So I am definitely not growing a runt baby anymore in fact I think the baby has turned into a giant. My belly grows bigger everyday! My muscles on the sides of my stomach are really starting to get stretched and I am finding it more difficult to get comfortable at night. This is crazy because I still have another 4 months to go. I think the biggest reason I am having trouble sleeping is because I am a “tummy” sleeper and I have not been able to sleep on my tummy for awhile now!

The baby is moving around alot and I get very two distinct movements either an arm or a leg kicking or a rolling feeling which must be his little bum or his head.

I have quite an appetite now and I am sure I am packing on the weight now! Alex and I had a great Christmas and the baby got a few gifts. Grandma and Grandpa Harford got the baby a Winnie the Pooh soft plush toy, Alexis got a 6 piece blue outfit, Rebecca got the most softest bear ever. Baby boy Harford also got a very special book from Grandma and Grandpa Tetreau. Every year on Christmas eve my Dad has always read my brother and I “Twas the Night Before Christmas”. Well this year they bought a new version for our baby that we can read him every year and start our own tradition!

The baby is about the 10 inches long and weighs about 1 pound. Here are some photos from this week.

This is my belly when I lie down!

comparing bellies….I think mine wins!

Went to see our Dr yesterday for my routine visit. She said everything looks good. I have managed to finally gain 3.74 pounds…and I am hanging onto the .74! She said it is okay that I have gained so little and I would likely start to put on weight now! She measured my uterus and she said that it has grown upwards quite high . Which by looking at the picture of me in the green sweater you can see. Which would also explain why the ultrasound tech said that the baby was shadowed by my belly button and she was having trouble getting a good view at first! The triple screen blood test that we had turned out really good and she said our risk of our baby having down’s, spina bifida and trisomy 18 are really low….apparently lower risk then that of a 15 yr old. When I asked her what she meant by that she said that the younger you are the lower your risk if for having a baby with those three conditions….so I guess 15 is pretty good!

The baby’s heart rate was nice and strong at 150 beats per minute. The baby is moving around alot and quite a few times when Alex has been saying goodnight to him he has given a few random kicks! He seems to be quite active in the morning right now and then settles to sleep for the afternoon. I am feeling great and so healthy! I feel like I have more energy right now and I don’t have to drag myself out of bed in the morning. Alex and I are enjoying the quiet time we have to ourselves right now!

Hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

We had our ultrasound today! How exciting! I am so in love! When we saw our little baby it was absolutely breathtaking! We are so thrilled. I was up from 2 am on with a paranoia that only a nurse can relate to. There is nothing like knowing the unknown! So I was tossing and turning thinking our baby was going to have some sort of malformation. Well to my relief everything looks great! The tech went through and measured all of the parts (kidneys, heart, stomach, back, brain and skull) When she was done I said to her did you see any genitalia and she said “oh yah” casually. Then I said well…..then she said oh I am going to have to document it if I am going to tell you so….she went back to my belly and started looking for the appropriate parts. Alex and I were sitting on the edge of our seat when she finally stopped and said. It’s a boy!!!! I have never been so excited! I couldn’t tell for the life of me what she was pointing to but apparently she could see a penis and a scrotum….hope that wasn’t too blunt for all of you but I am a public health nurse and apparently in our world saying the proper names is really important instead of saying “winky”

So we are super thrilled that this baby is a boy because Alex is actually the only male to carry on his family name….so our baby boy will be the Harford male to pass on the name. So we can’t wait to tell Grandpa and Grandma Harford this weekend that there will be a little baby boy Harford running around in May!

oh yah and also just so you all know the infant nurses at work say that the ultrasound techs are wrong about 20% of the time…so we are still trying to stay pretty neutral with everything! Maybe a few gender specific things but mostly we are staying pretty safe! We will be painting the nursery yellow and green!!

Here are the pictures of our baby!

this last pic is of the baby’s face…kind of looks like a reindeer if you tilt your head to the left!

This is the pic of my belly this morning…just so we had a record of how big my belly was…it isn’t part of the official pics though!!!!