Ultrasound Video, 20 Weeks

This ultrasound, while exciting because of the big gender reveal, didn't yield much in the way of figuring out what Baby G looks like. He was just squirming too much, and this doctor's ultrasound equipment wasn't as sophisticated as the last doctor's (click here to watch the ultrasound at 13 weeks). But if you're interested, I've embedded a video below for your viewing entertainment. Again, I "narrated" it to try and make it a bit clearer what we're seeing.

Ultrasound Video, 13 weeks

Well, the news is out! I told my work on Friday, and they reacted better than I could have ever expected. We told some friends over the weekend, and today I had an ultrasound to do standard prenatal screening tests. The doctor thought everything looked good, and we'll know more at the end of the week.

Since Brad wasn't able to be there, the ultrasound tech took a DVD of the whole thing for me. She even did the 4D ultrasound feature for a part of it, which I didn't expect! She just needed to take a small measurement at the back of the baby's head, but Baby G was not cooperating. It worked out GREAT for me, because I ended up with more than 15 minutes of footage of the little guy or gal squirming around for the camera. I edited it to 5:30 minutes, don't worry. The doctor said our baby is "very photogenic," and that you usually don't see images this good at 13 weeks! (Can you tell I'm already a proud mama?!)

Here is a link to the video so you can watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAl-x_3viBk

And here is the embedded video, in case you'd like to play it on the blog:



I narrated it to make what you're seeing a little clearer. I may have gotten some of it a little wrong (like at one point I say the baby is facing backward when I think it's actually facing forward), so don't pay too much attention to what I'm saying. :)

Surprising the Grandparents

Brad and I were so thrilled to find out right after Thanksgiving that we were expecting, and we started right away thinking of how to surprise our families with the news. The timing was great... the next time we would be with our families would be over the Christmas holiday. We decided to put a sonogram picture in a cute frame, then wrap it like a Christmas gift. Brad filmed our moms' reactions:

Teresa, a.k.a. Nonnie (or Nonna):



Nancy, a.k.a. Meeme (pronounced Mimi):



A bunch of friends have asked me how I was able to wait that long (I was almost 10 weeks when we told our families - about a month after we found out; I waited until 13 weeks to tell my closest friends). For me, it honestly was not much of a challenge at all. There was something so sweet and special about cherishing a "secret" like this with only Brad. In a way, I knew that once I started to tell people, this special news would be a little less "mine" and a little more "everyone else's." Not at all to say I didn't want to celebrate with our families, but I just knew I could put it off for a few weeks and ponder all these things in my heart. It's just a personality thing, I guess. I have dear friends who told everyone they know and even strangers the day they found out, and I think that's great!

If pregnancy has taught me anything so far, it's that everyone is different.