Weeks 14-16

I had my 16 week appointment on June 30. Paul came with me and was able to hear the baby's heartbeat by doppler. He was really excited since he missed out during my 12 week visit. It's still my favorite sound and now I think it's his too! This time we heard it as soon as Dr. Deprez placed the wand on my belly, our little baby was right there waiting for us. He felt my uterus and confirmed that it's much higher up in my stomach now as compared to 12 weeks when he could barely feel it. I had the routine blood work for 16 weeks including the "quad screen" which tells us about the risk of the baby having Down's Syndrome or neural tube defects such as spina bifida. Dr. Deprez called before the long 4th of July weekend to report that everything came back great and looks very reassuring.

My next appointment will be the "big" ultrasounds where hopefully we can find out the gender. It is scheduled for July 13th, conveniently the day before our 4th wedding anniversary and during my week long July vacation. I asked Dr. Deprez if he would do the ultrasound at 18 weeks rather than at 19 weeks which he typically does. I wanted to share our special moment worrying about work...... and of course maybe we can get some work done in the baby's room while Im off (since we will know the gender) ;0 I always have an ulterior motive.....but he readily agreed to the change in date.

In general I have been feeling really well. I have some energy back, enough so that one evening I even scrubbed the shower after work which would have been unheard of in the earlier weeks! I do have to be careful not to overdo it, especially in the heat. We spent our 4th of July weekend at Tanglewood for the James Taylor concert with our friends the Grutchfields. Today I have had to rest and recuperate from a long day in the sun and a lot of walking yesterday. My mother used to always say she felt like she got hit by a Mac truck (well on Christmas morning anyways) and I can say that today I too feel like I was hit by a truck.

Well, we have a lot to look forward to in the next weeks and months! The journey continues....