was good, and Emily's heart rate was 150-155. Everything is looking good so far. The next appointment is in 4 weeks and will be the diabetic screening - not so much fun.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. We appreciate them all! We hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the week!

One Day Shy of 23 Weeks - 17 More to Go!

It has been a relatively quiet past few weeks, with regards to the pregnancy. The little one is getting bigger, as can be seen from my expanding stomach. I've been really bad about taking belly bump pictures, but will try to take some and post for your viewing pleasure :) The baby seems to be active - especially later in the day and into the night. I'm enjoying watching my stomach have what appears to be rather drastic muscle twitches, but I know is the baby kicking or punching.

On another note, we decided to decorate the baby's room in a Winnie the Pooh theme. I am so excited - I know it is going to be so adorable! Since Margarita's cage is in the baby's room, we are slowing trying to wean her from her cage so that by the time the baby is here, she will no longer need it. So far she is doing well and enjoys having the freedom.

Other than that, we are counting down the weeks until we get to meet Baby Lau!

Sonogram Update

Good news from the sonogram. The doctor said we passed with flying colors. Everything looks good with the baby - praise God!

The baby is apparently modest and camera shy - didn't want to cooperate with the technician or the doctor. Neither of them were really able to get a good view of the baby to really determine the gender. However, they did say that if they had to guess, they would guess girl, but we shouldn't put too much stock behind their guess. So, at this point, it looks like we'll have to wait until the baby is born to know for sure! I did decide to take the Intelligender test tomorrow morning, so we'll see what that test predicts. Oh well... only 20 more weeks to go! :)

I've attached some of the sonogram pictures that were taken. Our little one is no longer a little peanut and actually looks like a baby with feet and hands and a spinal cord! Absolutely amazing.

This one cracks me up. The baby was getting tired of having his/her picture taken and put his/her arm over his/her face. :)

All curled up, upside down.

Profile picture and you can see some hands (?) and a leg.

I love this picture - two little feet!

Pictures from Our March 2010 Western Caribbean Cruise

Just a few pictures from our recent trip. Enjoy!

Shopping area in Panama

Jonathan at the Gatun Locks in Panama

Seven Mile Beach in Grand Cayman

Cartagena, Colombia

Cartagena, Colombia

Christine in Miami

Bats in Costa Rica

Christine on the Pontoon Boat Jungle Tour in Costa Rica

Aruba

Jonathan in Aruba

It's Been a Long Time.....

Sorry for the delay on updates! It's been a busy few weeks. We had a doctor appointment today and everything is going well. My blood pressure and weight were both good and the baby's heartbeat is nice and strong. We have a sonogram scheduled on Wednesday and should be able to find out if we are having a baby boy or a baby girl! Everyone asks me what I think we are having, but I really have no idea. I'll be happy either way :)

Jonathan and I just returned from an 11 day Western Caribbean cruise. We really enjoyed the time away and having one last vacation for just the two of us. Overall the weather was nice, not too hot, and we visited a few places where we had never been. We ate too much on the cruise, as always, and even ate at the specialty restaurants on board - very yummy! We shared a table with 4 other couples and everyone was so nice. It was hard to come back to cooking and cleaning up after myself! For whatever reason, I'm having difficulty posting pictures, so I'll try to add some pictures from our trip later.

Hope you are all well! Have a great week!

The Most Amazing Sound

On Thursday, Jonathan and I ventured over to the new location of our doctor's office for our 3rd OB visit. Since my last appointment, 5 weeks ago, I gained over 2 pounds and am starting to get a healthy baby bump :). The best part of this visit was listening to our baby's strong heartbeat for the first time. What an awesome sound and an amazing feeling to hear that sound in person! The doctor said the heartbeat was strong and consistent and everything seems to be going well - praise God! We have two appointments the end of March, one of which will be another sonogram and we should be able to find out if we will be welcoming a little girl or a little boy into the world come August. With every passing day, we love our little baby more and more and are very excited to meet him/her in person. We hope everyone is doing well and that you all have a wonderful

weekend! I plan to start looking at maternity clothes, as I'm beginning to feel like a stuffed sausage in some of my pre-pregnancy clothes. :)

First Trimester

Well, as most of you know by now, Jonathan and I are going to become parents in August! We are very excited to add to our family and meet our baby. I am now over 13 weeks and it has been a busy few months. We found out I was pregnant the middle of December and since we wanted to tell our families in person, we waited until we saw them during the Christmas holiday. What a wonderful Christmas present for them (and us!)! Our parents are very excited about becoming grandparents and I have a feeling that baby Lau will be very spoiled. I have been very fortunate that have not really gotten sick, although I was nauseous most of the time and lived off of ritz crackers and ginger ale. I now have my appetite back and find myself snacking on something every hour or two. We had our first sonogram at 9 weeks and it was absolutely amazing. It's hard to explain, but it's like I knew I had a baby growing inside of me, but once I saw the baby on the monitor screen and moving around, it brought on a whole new level of emotions. We are scheduled to hear the heart beat next week for the first time, and I'm sure that will be another emotional visit. Every book or article I read says the second trimester is the easiest so hopefully the next 3 months will be easy ones. I'm sure we will be posting more often, trying to keep everyone up-to-date with my pregnancy and baby bump pictures. For those of you hit by the blizzard, I hope you are all safe and warm. It was quite a storm we had yesterday - I have never seen anything like it! Stay safe and thank you to everyone who continues to keep us in your thoughts and prayers!