Survey Ultrasound

Today was the "20wk survey ultrasound", which went very well!! Here's little Ethan doing a somersault. I think he was just showing off to everyone in the room. Needless to say I was surely impressed! If you look closely at this picture you can see the placenta. (It's directly across from his tush.)
This picture is slightly disturbing, I'll admit. The eye sockets make him look kinda scary, we still love him though!
His little feet are so darn cute!!
An even better shot of his little foot and toes.

Another profile of Ethan's adorable head!

Before the ultrasound today I had a prenatal visit, which included a small deceleration in the baby's heart rate. I got a little emotional and immediately thought he may have some cardiac anomalies or something. Sometimes working in the birth center can be bad for your mind, thinking the worst because of something you may have seen recently. The ultrasound showed that his heart is perfect. Whew! They also checked out his spine, facial features, stomach, kidneys, bladder, liver, brain, and measured his femur. All of which were perfect as well. He has a normal three-vessel umbilical cord with good blood flow. I am 20 5/7weeks, but he is measuring 21 3/7weeks...which estimates his weight at a whopping 15oz (418g). The last "official" ultrasound we had he was measuring two days smaller, now he's measuring five days larger...he must've had a growth spurt!! I felt so much better after the ultrasound, just having that reassurance that everything is okay with our little guy.

He has been moving around like a mad man lately. At times it takes me off guard and I jump a little. My goal is to start enjoying this pregnancy more and stop worrying so much. I really do feel at ease after this last ultrasound so I think it's a very realistic goal!!

HALF WAY THERE!!!

We've reached the half way mark, twenty weeks!! Yesterday morning Ryan was able to feel Ethan move for the first time!!! It was a lot of fun to finally share that moment together. All previous attempts to feel the baby move had failed. This is how it normally went: the baby would be moving a lot, I would tell Ryan...he would put his hand on my belly. Then magically Ethan would take a long nap!! Haha!!

Mother's-to-be Day!!

Here are Ethan's cute little tootsies!!! He's got his left ankle crossed over the right, and he's definitely in more of a fetal position than he was previously. More proof that indeed we are having a boy!! Haha!!
This was a fun picture to take because during the ultrasound you could really see all four little chambers of his heart working!! All of these pictures were taken this morning, I am now 19 1/7wks.

This past week hasn't been the greatest. I finally went into the clinic after battling a couple of days with constant sneezing, congestion, and watery eyes. Apparently I had acquired allergies!! It took just over four extremely long days for the prescription I was given to finally kick in. Now that things are much better I no longer have to worry about hauling a box of kleenex everywhere I go.

Yesterday for Mother's Day we went to Ryan's parents house for a barbecue. The men did all of the grilling while the ladies relaxed. It was really nice having everyone together on such a beautiful day, I believe it was just over eighty degrees outside! I received my first Mother's Day present from Cindy & Joe....a bag of really nice chocolate!! What mother-to-be doesn't like chocolate?!?! Haha!!

FOOTBALL!!!!

Ryan plays football for the Oakdale Outlaws, and May 5th was their first game of the season! They played the Green Bay Gladiators just outside of Green Bay, WI in a VERY SMALL town called Reedsville. Thankfully their weekend forecast did not include rain...which is exactly what the Twin Cities was calling for! We lucked out on that one!!

Here is Ryan, he is a defensive lineman. The Outlaw's defense made several big plays that night. Their first score was due to one of many interceptions their defense made. Ryan played an excellent game...taking down guys left and right!!

Here is a picture of the score board with 5.7 seconds left on the clock. THEY WON 26 to 12....GO OUTLAWS!!!

After the game we went to check out Lambeau Field since it was only five minutes from our hotel.
Here is Ryan with a statue of "Mr. Lambeau".
Here is Anne with the Vince Lombardi statue.Neither of us had been to Green Bay before so it made for a nice weekend getaway. On Sunday Anne was 18wks along, and Ethan was definitely making his presence known! He was moving a lot throughout Ryan's game on Saturday, more than usual. So I told Ryan that it MUST mean he loves football...haha, I guess we'll have to wait and see on that one. Other than that everything has been great, just continuing to enjoy this beautiful weather!!