Date Night

 After a busy weekend of researching baby gear and cleaning and organizing the house, Alan and I were excited to do something special. We went to see Ruth Moody, a Wailin' Jenny, in concert and had a lovely meal before the concert. It was great to take some time to just be together and as always we had a fun time together. The concert was great and Sweet Girl must of enjoyed the music because she was kicking all throughout the show.


 Belly photos: The pictures are not the greatest, but you can see the belly at 22 weeks!

Quickening

Quickening- the first time a baby's movement is perceived by the mother...

I finally felt the baby move! Or at least I am pretty sure that I felt the baby move. After dinner  I was laying down, while my wonderful husband did the dishes, and I felt a bubble moving on the side of my belly. Not wanting to get over excited at what might be gas, I left my hand in the area and sure enough I felt two little twitches on my hand! I can't wait for it to happen again so I can confirm that this is the real deal.

It's a GIRL!

Sunday marked the 20th week of my pregnancy. Half way through more or less! On Monday we had our 20 week ultrasound which is used to take a close look at baby's anatomy and make sure all the parts are developing and are growing at the right rate. Baby now weighs 11 ounces and everything looked normal. Perhaps the biggest finding from our ultrasound is that we are having a girl! Alan and I are so excited. I have been thinking about how knowing the sex has changed my perception of the baby. It has taken a bit for me to shift my thinking from Baby Smith to Baby Girl but I already feel closer to this sweet child. I feel so blessed to have access to ultrasound technology as it is very reassuring that everything is going well with Baby Smith.

I hope to post some belly pictures soon. There is no doubt that I look pregnant and have been experiencing lots of stretching and growth. It is pretty amazing how the body accommodates for this new life.

Below are some of the ultrasound photos from Monday. The yellow-tinted images are a 3D reconstruction of the ultrasound. 

Baby is facing toward the left. The head area looks deformed because that part of the head was outside of the ultrasound scan.

This one looks a little weird, but the face is just above the dark space in the middle. You can see 3 fingers spread across the face.

Profile picture of Baby.

 

This one totally scared me during the ultrasound, but let's just say we know the kiddo has two eyes and the ocular bones are developing!