First Trimester Prenatal Screening and Ultrasound Exam

We had the nuchal translucency genetic testing today. We will hear the blood results in about 7 days; but according to the chief ultrasound tech and the doc the ultrasound looks good. They gave us a CD-R with a few still photos and video. So for those interested and for my mother here is what got to see!

I was so excited and happy to the heart beat I started laughing which made the ultrasound fuzzy for a second. The sonographer laughed with us and even had me laugh a few times to get the baby to move in the right direction- which worked a few times. At one time she was trying to get some measurements but this little kiddo wanted to face Matt and not the sonographer.

The fact that we were able to see these photos from an abdominal ultrasound and not the uncomfortable transvag took our breath away. This little one was moving like crazy with a beautiful hrt of 155 bpm at the time it was checked. The sonographer told us that even at our baby's stage of development she could probably find out the sex of the baby, but we told her not to worry about it- so she avoided "that area." :)

A few photos of Baby Skillen!

Profile. According to this ultrasound the baby is measuring 13wk 1day. According to dates I am 12 wks 3 days- so at least the baby is not small for gestation :)

The fluid testing of the nuchal translucent testing

Profile and a hand saying s/he is number 1!

We have a nasal bone! - which is a good thing!



The videos below show the baby: dancing, having the hiccups, and stretching. The hiccups video looks a little alien- but it is our little alien :)

Dancing

Hiccups and heart beating

Stretching

Baby Names

So we have brainstormed some boy names and just can't find one that we love 100%. We have plenty of girl names to choose from that we just adore; but to me boy names are difficult. We do not want to know the sex of the baby until s/he comes into this world so we need at least one of each.

We do not have any preference of what letter the name starts with so please let your imagination go wild. We are hoping to find good, strong, solid names, though unique is not bad either.

I would love to read your ideas, so please comment on names you might suggest. There are no bad names, just names we might have more preference over others. Our other dilemma is that I might like a name, but Matt may have a past student with that name and just can't name our child that. Or Matt may come up with a name, but I had a patient with that name and I can't use the name for our child.

Laundry Day....

Last week I was sorting, folding, and putting laundry away. I walked back into the laundry room to throw the whites in the wash and found this..... I couldn't do anything put laugh and get some photos!

Warning-Lots of photos! Our Spring Break trip!

The "books" say that you should plan a Babymoon around 9wks of pregnancy. Well, we didn't. We took a very relaxing amazing trip to Florida a little early

Over spring break we were about 5-6 wks pregnant! We flew down to see Matt's family and then flew over to the Bahamas with Steve (Matt's brother). The first night we got there we had dinner with everyone (Dad, Rochelle, Lindsey and her boyfriend, Lauren, and Steve). Matt prayed for our meal and thanked God that the three of us arrived safely. Where we were eating was a little loud; but Matt's dad and Steve got it right away. We were so thrilled and blessed to be able to tell all our parents face to face. We instructed the girls to try to avoid announcing it on facebook for the next 2 wks until we had the ultrasound and saw the heart beat. They were awesome and kept their end of the deal!!!

We got to spend some time with Dad and Lindsey one day. We went to Lion Country Safari and Dad bought us a little giraffe because I love giraffes and it will go in the nursery!

We were so blessed to go to the Bahamas! Steve came with us and we so enjoyed the company. Dinner was amazing both nights!

The first day was full of sun so we took the opportunity to step in the Caribbean!

I was a little bummed that I couldn't go crazy on all the adrenaline water rides; but I did enjoy watching Matt take "the leap of faith!" I think it's a 60ft drop. Matt reported he felt his back lift off the slide at one point. We decided this is the moment when 75% of the people scream on the slide!

The slide goes through a shark tank and then out to a pool!

Way to go Matt!

Steve told us the yacht behind us he had seen before and that it is millions of dollars. We decided we could at least take a photo with us near it.

This is the lobby of Atlantis where we stayed. It is an adult and family playground. We had a wonderful time!

Every night there is a festival with loud music and costumes. I think it was beautiful. I am not sure, but from a little research in one of the shops it appears to be similar to a festival that occurred during slavery on the island. The slaves were given a day off during Christmas and it was celebrated with a parade, music, and costume.

Our view from our room.

On the last day we interacted with the dolphins. Some of the dolphins were rescued during Hurricane Katrina and will be living their lives here. They also have had baby dolphins here!

Our flight back was suppose to be a 30 minute flight. We waited sitting on the plane for 2hrs. I started feeling a little woozy (sp?) and found some snacks in my bag. They also provided us with water while we waited and waited.

These were the pesky clouds/storm that caused us to wait.

These clouds/winds gave us a little bit of a ride! For a second we were having flashbacks of the first LOST episode! I actually enjoy a little turbulence as long as the plane stays in the air of course!!!

There was light at the end of the tunnel and we landed safely!

Our last day in Florida we headed to South Beach with Dad and Lindsey. We got to see a lot of people watching while we ate lunch over looking the beach. It was such a wonderful day!

Our last night with family before we flew back Lauren and I enjoyed our Virgin Pina Coladas!

We are so excited and praying that our little one continues to grow healthy. We covet your prayers at this time as we look forward to holding our baby in our arms come November!

Easter is in the air....

Easter brings new life and it is amazing to see how God shows us Easter in such a tangible way in our world!

It's beginning to look a lot like Easter!!!! We bought mulch Saturday and got it all done in less than 2hrs- and that was with 2 trips to the ACE store! We love the "chocolate" brown color of pine mulch w got! It looks so great with all the greenery and the bricks!

This is our side fruit tree! When we moved in during the summer, so all we saw were green leaves! It has been so exciting to see all the spring flowers and bulbs that are shooting up through the ground! Here are a few photos of spring in Etown USA!

The creeping phlox is creeping and starting to bloom!

This is an oriental cherry blossom- we never knew what it was until we went to the ACE store and saw them selling trees that look exactly like ours!

Our blossoming pear tree is gorgeous!

A few weeks ago we found our sun room furniture!!! We were at the Giant food store and found our furniture!! Go gas points!!! Matt had found a few photos of some furniture at other stores that were in the $400-$800 range. We walked into Giant and saw this furniture, the price tag and both agreed we liked it! The cats love it too! And Regan enjoys it too!

This is Matt's reading chair.

We have so enjoyed our sun room, especially with the wonderful weather we have had for the last few weeks! Today we sat out here for over an hour with the cats and Regan played with her bone. The breeze was wonderful, then it was back to reality and Matt went back to working on audiovisual stuff for class and I started blogging. The cats are still sleeping in the sun room as I type....