And We Have a Bouncing Baby . . .

Thursday we had a growth and anatomy sonogram and an amniocentesis done. Already our little one is proving to be stubborn and difficult! Baby would simply not cooperate for the ultrasound technician. Not only was she unable to get all the measurements she needed but we also couldn't see the gender. Baby simply would not reveal the "nether regions" to us, and it got Dave and me very frustrated! Based on the little the technician did see and her over twenty years experience she did take an educated guess, but made it clear that our chances only increased to a 60/40.

The amniocentesis went smoothly; although, it was actually a lot more painful than expected. We were told that the basic chromosomal count would take about 24 hours and that we should learn the primary results by Monday. (Full results for the "common" abnormalities takes two weeks, and it will be four weeks total before we learn about Von-Hippel Lindau, Dave's disease.) Amazingly I heard back from the genetics counselor Friday afternoon. Thus far, everything looks normal and it also turns out that the technician's guess was indeed correct. We are having a baby girl! Dave is so incredibly thrilled. He has always wanted a daughter.

The first picture is of our daughter at not quite 13 weeks gestation. The next picture is of her at 17 weeks. She is already (or very, very nearly) proportioned the way she will be at birth. We saw her ears and her fingers and toes. We saw her "wave" to us and open her mouth as if to say "hello." We saw her roll over and scratch her face. It was such an incredible experience to be able to see our baby girl months before she will be born. We can't wait for our next opportunity to see her again.