Half Way to the Finish Line!

We had our 20 week check up today! The big one! We had the anatomy scan and everything look perfect. I loved the appointment because Barb, the ultrasound tech, spent over 30 minutes going over every little detail of the baby's anatomy. It was kind of amazing what you can see and how much is developed. Everything looked perfect she said and so did Dr. Werbin-Silver. In my OBGYN office, there are 4 doctors. If you are pregnant, you have to see all 4 of them before you deliver because you never know which one you are going to get when it comes time to have baby. So this was my first "non-McDreamy" appointment. While I missed him a lot, she was fantastic, and I'd be thrilled if she was the doctor on-call delivering baby boy. So I'm 2 for 2. Next appointment isn't until the beginning of May (yuck). Let's see if I can hold off for 4 weeks without having a nervous breakdown about something.

I've posted some of the pictures from the scan. Totally amazing.

Baby boy Hafemann, side profile

Baby Boy's big penis

3D baby boy...he's so freakin' cute already!

IT'S A BOY!

IT'S A BOY! IT'S A BOY! IT'S A BOY! IT'S A BOY! IT'S A BOY! IT'S A BOY! IT'S A BOY!

I can't believe we finally know what little babe is and that this is actually really happening! Knowing makes it really truly come to life. I always knew in my gut that it was a boy but I never really trust that feeling. I'll never forget the at the first ultrasound screaming, IT'S A BOY! After listening to the heartbeat, I guess I was right! I am so excited and so is Paul.

My mom planned to have a 30th birthday brunch for me on March 27th (since my birthday is the 31st) then she thought since the anatomy scan wasn't until April 7th, we could do a Gender Reveal party and have a little dinner party, but I just couldn't wait. on March 23rd, I thought "If I could just get into the doctor to check me out, I bet we could find out, because they were pretty sure the last time but they weren't 100%" On the 24th, we had a 2 hour delay, so I called at 9, told them I've been having some cramping and they told me to come in to get checked out. I happily went and Dr. McDreamy did my ultrasound. As soon as he flipped on the ultrasound monitor he said "uh oh, I know what the gender is, do you?!" I immediately said "NO! you have to write it down!" Then I whipped my head to look but he told me not to. I instantly thought, "Holy crap, this is a boy!" I kept trying to peak and he kept telling me to stop. After about 7 or 8 minutes he let me look (I had no clue what I was looking at) and then he was done. He went over to the counter, sealed up what I thought was a paper, in an envelope and off I went, happy as can be.

I went back to work. Luann held the envelope for me because I was so tempted to peek. After school, mom and I took it to the bakery and the ladies were freaking out because they had never done anything like that before. They were thrilled! They couldn't wait for us to leave so that they could open up that envelope. The next 3 days seemed to take forever to pass. It didn't help that everyone was asking and asking. I couldn't wait until Sunday!

Mom had a HUGE (as always) spread on Sunday for my brunch. A couple of good friends were able to come which was so exciting, and my whole family was there of course. Everyone was dressed in pink or blue depending on what they thought the baby was. Paul wore blue and I wore pink, I figured we both couldn't wear blue, what happens if it wasn't a boy?! One of use had to represent the gender of the baby we were having! Everyone couldn't wait to cut this cake. As soon as we were done eating breakfast, everyone wanted to go to dessert immediately. It wasn't until about 12:15 that we were ready to do the deal. I was shaking, my heart was fluttering. It was more nerve wracking than saying my vows at my wedding! We carefully cut the cake with our wedding cake cutters and I slowly and carefully (don't know how I did this without dropping the cake) slide the piece out and started screaming "IT'S A BOY!" Everyone was so excited and of course they were all screaming. I'm trying to get the video clip up so you can really enjoy the moment. It was such a moment. Something that I'll never forget.

We also confirmed by opening the envelope that it IS in fact a boy. Dr. McDreamy apparently thought it would be different to take 2 ultrasound pics of my SON'S penis and put them in the envelope. He circled the penis in each picture and wrote "I'm a BOY!" Check out the pictures below....What a day!

The beautiful cake from Sweet Delites in Somers

Getting ready for the BIG cut!

OH BOY! Blue filling!

McDreamy put an ultrasound in the envelope and circled his little penis. Yet another reason why I love my doctor so so much!

Baby's first Polo-thanks to Auntie Lee AKA sissybear

It was delicious (so were the other 75 cakes at the party)

We have a gender!

So I decided I couldn't wait any longer! I'm turning 30 in a week, my mom is having a party/brunch for me, and we MUST know what this baby is. We had a delay today so I called the doctor and told him I had some cramping. He told me to come in, he did an ultrasound and immediately said, "I know the gender! Do you!?" (which kinda made me switch back to thinking it's a boy....but anyway....I told him to write it down on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope.

After work and some appointments, my mom and I took the envelope with the results to the bakery where they are going to make a neutral cake on the outside and fill the cake on the inside with whatever the gender is-blue for a boy or pink for a girl! So we will be finding out in just a few short days when we cut the cake! It's so nerve wracking but I just can't wait to be able to say "he or she!"

16 weeks and getting bigger

We went to our 16 week check up today with very high hopes that we would be able to find out the gender! We also had to finish up some of the Downs and other genetic tests that we had done. In the pouring rain, Paul met me in Mount Kisco and I invited my mom too. I thought it would be nice for her to be there, especially since we were pretty confident that Barbara, the Ultrasound tech, would be able to tell the gender! We had plans to bring the results right to the bakery so that they could start the work for the gender party....well that was not meant to be.

We went in for the ultrasound first and the baby was super active and his/her legs were crossed. Barb looked and looked for about 10 minutes or so and stopped. She told me to have my exam and blood work done, to go pee, then she'd try again. So that's what we did. Of course my veins didn't want to cooperate and it took several stabs to find a vein that would give blood. My (hottie) doctor was amazing as always. Weight gain seems fine and everything looks normal (yay). So we went back to the Ultrasound room.

Barb spent another 15 minutes looking, looking, looking. We saw EVERYTHING....the bladder, kidneys, heart, brain, the feet....you name it. She got really quiet for a while and after all the time, she shut off the monitor and said "I'm pretty sure I know what it is but I'm not 100% so I'm not going to say." It was disappointing but I'd rather that she know for sure. Then she said "At this point, girls' labia can be swollen and resemble boys scrotum, so it's too soon to say one or the other." This lead me to believe that it's a girl. I thought if it were a boy, there would be a penis there too, no? All of my friends that have had boys have seen a little peesh at 14-16 weeks. I'm pretty sure it's a girl now. It really doesn't matter at this point. I'm just so happy to be having a little life in my body. It's the greatest thing ever.

16 weeks! 

Favorite Names

I thought I'd get a little list started of our favorite baby names because I am pretty sure that at some point over the next 26 weeks I will lose the piece of paper that I have written them on....of course we are keeping the final choice a surprise until little babe is born. So many cute names but we can only pick one!

Boy Favorites
Braden
Connor
Thomas
Aidan
Dylan
Jake
Landon
Luke
Evan
Andrew
Jackson
Riley


Girl Names
Ella
Grace
Addison
Olivia
Isabella
Giselle
Madelyn
Vivienne
Quinn
Audrey
Marisa
Charlotte
Leigh
Aubrey
Ashlynn

End of the First Trimester!

We made it to the end of the first trimester....I was thinking 'When is all this nausea and exhaustion going to go away?" Right around the time of my first trimester check up, which was on February 10, it all started to slowly disappear. At my appointment, we did some Genetic testing for chromosomal disorders like trisomy13 and Downs Syndrome. They measured the baby on the ultrasound and he/she is perfect (and apparently very active). I went into my appointment with a laundry list of questions, especially since, during the first week of February I had some bleeding that totally freaked me out. I got checked out of course but no one can prepare you for that. I'm just so happy with my new doctor. He really take the time to answer all of my questions and make me feel comfortable during my pregnancy. It's really exciting to know that I am not only growing a baby inside of me but that I found a doctor who makes me (and Paul too) feel so comfortable during a time in which we don't know what to expect. LOVE <3

Now I just have to be patient with finding out the gender....that's my next thing to freak about. I am a planner and I want to know so we can get ready. I go online and surf around for different nursery designs and bedding, different themes etc. I really don't have a preference about what we have but there is something about girl stuff that just makes me feel euphoric. But like I said, it doesn't matter what the baby is...he or she will be so spoiled with love it wont even matter.

Now if I could just kill this nasty cold I got from a lovely at school, I'd feel much better...

bad cold + being pregnant = MISERY.

There is nothing more beautiful than this...I'm telling you, well, except for maybe when the baby is born.

I had to OUT myself....

Well, it began at work and I promised myself that I wouldn't tell until I was 12 weeks at least but apparently I "look" pregnant and people have no class, they just have to out you. So it was time to tell everyone at work. I shared the news at a staff meeting yesterday but I was more excited to tell my class...lucky for me, my student teacher was starting today and she was able to record it for me. Some of my favorite comments were:

"Wait, so does that mean you are pregnant?"

"Ohhhh, is that why you are fat?"

"Is that baby growing in your body?"

"I thought you weren't having kids because you have us!"

"When is the baby coming? Are you leaving us? Does this mean you can't teach 4th grade next year?"

I got it on my flip cam, it's actually really very funny. I'm trying to get it uploaded (still kinda futzing around with this blog thing) They read a poem out loud together which revealed that I was expecting. It was really quite cute, I'm not sure if they actually get it....I'm just really happy they didn't ask where the baby came from or how it was made-haha. Oh and if one more of my colleagues ask me if I am having multiples because I'm "big" for 11 weeks, I might kick them in the face.