Update

Well, things are going good here. Heather is progressing very well, getting bigger and bigger, and happier and happier. As for me, well, I couldn't be more excited. It just seems kind of 'real' now and things are seemingly falling into place. There is, of course, never enough time to get the house into order for Deather's arrival, but we are trying hard to make things live-able for the arrival.
I'll start on the paneling for Deather's room this week, so I should have pics of that soon. Still have lots of things to 'aquire' for the baby, but all will fall into place I'm sure lol. Other then that, not much new going on. Merry X-mas is just around the corner....yay!
danny

Check-Up

So, today I went in for a routing check-up. I anticipated a short visit...unfortunately the short visit only involved the time I spent with the doctor not the time I spent in the office. It all started fine...but then a mom came in (to the OB/GYN mind you) with a little boy that looked to be between 4 and 6 who was sick. He was coughing every 10 seconds and every third cough his mom would say, "cover your mouth, honey." I'm sitting there thinking ... "Do you see all of the swollen bellies sitting around you that do not need to be exposed to this illness? Not to mention the 3 newborns!" But I of course sit quietly attempting to breath as little shared air as possible with this germ infested kid. Finally a chair comes open across the room and I am able to move. But all in all I was in the waiting area for over an hour, just to have my belly measured, my weight, blood pressure and iron checked...and hear the heartbeat. All of that was easily accomplished in ten minutes. Oh well. Things are good though. Deather's heartbeat was b/w 150 and 160 and the doctor said that her increasing heartrate is indicating that his brain is developing properly:) The doctor also mentioned Bradley classes for natural childbirth. Has anyone reading this blog ever taken those? I was disappointed at my last visit because I found out that with this doctor's office, Baptist is the only option for birth...and they do not offer doulas like Lexington does. When my sister was pregnant, I remember going to tour Lexington with her and hearing all about the doula thing and really thinking that was an important part of birth. Mom and Danny have committed to being doula for me...but I need to find out how to get them the info they need to do an effective job. Any tips?

Pregnancy Pics

So, we went to get our Christmas pictures made and they ended up taking some really cool pregnancy pics. Here are a few of our favorites. This is our little family with Deather at 23 weeks:)

Here's the latest and greatest of Deather.

Big Belly Nelly

That's the nickname Heather's been given. Here's why :)

We have picked out Names

So, since we are planning to not find out the gender, we already had our discussion on names. We agreed on a boys name in one night: Jackson Kai McNeil. It took three nights to compromise on a girls name: Gabrielle Elisabeth McNeil.

It seems as though the first thing everyone does it try to figure out nicknames. Why is that? I mean, we chose names that have a variety of options for nicknames...but what's wrong with actually calling someone by their name? There are plenty of people (me for example...my husband for example) who actually go by their given name...is it really such a stretch to think that my children could actually be called Jackson and Gabrielle?

Deather's Ultrasound Pic

This is our first ultrasound where we could actually see the baby. They estimated that Deather was 13 weeks 6 days at this time. Based on that measurement, we have a due date of April 10th. Our next ultrasound is November 21st, where they will be able to measure everything and see much more! We are hoping to not find out the gender until birth, so as long as Deather doesn't get into awkward, obvious positions, we should be good to go:)