Mr. and Mrs. Walker

Mr. and Mrs. Walker

Monday, August 30, 2010

Ultrasound #2 - 1st trimester screening

Friday, August 27th was our first trimester screening ultrasound. Needless to say that this was our most exciting and eventful ultrasound yet. No longer an embryo, we were able to see the profile of the baby's head as well as their foot and hand. We were also lucky enough to see the baby moving their head! The technician said that he/she was very cooperative while she took her measurements. Once the ultrasound was done we were informed that the baby is negative for down's syndrome trisomy-21 and trisomy-18. We are fortunate to have a healthy baby! Below is a much bigger Baby Walker!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Our Baby's Heart Beat

On Friday, August 20th we had our routine (monthly) visit with the doctor. We are currently on "rotation" to visit each of the doctors that work with the OB GYN group/pracitce we are seeing for prenatal (and eventual delivery) care. During this visit we saw Dr. Karen Koe who was very nice, reviewed a couple of medical items, and used the doppler (is that what it is called?) to check mini-Walker's heart beat. This is the first time we've heard the heart beating (we've seen it on an ultrasound before) and it was amazing! Little Brandon/April had a nice strong heart beat that Brandon imitates as a "woosh woosh woosh". I was tempted to ask if it could just be my stomach since it has taken to talking to me lately but I figured that would just be silly. So, there we have it... two heart beats going on in April's body.

Today, Wednesday August 25th ends the last day of our 11th week! The baby is developing from a lime to a plum as we transition into week 12 and finish up our first trimester. April has been lucky to experience minimal "pregnancy symptoms". There was no nauseau and though there were bouts of fatigue it was nothing that kept her from her normal day-to-day activities. We have been eating out more often along with more sweets. At this rate, Brandon may start to show soon, too!

Currently, we have two appointments scheduled within the next month. An ultrasound will be done this Friday, August 27th as part of routine tests. We are hoping we see a picture of a bigger Baby Walker. The next appointment is scheduled for September 20th where by that time we should be finishing up our 15th week and closer to finding out if we'll be shopping for pink or blue!

Thank you to everyone for keeping up on our little bundle of joy's progress. We will be sure to update (and hopefully include a picture) after our next appointment.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Baby Walker's "Dating" Ultrasound

Last Tuesday, July 27th was our dating ultrasound. The purpose of this visit was to find out the most accurate EDD (estimated due date). Because the embryo was only about 7ish weeks at that time the technician said that the ultrasound could not be taken trans-dermally. For all you mommies, you know what that means... fun! (heavily loaded sarcasm). The tech told us that she would be taking a few pictures and measurements and once she was finished she would show us the picture of our little offspring. When measurements were completed, she showed us what appeared to be a Baby Walker much bigger than the last time we had seen him/her and it had been less than a week! On our way out we asked if there was a new EDD. She informed us that based on her measurements the new due date was March 12, 2011 but it still varies. It looks like we will have to wait until our next appointment to question the doctor about our due date but we are estimating that at this time we have finished our eighth week and into our ninth week.

Baby Walker has finished the embryo stage and officially graduated into becoming a fetus for the rest of gestation. Our little raspberry is transitioning to a green olive (who said martini?!). Our next appointment is currently scheduled for August 20th where we will start our rotation through the doctors in our OB group. Because each doctor takes rotating shifts of being "on call" they want their patients to have met each of the doctors at least once. We believe that it will be a happy coincidence if we have Dr. Schwartz as our delivering doctor because she delivered Jack almost seven years ago!

April has had more of a sweet tooth lately which means more family walks to stay healthy and keep from gaining too much weight too soon. Our 2-mile loop through Signal Hill provides us with quality family time. Bruin is also enjoying more walks!

As we finish our 2nd month of pregnancy the countdown begins to the moment we find out if we will be adding a boy or girl to the Emmsley/Walker clan. Three months left and we can't wait!