10 weeks

Here is the latest bump picture. I don't think it has changed much since two weeks ago. I bet it will start growing more noticeably in the next few weeks. I read that by 12 or 13 weeks the little guy is the size of a lime, which is a lot bigger than the grape it is now!

Various Recent Things

We've been watching a lot of soccer this summer, and lately that has included a lot of live games. Last night we saw Chelsea and Paris play an exhibition game here in Charlotte. On Wednesday we were in Atlanta for the semifinals of the Gold Cup (North American men's international tournament). It was a double header. The US lost the first game, but the second game between Mexico and Panama was full of controversy and excitement. Here is a shot of us from a game the week before from earlier in the tournament when other teams played in Charlotte.

While we were in Atlanta for the games, we were with Matthew and Lindsay, and we had a nice time hanging out, eating, walking around downtown, and doing touristing things. Here we are at CNN - we took the tour which was kind of neat, but didn't really tell us anything we didn't know or really let us see anything - a lot of windows into office cubicles and empty studios. Maybe if someone had been broadcasting at the time it would have been more exciting. In any case we are glad we did it.

Miran and I also did a quick tour of coca-cola when Matthew and Lindsay went to the Bodies exhibit.  Here we are posing in front.

Last week was also our 11th anniversary and the Bajram Holiday (which fell on the same day this year). We didn't do much to celebrate either, but I did make some Baklava, which is the traditional Bajram desert.

 And there was a definite theme among the anniversary cards we got this year ...

2nd Ultrasound

Everything went perfect at the second ultrasound this morning. The little guy has a heart rate of 174 beats per minute, which is apparently right on track, though sounds very high. The baby is 3.4 centimeters long, which is also where it should be for 10 weeks. Dr. Teaff revised my due date from February 20 to February 19, which seems pretty close.

This ultrasound was much more interesting than last time - instead of bean-shaped blob, it looked like a baby with a giant head and arms and legs.  This picture is a profile (and it is upside down), but you can see the shape is about the same as the diagram of 10-week fetus from the internet. The arms hard to see in this picture, but it was incredibly active waving its arms and legs around and was twisting and turning. It turned toward the camera a few times and we think it was waving at us!

So after today's appointment we are done with REACH, the reproductive endocrinology clinic, and are ready to transfer to a regular obstetrician. Of course I haven't picked one out yet because I've been so scared to plan too far ahead. But Dr. Teaff said now that we've made it to ten weeks is a less than 1% chance of a miscarriage and its time to start planning!

I have an appointment for ultrasound number three and for first trimester non-invasive testing on August 6 at a clinic that just does pre-natal testing. I could do this at my regular obgyn, but since I don't have one and it needs to happen in the 11th or 12th week, Dr. Teaff said to use this place to be sure I get an appointment on time. This is the test where they will combine measurements of the baby's neck with bloodwork to see if there is an increased risk for down syndrome, heart defects, or other abnormalities. Since our donor underwent genetic screening we are pretty confident everything will be fine. But we are excited to get another ultrasound at 12 weeks. We might have to wait until the 18th week after that!

8 Weeks

Last week-end marked the eight week mark and we decided to start taking bump pictures to document the pregnancy. So here I am at eight weeks with a bit of a belly that I don't even think I can blame on the baby at this point. 

So far my symptoms are pretty steady (1) a lot of miscellaneous cramping, but nothing too severe, (2) occasional queasiness, which seemed to be getting worse last week, but hasn't been bad at all the past few days, and (3) general tiredness.

Miran's Birthday

Miran's 35th Birthday has spread out over the past week as he opened some presents early and others came late. He really cleaned up this year as his birthday coincided with our contract renewal for our cell phones so getting new phones and accessories got bundled into the birthday.

Random Summer Stuff

This post is a random collection of photos from the past few weeks - our general goings on.

First, after a year of slowly gathering documents I finally got it together and submitted an application for restored German citizenship through Granpa. Here is me and my cover letter and envelope of documents ready to be mailed.

Over the Fourth of July week-end Cecilia and the girls and Mom and Dad visited. We went the Charlotte Symphony's concert in the park. It was all patriotic music followed by a pretty impressive fireworks show. We had a 10 minute downpour before the concert started, but we covered ourselves with blankets and waited it out adn the rest of the evening was perfectly pleasant.

The visit overlapped with the final few games of the Women's World Cup, so the girls joined Miran in game watching and provided plenty of interference. They were pretending to be a full service salon that offered everything from foot and back massages to make overs and hair styling.

We also went to a fun indoor pool with slides and a lazy river (no pictures) as well as checked out the children's library. Here is Maggie posing in a book sculpture in front of the library.

Kico has been a bit lonely as there is much less activity downstairs than normal with Milada and Azra gone for the summer. We've tried to make an effort to watch shows or games downstairs in the evening as well as to take him for walks as often as we can. We've also been buying him toys to entertain himself, which he definitely enjoys, though tends to destroy very quickly.

We've signed a contract to have our house re-painted the first week of September. It desperately needs it. We are going gray, but haven't settled on a shade yet. Here are some paint samples I painted in the back. I am leaning towards the middle gray, but Miran likes the darker shade. We have a while yet to make a decision.

And finally, the garden is in full bloom, and even though he scaled way back this year, it looks like we'll have more peppers and tomatoes than we need. The extreme heat and lack of rain has made it a bigger project as Miran has to go out and really water it every other night. Sometimes I join him and have been slowly weeding around the edges - you can see the half of the front I've managed to clear out.

Ultrasound Pictures

We just got home at 6:00 after a long day of errands. Miran had taken off for the ultrasound and we maximized the afternoon. Mostly we dealt with his car and with renewing our drivers licenses (spent quite awhile at the DMV). 

But we did of course start the day with the ultrasound and then went out for a celebratory lunch. Here are the two ultrasound photos - the first shows the steady heartbeat and the second is a better shot of the baby itself.

We were both very excited and can hardly believe it is working. Of course we aren't in the clear yet, but with each milestone we are getting a little more confident. Of course seeing these photos and hearing the heartbeat makes it a whole lot more real. There is a little person inside me. Crazy!

I can start phasing out one of my five meds now (the estrogen). We go back in two weeks for another ultrasound and to decide how much longer I take the other meds. That will depend on some blood work taken today.

Strong Heartbeat!

Everything looked right on track at the ultrasound today. One good looking baby that is over a centimeter long with a heartbeat of 147 beats per minute. Due around February 20th. I will post the picture when we get home; we are having lunch now and then have some errands to run first.