Perfect Ultrasound

We had a medical ultrasound early this morning (clear across the city - 1 hour 20 minutes drive..) and it was worth every minute. When we were called in, a nurse asked us about how everything was going, asked a bunch of questions, took my blood pressure (110/60 which is low but good) and let us know what they were going to be looking at this week. At our 19 week ultrasound (back on August 30th) they didn't get a good view of our babies' heart chambers, so she said they'd be looking for that today. We then waited for the technician. Once in the exam room we got to see the cubs' heads/faces, bodies/organs, hearts, legs and genders. (They're now confirmed three times.. a girl and a boy.) This appointment went much quicker than the 19 week anatomy scan as they don't re-do all of the checks. The tech checked the babies' amniotic sac fluid levels and checked my cervical length this time as well. Baby boy(heartbeat of 141) was super active doing flips as per his usual active self, while Baby girl(heartbeat of 157) was calm.

Once the scan was done, a perinatologist came into the exam room and went over the results. (We will be seeing a perinatologist every time we have an ultrasound from now on.) He told us that both babies look great and told me to keep up whatever it is that I am doing as it is working. Our little boy has now surpassed the growth of our little girl. Baby boy was always a tiny bit smaller up until now, but the doctor said that the babies do go through growth spurts. Baby girl weighs 731grams(approx 1.5lbs) and Baby boy weighs 810grams(approx 1.75lbs), which he said puts them in the 40-60th percentile currently for normal singletons. (I'm not sure why the OB told me they were big a couple of weeks ago.) He also said my cervix looks good, closed and 4.7cm which is longer than most and the best part, shows no signs of opening. (Which he said normally occurs weeks before delivery.) So we took this to mean that we're still quite far from delivery. Great news!

We were told that pictures get harder to achieve the further along in pregnancy we get, so this time we just have a couple of profiles to share.

24w5d Profiles - October 14

This afternoon I went to the APrON (Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition) clinic to sign up for their medical study. They measured and weighed me. (I gained again. eek. I'm going to weigh twice my normal weight with three more months of gain like this! - Truly I'm averaging about 1.5lbs per week and hope that it melts off later..) Then they did the fat caliper test and took blood and urine samples. I filled out three questionnaires for them and brought home a package of questionnaires for Phil to fill out as well as a cheek swab for him. (Guess we'll know if he's the daddy soon enough.. Kidding! Bad joke.)

Tomorrow we are going on a mini Babymoon! We decided to take a vacation to Banff and have a relaxing few days together and also to celebrate Phil's birthday. We have big plans to order room service, eat fondue and have afternoon tea, watch movies, stroll through the town admiring the mountains and generally relax. Looking forward to spending quality time with my wonderful husband.

Every year, I buy myself a new winter jacket. It's the equivalent of a "shoe addiction". My guilty pleasure.  Last year, I got a beautiful black North Face jacket, which I tried to squeeze my belly into.. but sadly, failed. I can still close the top but will have to wait until next winter to wear it again. I had been considering buying a maternity jacket, going back and forth, since it's already getting cold here and I've got three more months of belly growing to do! Many people told me I didn't need a jacket.. but it's been cold.. and I love jackets! (That's like me telling them they don't need that donut..) Today, I bought a maternity jacket! It's not nearly as warm as normal ones but will get me through this winter. It's black and has ample belly room. It also has side zippers to expand the jacket outward for even more belly room. I think it will do the job nicely. Now to find some new mittens and a scarf, preferably at a craft sale. Winter is coming!

New Winter Jacket!