Wildcat!!!

This week has been a rather exciting one- Wildcat wise. Wednesday we saw the midwife and Thursday we had the ultrasound!

I was very lucky Steve was able to take Wednesday off work, so he could come to the appointment with him, and so that I didn't have to drive him to work. We had a nice morning all together, which is rare for our family, then dropped Jilly off with Michelle and Maya, so we could go without her. The appointment itself was wonderful. We talked a lot with the midwife about hers and our expectations for the pregnancy and the birth. We felt very comfortable with her and quite reassured. Most of the 90 minute appt was spent just talking! We briefly discussed nutrition, but will have a more in-depth discussion on that at the next appointment. We talked about what tests we were going to do and which ones we would decline. There was more, but I can't remember everything. ;-) It was a very fruitful discussion for sure and we got lots of good info, as well as really started building a relationship with the midwife. After talking, we did a quick exam and blood draw. Wildcat is already head down, which she determined almost immediately (I'm so not shocked). My belly is measuring right where it should and the heartbeat was nice and strong. My blood pressure was a little higher than normal for me (124/66, I'm often more like 100/60), but still classically normal. And the blood draw was super easy! She got it in immediately and it hardly hurt. Niiiice! Once that was over, she gave me the Glucola drink and instructions for the Glucose Tolerance Test next appt and we set that up. I'll see her next on April 30th.

After we left, I started thinking, I don't know if my OB spent that much time with me over the course of my whole pregnancy with Jilly! It was awesome to have plenty of time to talk things over and feel like she was really listening to me. I loved it. Unfortunately, we also realized that we'd left without any paperwork for the ultrasound, which she was going to order that day. I was just going to call her later and get it figured out. At this point in the day, we were both starving, so we checked in with Michelle to see how Jilly was doing and she said it would be fine if we went out to lunch before we picked her up. Hooray! We hit Olive Garden and it was sooooo yummy. Not to mention, the sun came out while we were there. What a lovely time it was to have a lunch date, just the two of us. :-D Major thanks to Michelle for watching the kiddo for so long, so we could really enjoy our day!

I went to work that afternoon, and checked my email, and there was already an email from the midwife waiting! She told me that she had faxed over the ultrasound order and I could call and schedule it. Fantastic! I took advantage of a slow period and called to set up the appointment. Turns out they could get me in the next day! I was shocked, because I was expecting to wait at least 2 weeks, if not more like 4 weeks. And the timing was really convenient for me, Steve AND my mom. So I said, let's go for it! After I set that up, I called Steve and my mom to make sure they could come, which they could. Excellent! It wasn't until a little while later that I realized I probably needed to find a baby sitter for Jilly. Oops! I had spaced on that one, and now would have to find someone last minute. Once again, I was saved by a great friend. Even though I called at 7pm the night before, Jeanne said she'd be able to watch Jilly for the afternoon while we went to the ultrasound. What a load off my mind. I suppose we could have taken Jilly with us, but would you really want to spend an hour, in a dark room full of medical equipment with a rambunctious two year old? Especially when we're all trying to pay close attention to the procedure? Hehehe, I think not.

Thursday morning, Jilly and I woke up WAY early to take Steve to work, since I would have to pick him up right from work to be on time to the appt. Because it had been a long time since we'd been to his work, Steve wanted to take Jilly in and parade her around. She started to freak out when I stayed in the car, so I decided to come in, no makeup, sweats and all. Well, Steve hadn't told anyone at work about Wildcat, so imagine everyone's surprise when my big old 28 week pregnant belly comes waltzing in! Hehehe. It was fun to see everyone and share the news. But it was still really early, so Jilly and I headed home and crawled back into bed. Once we finally got up for the day, we had a relaxing morning (technically afternoon) before I dropped her off to play with Jackson.

We got to the ultrasound lab and checked in, early actually. Soon enough, my mom met us there (we got her out of a staff meeting, which she was happy about) and we were called back. I was really happy that this time I knew ahead of time that a full bladder was not necessary, and thus was able to avoid that particular discomfort. We got settled right in for the ultrasound and right away saw the baby. We knew from the midwife appt the day before that the baby was already head down, so that's where we started, then moving down the rest of the body. We got to see Wildcat's face, both straight on and from profile. The profile shot (which she printed a couple pictures of, I will post them later, once they're scanned in) was really cute, but different than Jilly's. Her little nose poked out a lot more than Wildcat's did. I guess we'll see what the differences are when the baby comes out. The heart looked fantastic, all four chambers beating well, valves looking great opening and closing, etc. I'm always fascinated by images of the spine, it's amazing to me! We looked at the femur (measuring it to check on baby's size), tibia and fibula and then the feet. Turns out the kid was positioned pretty much exactly like I'd thought. Head down, facing my back (excellent!!), with left arm tucked up by head & neck, right arm off to the right, the back up the front of my stomach by my belly button, and both feet tucked off to my right, right by my ribs (ugh). So the kid likes to kick me with both feet and punch with the left arm. Oh joy. After checking out the toes, the tech moved back up so we could find out the gender of the baby.

I had been paying fairly close attention to most of the ultrasound, and usually had a good idea of what she was looking at. At this particular moment, I had been distracted, talking to my mom or something, when all of a sudden the tech said, "Well I know what you're having." We all looked up and I answered, "I think I do too. Is it a boy?" "Yes it is!" Hooray! Wildcat is a boy!! And it was very clear. That particular image could not be mistaken for female anatomy. ;-) It was very exciting. After that, she checked out the arms and some other things. The radiologist came in after the techas done, just to do a quick double check. Everything looks great! Placenta is where it should be, cervix looked good (I know you were all dying to know that), Wildcat has all his organs and they're in the proper place, his heart was beating 131 bpm, and all that good stuff. It was so much fun to get to see the baby in such detail! And he was so big too! Way fun.

On the way home, we made tons of calls and text messages to various friends and family, to let them know "It's a Boy!" Everyone seemed pretty darn excited for us, which is fun, because we're excited too! Now we get to enjoy both genders! Steve is pretty darn over-the-moon about having a son. I am happy, but a bit trepidatious because I'm not exactly a tomboy. I'm not sure what what to do with a boy, but luckily Jilly has already broken me into motherhood, so I don't think the learning curve will be as steep as if I had a boy first. ;-) Jilly still hasn't said the word "brother" but it's nice to be able to tell her that it is a brother, and not "brother or sister". I think she'll love him tons and be so helpful once he's born. People have been asking about names. We do have a first name picked out, Jason, but the middle name is still in the works.

Our glee with finding out Wildcat is a boy, unfortunately got dimmed a bit because all three of us came down with a cold Thursday. Friday we all felt pretty darn crappy, Steve and me especially. I think it's just ridiculous to have gotten this many colds (this is round 4), let alone while pregnant. Grrr... Hopefully, we'll feel better soon.

I do have some pictures from the ultrasound that I promise to post soon. I have to get them scanned in first. But they're pretty fun! :-) So there you go! All our exciting Wildcat news! Everything is healthy and happy and growing well. :-D