Staunton 2015

Last week I spent the week at Mom and Dad's in Staunton as I do every summer when Margaret and Cecilia are both there with their kids.

We went to a fun natural playground in Lexington, where we had a picnic, and stopped to see Robert E. Lee's grave on the way home.

One afternoon Cecilia, Margaret and I went to Megan's to meet baby Kenji. Here is a nice shot of Lee and Jim with Megan and her children.

 There was a lot of playing on the porch, playing Uno, and playing in the hammock going on all week.

Mommy, Cecilia, Margaret, and I had a spa day, 18th-century style - meaning we went for a swim in a bath house designed by Thomas Jefferson and which has been in use since 1761.

And a few other random shots - of Ingrid reading to the other kids, of Maggie knitting socks for our baby, and of Ingrid and I taking a selfie.

Third Ultrasound

This morning we had our third ultrasound and all still looks perfect. The little guys heart rate was 162 beats per minute and he is two inches long. This ultrasound was part of a sequential screening process - the baby's nuchal tube (something in his neck) was measured to check for likilehood of developmental disorders. They also checked all the baby's limbs and hear for defects. Everything looked normal. I also had some blood taken that will be tested and compared to the measurements to further look for problems. This data will also be compared to data taken at the 18 week ultrasound to look for other developmental issues as well as to check on the placenta location and cervix. So now we have to go 6 weeks to see the baby again!

They gave us lots of pictures, but this is the best - you can really see the baby's little face and his legs sticking out. In this picture its not clear where his arms are but I feel like they are behind his head and he is just lounging around. The baby was quite active again, flipping in all directions during the ultrasound. 

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!