14wks 2days

(**Note to self: do NOT take belly photos directly after holiday feasting. Sheeeesh!)

The little bubble feelings are turning into flits and flutters big enough for me to be able to tell when baby is sleeping or awake. Five days until my next appointment and about five weeks until our big ultrasound...

13 Weeks 5 Days

Well, I finally got my results back from the blood work part of the nuchal/genetics screen:

Chance of Down's Syndrome: 1 in 16,000

Chance of Trisomy 13: 1 in 35,000

Chance of Trisomy 18: 1 in 35,000

The screening can't completely rule out chromosomal disorders, but instead gives you your odds of the baby having them based on the nuchal fold measurement (a measurement at the back of the fetal neck) and different hormones/proteins/chemicals in my blood that the baby releases into my blood stream. So, there is still a chance of something being wrong, but the numbers are definitely in our favor.

My next visit with Dr. Le is next Thursday and they should be drawing additional blood to check for neural tube defects, like spina bifida. Dr. Gei (the doctor who I saw for the NT screen) suggested that Dr. Le also check to make sure my clotting factor is lupus-related and not an antiphospholipid syndrome issue. APS would pretty much guarantee that I'll be put on heparin instead of just a baby aspirin. I'll also get scheduled for my anatomical scan in roughly four weeks, so that we can just solidify the fact that this is indeed a boy! Dr. Le refers all his patients to Dr. Gei, so I'm looking forward to a nice, clear ultrasound ...and possibly a 3D picture (I asked the sonographer last time if they had the good high-resolution machines to do them and she said they sure do!).

Anyhow, I will keep y'all posted! It is killing me to have to wait to go buy our blue baby things! I also discovered today that the crib we have for Maddie has been recalled (four babies have died from getting trapped in the drop-side and dozens more injured), so our plans to just put the new baby in it is down the tubes. So I guess I get to go furniture shopping as well. Oh, how I miss my paychecks, but I wouldn't trade staying home with my babies for anything. Having to get a new crib (and changer and dresser ~ the room has to match, after all) just was really an unexpected expense. However, I do love to shop, so I think I can get over my initial shock :) And getting a good deal is my middle name, baby!

BIG FAT HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO GRAMMA K.!!! I wish we were there to celebrate with you. We love you!

Holiday Fun!

Craft time at the Rittmann house! I had some leftover jumbo cottonballs that could only rightfully be used for one thing: making a snowman! Or at least a almost-two-year-old's interpretation of a snowman. Notice the carrot nose in the lower left corner...

Then it was decorate a Christmas tree time. She used the glue all by her self! ...and I'm still picking glitter out of her hair three days later :)

Mommy's snowman. Oh, how I love craft time!

Now, a little piano music for your entertainment! Maybe I'll be able to catch her doing some Maddie "ballet" soon.

Too Cool Pony

She was actually saying, "Cheese"!

Oh, it hurts my heart a little that she is growing up so quickly. I remember putting her on that pony and having to hold her because she still couldn't sit up too well on her own. Notice mommy's sunglasses ~ because all the cool cowgirls have ponies with sunglasses...

Nuchal Scan (12wks 4days)

First, obviously a photo of my growing belly! I feel like a cow and have a looooong way to go!


This is baby, sucking his thumb!

So, everything looks normal! The nuchal fold looks great and baby measures 13wks 1day. The maternal-fetal medicine doctor (Dr. Gei) is going to request that Dr. Le changes my dates (like I've been asking him to). They won't have my blood work back until Friday, but so far, so good. He did say that I have a low-laying placenta (it's partially covering my cervix), but it should move up as I get farther along. And, he wants to recheck my clotting factor to make sure I don't need heparin, as well as aspirin.

Baby was SO CUTE! He kept putting his hand to his face and opening his mouth and finally got his little thumb in there! Oh, did you notice I'm saying "He"?!?!? Since baby measured 13wks, the tech decided to take a look at gender. I saw a clear little testicle sac and weenie, but didn't say anything. Then she asked, "Do you want me to guess what it is?" I'm like, "Duh!" She said, "Now, don't go buy all blue just yet, but that's a boy and he's got a big one." I knew it! I'm going to wait until the anatomy scan before I go buy boy's things, but it's 99% all boy, baby! Six more weeks until we'll know without a doubt...do I even need to say that I can't wait!!??

Future

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6 Days until my first trimester is over

11 Days until Thanksgiving

11 Days until Christmas music starts playing all day, every day, on the radio

39 Days until Christmas morning

41 Days until my sweet little baby is TWO

180-192 Days until my sweet little baby is no longer an only child

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Had to do it up right this Christmas; it's the last one that will just be all about Maddie

She's got a pile of presents that is about 4-feet high by 5-feet wide

I can hardly wait to see her face on

Christmas morning

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Gearing Up For Christmas!

Time to trim the tree!

And send out our very first Christmas List to Santa! Mommy has a sneaky suspicion that Santa will get everything on her list...

Maddie the Great

She has become obsessed with getting into my makeup already, and says, "Hmmm, let's see" as she peers into the depths of my makeup bag. On this particular morning, she decided that Teddy needed a make over! The blush and lipstick go great with Teddy's color, don't you think?

There aren't too many kids in our subdivision to play with, so we have to pretend sometimes. And only the best of friends get Maddie-kisses.

These cat and dog bowling pins are her favorite toys at the moment. Her favorite is the polka dot puppy ("Poka-dot puppy"). She lines them up in different patterns, stuffs them into her "pocket" (she doesn't have anything with pockets, so they go into the back of her diaper), and...takes them for walks in the baby stroller.


On November 1st, I decided it was high time to put up the tree (I was proud that I waited that long; please reference last year's November blog posts). Maddie LOVES it and cried when I had to turn the lights off. She even added her own, errrr, ornament...

Because every tree needs a Ni-Hao Kai-Lan key ring?

She was very proud of herself for helping to decorate. I was very proud that she even thought to put it on there!

11 Week Check Up

Our Peanut!

"Actual Size" Pretty cool, huh??

Well, everything looks great! Baby was sleeping so we didn't get to see him/her moving (so different than Maddies's ultrasounds ~ she NEVER sat still for any of our scans!). Our little one measures 11wks 2days and is 2 inches from head to rump. We let the doctor know that we decided against the VBAC, so in January I'll be getting scheduled for my C-section (probably around May 20th). I go to a specialist in a week or two for what is called a nuchal translucency ultrasound and to get my blood drawn, all to check for Down's syndrome and spina bifida. I'm hoping that we'll be able to tell by then whether this is a little man or little lady (I'm really impatient to find out!). We'll see, I guess :)

I have felt pretty well, no vomiting or anything. I've had a few days where it came pretty close! As long as I eat every few hours, I feel fine. I've been having cramps from my ligaments stretching and they. really. hurt! I didn't get them until later with Maddie, but the doctor said it's normal to get them earlier with subsequent pregnancies. I also think I have felt itty-bitty flutters (only twice in the last few days), but I can't be sure. It feels exactly the way I felt with Maddie's early movement and I felt her earlier than normal, too (around 13-14wks). Those big, unmistakable kicks and movements are coming soon, though!

Happy Halloween, 2009!