Ultrasound Complete ... 19 Weeks, 4 Days

So, we had the ultrasound today. Wow! Baby sure has gotten big!!!

Baby Stats:
Weight: 10 oz.
Heartbeat: 149 bpm during ultrasound; 160 bpm during exam
Estimated Length: 12 - 14 inches
Gender: We don't know! Baby didn't show us. :)



The video of some of the ultrasound is above. It is amazing that last time, we could see the entire baby in the ultrasound picture, now we could only see half of the baby. We saw the arms, feet, legs, head, spine, femur bone, face (Katie thinks baby might have Tim's cute nose). If you look to the left, you will see Baby Liby's heart beating steadily. Baby wasn't moving around too much ... maybe (s)he was sleeping through all of the excitement! (S)He did keep punching Katie, but she couldn't feel it. The ultrasound also confirmed that we are right on track at 19 weeks, 4 days ... almost half way through the pregnancy. That is mind-boggling!!

Katie will update the ultrasound photo later, but wanted to get the video up ASAP. You will also notice that we finally got the pictures of the Mastursery loaded so you can peruse those to see the progress on the room. There are even some before pictures. We also got a new belly picture. Although Katie feels much larger than week 15, she isn't when you do a direct comparison ... oh, her stomach is going to get soooo much bigger!!!

Thanks for checking back. Don't forget to vote! Also, feel free to leave comments -- we love to read what you have to say.

Love,

Tim & Katie

Ultrasound Tomorrow ... New Survey Today

So, we have our official ultrasound tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. We can not wait!!! It is going to be so great to see baby moving again ... that just makes it soooo real. We are going to bring our camera and record it, so look for an updated post tomorrow with the video -- how exciting!

Also, we put up a new survey today so be sure to vote, vote, vote (hey, we are just getting you ready for November). As far as the results for the last one, we aren't going to be finding out the gender of Baby Liby until he/she comes in October (unless Baby decides to surprise us by showing us tomorrow) -- which is the option the majority of you selected. We are probably going to be going crazy in the last month or so waiting to find out. The excitement is already building ...

We really don't care which of the genders the Lord blesses us with. Katie's main concern is that we have at least one of each at some point. Given that it is a strong desire of her heart, and something she prays for, she is confident that the Lord will bless us with both son(s) and daughter(s) at some point. (She is still also praying for twins someday, too! Wouldn't that be amazing?!)

Tim's brother (and wife and kids) came up this weekend and Micah helped Tim put in our new side door (we have had the door for 1.5 years, and haven't put it in until this weekend!). It looks fabulous!! They did a tremendous job. Again, we have pictures, but still are having troubles getting them all loaded.

We are so thankful for all of the offers of help we have gotten, and are sure that we will cash in on those offers before this is all said and done, so those of you who have offered ... be prepared! :) So, check back tomorrow to see Baby Liby in all of his/her glory!!

Until Tomorrow ...
Tim & Katie

Operation ... Extract Isabelle

Well, Monday night was going to be a night of great success -- a night that Tim would work in the bedrooms in preparation for our little bambino. And he got to ... sort-of. It all started out before he was home from work, actually. I was reading a book (the topic of which was maternity/baby/child-birth ... how shocking!) and I fell asleep. I woke up a bit later and thought that I heard something moving in the walls/ceiling above me -- the "job-site" as I have affectionatly termed the construction project. Now, you will all see, as soon as I get the pictures uploaded, that currently, there is no wall between the master bedroom and the nursery, and there is one hole where the wall used to be. A small hole, like smaller than an envelope. Much too small for something important to fit down, but large enough for whatever Tim was doing. Anyway, it sounded like something fell down in the hole. I heard rustling and dirt falling. In a pretty quick instant I thought, "hmmmm, I wonder where Isabelle is ..."

(For those of you who do not know, Isabelle is our darling little beast. She is a cat of contradiction. If we have people over, she will not come out to see them, but as soon as they leave, she appears from her hiding place (there are a few exceptions, Tim's mom, my parents, and a few close friends like Trevor, who happens to be allergic to cats -- Isabelle, for some reason, loves Trevor!) She hates the vacuum, power tools, the dust-buster and sometimes Tim. She runs away from the slightest noise, but is willing to go and poke around the job-site whenever she can sneak past the barrier that we have set up. She fetches, purrs and sometimes hisses -- mainly at Tim. She cuddles with you when you don't have time to cuddle, and runs from you when you want to cuddle. In short, she is hilarious, and we wouldn't trade her for the world!).

Anyway, I am wondering where our little beast is. I head upstairs and glance at the bed -- the last place I saw her. Nope, not there. At this point, I heard a louder thump coming from the job-site and begin to think that this couldn't be good. As I top the stairs, I hear the most mournful and scared meow ever produced and I am thinking, "CRAP!" I head into the rooms, and start to look for her in her usual places. She, meanwhile, is meowing up a storm. And, frankly, it sounds like the meows are coming from in the walls or under the floor -- I couldn't exactly pinpoint it. I call Tim and tell him that I think Isabelle is in the walls or under the floor ... I couldn't tell. Needless to say, he didn't really believe me. Trust me, it was true. While I couldn't find her, her meows definitely said that she was in a bad place. I just couldn't figure our where ... yet.

So, Tim has been eyeing this tool for the past few years. It is a Ridgid Mini See-Snake. It is pretty cool. It has an optical lens on the end of it that allows you to look in walls, down pipes, basically, many places you couldn't see. And it is small enough to fit in tiny places. We were able to get one on a sweet sale at Home Depot a few months ago -- it has come in pretty handy. I assured Tim that Isabelle was indeed in the floor or wall because that is where her sound was coming from, and I started looking for the Snake to see if I could figure out where. At this point, though, I saw her ... sitting just below the smaller-than-an-envelope hole -- and Operation Extract Isabelle was fully under way. I have no idea how she even fit into the hole, but it was going to be pretty difficult getting her back out. After a few minutes (but it seemed like forever!) Tim got home.

Two hours later, after trying to lure her out with food, the laser pointer (she loves chasing that), trying to pull her out, sawing the hole bigger, squeezing the cat out, cuddling her, taking pictures of her once white, now smoke grey stomach and paws, giving her the second bath she has ever had (oh, she loved that), drying her off, brushing away the hair she was shedding profusely, and leaving her to lick away the night, Operation Extract Isabelle was completed -- successfully.

And Tim was able to work in the bedroom like we planned -- he just didn't get done what he had hoped to. Isabelle is happy, though -- and very soft. She is still trying to get back into the job-site. Now Tim has a baby gate up blocking her way. What a pain.

I guess the night was a success -- just not the kind of success we thought it would be.

That is all for now ...

Love,
Katie (& Tim & Isabelle)

P.S. I got an A+ on my final exam -- yeah!! AND, someone noticed that I was pregnant on their own for the first time last week 'cause I am showing pretty good now. That was fun!

Baby is Moving!!!

Boy, I can't wait to be done with this class! I am sitting here, trying to study so that I can finish my final exam tonight (it is a take-home exam) and I keep feeling flutters and movement in my belly. They are making it soooo hard to concentrate! My sister-in-law, Brandi, told me that she thinks that it kind-of "feels like you are being tickled from the inside" and I think that she is right. While it isn't that shy-away, jerky tickle that you might get when someone rubs your foot just right, the tickle from the baby makes me want to laugh out loud! Feeling the baby move warms me from the inside out. How amazing that there is life growing in me that I can feel?! With all of these flutters and movements, my mind is constantly being directed back towards the Creator of Life and the utter awe I have in the way that He created us women to actually be able to carry life inside of us. While I would (truly) love for Tim to experience pregnancy so that I can get a bit more sympathy (giggle!! Mainly in the first trimester when I was so nauseous and tired, I would say to him, "I wish you could be pregnant for just three days so you can understand!") I would not (so far) trade this experience for a million bucks! I thank God that He is allowing me an inside look/feel at/of the miracle of life.

Okay, maybe now that I have that down, I can focus a bit more on my exam ... maybe!

Wish me luck.

Katie

Week by Week

You know, the funny thing about pregnancy is the almost seemless transition you make from counting off time in months to counting off time in weeks. While I (Katie) have always thought this funny in the past, when you are waiting for those magical weeks to come around (i.e., after 12 - 13, you can be pretty sure you won't miscarry; 20 weeks = ultrasound!!; at 36 weeks, 40 can't come soon enough!) it just seems like the natural way to count. The only problem with counting in weeks (besides computing it to months for all of those people who ask, "Now how many months is that?") is that each week passes so quickly. It can truly be a stressor sometimes. All this to say, we are almost at week 17! Holy cats! While it is great to be progressing, we have so much to do in the house that I would love for the weeks to sllllllllloooooooooooowwwwwwwww down! :)

At this point, Baby Liby weighs approximatley 4.97 ounces and about 5 inches long. You can tell what gender the baby is at this point, too! Remeber to vote as to whether you think that we should find out that if baby is a boy or girl at our ultrasound. Also, I am feeling a ton more flutters and movement in my stomach, but nothing very firm yet ... oh my goodness, I can't wait to meet this baby!!

I am trying very hard to get photos of the progress of the nursery loaded to the site, but am having problems. I have a friend that I am going to ask about this, so hopefully in the next week, you can walk through the construction process with us.

That's all for now ...

Katie