We're having a....

Nate and I have been so excited for this appointment because the doc said last time that he might be able to tell the gender. So we get to the office and wait fooooreeeever. Or at least it felt like forever. I'm pretty sure it was forever though.

We finally get called back! Only to be told, "The doctor isn't here right now because he's delivering a baby."

What?! Crap! "But...but... he said he could tell us the gender today."

Then she said that the PA was there and she would try to tell what we are having.

".....Okay..."

So then we wait even longer in the exam room than in the waiting room. Finally get called in for the ultrasound. The baby was being super cute and moving around and waving and all that. BUT... the ornery cuss would not show its business. Or the PA wasn't experienced enough to distinguish business. Rats.

So after being thoroughly disappointed, it was time to take all my blood for the quad screen. While the needle is in my arm, I look up and see the doctor just walking in!

As he walked passed my door, I said, "Hey! Want to do an ultrasound?"

He said, "Sure." YES!

We had to wait another bit so they could sneak us back in between patients. Fine with me!  Once he started the ultrasound, he was able to tell fairly quickly what he thought it was.  He said he was 80% sure.  He printed out an ultrasound picture and put it in an envelope for us to open later.   Later happened to be in the parking lot. 

Sitting in my car, we opened the envelope and discovered we are having another girl!  Well, probably.  80% and all.

We went to Hy Vee and got a couple of these balloons for the grandparents.  (Same thing I did when pregnant with Elizabeth.  At least I'm consistant?)  We went to lunch with Rob and Judy to tell them, then to my parents house to tell them and my younger brothers.  The other siblings got this picture of the balloon as their big fancy annoucement. :)

When we told Elizabeth, I figured she'd be upset, but wow.  She wanted a brother.  Really, really bad.  She'd interupt us if we'd say "Your little brother or sister-" with "Brother."  Poor girl cried and cried.  It was so sad!  I know she'll warm up to the idea of a sister, but probably not today! 

Just (another) little scare...

My children are mean to me. So we had another scare. After what Lizzie did to me when I was 8 weeks along with her, and then again when she was 10 weeks old, I'd say her little brother or sister should be nicer to me.

I have one of those fetal dopplers to use at home to hear the baby's heart beat. It is the coolest thing ever. And for a couple weeks now, I've been able to find Junior Squid's heartbeat just fine, even if it takes a few minutes (or ten).

Thursday, however, I couldn't find it. I tried to find it a couple different times in the morning. Nothing. I didn't think too much of it, though, since I know those things are finicky and sometimes it is hard to find the heartbeat on something so freakin tiny.

So throughout the day, I kept trying. For 20-30 minutes at a time. I could not find it. Each time I tried, I began getting more and more freaked out. Nate came home and I was crying, with the doppler laying beside me. At this point, I was scared, but still thought maybe everything was okay.

So I tried again before bed. Still nothing. By now, I was pretty sure I'd lost the baby.

When Nate left for work yesterday morning, he called the doctor's office and found out that he was in his West Omaha office. He called me and asked if we should get an appointment out there. I said I was going to look for the heartbeat one more time, and if I couldn't find it, then yes, get an appointment.

I looked for about 45 minutes, crying the whole time. It was awful. I was certain the baby was gone. Nate got an appointment for 1:00 PM. Throughout the day, I'm wondering how I'm going to tell everyone that we'd lost the baby. I'm wondering when we'd be able to try again. I'm wondering if Nate would be upset if I didn't go to the BNI social the next week. About how now I won't have a newborn when Lizzie starts dance class in the fall. Everything from super significant details to tiny insignificant details, I'm going over in my head. It. was. horrible.

We get out to West O and find the office. They finally call us in and I told the nurse what happened. Saying it out loud, I felt silly. I KNOW those dopplers have issues sometimes. I KNOW people have trouble sometimes. That is part of the risk of having one. But I also know I have never had an issue with it and I had never had a problem finding the heartbeat. My regular scheduled appointment was on Monday anyway, so we just changed it to Friday. That made me feel a little less crazy.

The doctor came in and I told him what happened, too. The moment he put the ultrasound wand on my stomach, we saw the baby dancing around. It was such a beautiful sight. Instant relief. What an emotional roller coaster though! Hearing the heartbeat was just more than I could take. I started crying. It was awesome.

I also vowed to not get that doppler out ever again. Then the doctor said something about how it would be easier to find when the baby is a bit bigger. So I said, "Well... I won't get it out for a few weeks then."

We left the office and I suddenly realized what a beautiful day it was. I hadn't even noticed before. Funny how that works.

This baby better not pull any more funny business like big sister did.

A trip to the doctor

Yesterday when my little girl woke up, Nate brought her into our bed for some cuddles. She felt a little warm to me and I asked it she felt yucky. She said, "No, I feel fine." (She's so cute.) So I figured she was warm because she just woke up.

So then she was in her high chair and about to eat some cheerios when she started crying and saying she felt sad. Then she puked all up in her cheerios. I got baby cleaning duty and Nate tackled her high chair. When I took her jammies off, her skin felt HOT. I took her temp and it was 101 degrees. OF COURSE it was a Sunday yesterday. That's just how she rolls.

I gave her motrin and tylenol yesterday to keep her fever down. At one point it got up to 103 degress. She told me her throat hurt and that there was a frog in it. I wasn't even sure she knew what a throat was, but when I asked her to show me, she opened her mouth and said "ahhhh!"

So today we went to see her doctor. She looked oh-so-sick as she ran around the waiting room like a crazy person. Playing games, laughing, running some more. Then the nurse called her back and she got weighed like a big girl. 29.5 lbs!

There have been a couple people in our lives that have had strep lately, so the nurse wanted to do a strep test. Lizzie did not care for it, to put it mildly. Luckily Nate was able to break away from work to come help us at the doctor appointment. (He only drove 85-90 mph following a black SUV for about 1/3 of the way from Elkhorn. That black SUV ended up being a K-9 unit police SUV. Oops.) BUT he made it. So he held Lizzie's head still and I held her arms down while the mean nurse (who is actually super nice) stuck a giant Q tip down my daughter's throat.

Lizzie sobbed and sobbed and puked and sobbed some more. She kept coughing and throwing up phlem. It was pretty gross. To distract her from her sobbing, I started telling stories about a beautiful little girl named Lizzie and all of her wild adventures. She got pretty into the stories and would turn and repeat stuff I said to Nate. It was pretty cute. The whole time she was holding kleenex up to her mouth in case she started coughing again.

The nurse poked her head back in the room and said she was glad we did the strep test, because it had already come back positive. Well... crap. Poor kid.

So I finally get her in a good mood with these stories and then Dr. B comes in. Lizzie immediatly started sobbing and jumped in my lap and put a death grip on my neck. That kid was glued to me. After a lot of coaxing on our part and sobbing and coughing on her's, we finally got her to show Dr. B her pretty eyes. Then we tried to get her to show him her teeth and she freaked and turned around again. FINALLY we got her to say "ahhh" (while still crying) long enough for him to get a quick glance in her mouth.

Then since she was such a good girl (ha), the nurse gave her a Dora and Boots sticker that she really, really wanted on her tummy.

While Lizzie and I strolled the aisles at Walgreens waiting for her prescription to be ready, she said, "Mommy, Dr. B fun!"

I was shocked and said, "You had fun at Dr. B's?"

Lizzie: "Yeah!" *starts sobbing hysterically* Yeah, sure you did, kid.

( My "baby" will be two and a half in 4 days!)