3D Ultrasound Photos!!

We were treated to a wonderful gift today (thank you Gma! :-) and were able to see our sweet funny little man in 3D! What a truly amazing experience. We were able to see baby Noah in 4D (live movement) for almost an hour, and we have both a CD of photos and a DVD of him in action. During that time, we saw him smile lots (he is quite the happy and content baby right now in his baby jacuzzi :-), yawn, stick his tongue out, have baby hiccups, play "peek-a-boo" with his hands over his eyes, move the umbilical cord with his hand, and do all sorts of fun acrobatic type things like cross his legs and put his feet up by his face :-) His sweet little face is a bit squished and just shows up partially in many of the photos, because, according to the nurse who was doing the ultrasound, he was trying to get comfy and was using the placenta as a pillow :-)

I am posting a few photos now, and hope to post more photos and a mini-video a bit later.

Smiling :-) Edit: P just pointed out to me that Baby Noah is actually sticking his tongue out here!

Big yawn!

All is good in my personal jacuzzi :-)

Squished nose! It looks like he has pressed his face to the uterus ;-)

Sailing into the third trimester!!

It's that time...we have made it to the home stretch!! Time has passed slowly, but so quickly at the same time...if that makes sense! We are just so incredibly excited to meet our little Noah :-) But still have so much left to do to prepare for him! I've always been a list maker, but pregnancy has slowed me down quite a bit. Still, I am sure we will find time to finish it all (hopefully before he comes :-)

Week 27
This week marks the beginning of the 3rd trimester. Your not-so-tiny-anymore swimmer (2 pounds plus and total length is about 15 inches long) is slowly rotating in preparation to “head out,” and will grow rapidly during this last trimester! Obviously, this doesn’t happen overnight, but when you start to feel an unfamiliar pressure on your cervix, you’ll know you’ve got a fully flipped baby locked and loaded for the countdown to their birthday! Even now, at the beginning of the third trimester, their little lungs are already capable of breathing air, while the pulmonary vascular system can provide sufficient gas exchange, and the central nervous system can generally regulate rhythmic breathing as well as their basal body temperature. Your baby's movements are also getting much stronger and harder and have increased to a point where you'll probably feel them everyday.

"What's Kickin'"

I am not a fan of having my pic taken, but I wanted everyone to share in the bump-a-licious fun :-) I took the pics myself, so I apologize in advance if they are blurry or the mirror is dirty...(I borrowed our roomie's bathroom because he has better lighting ;-)

Week 26

I will be posting more soon, but here is this week's fun development facts... :-)
(and wow, I just noticed that we have less than 100 days to go!!)

At long last, your little swimmer can see the womb! Your miracle’s little eyelids have finally separated (they were fused closed previously) and they’re probably having their first moments of sight as you read this. Your baby's eyes are almost completely developed. Your baby's eyes are blue in the womb and may change colors later in life. This is true because the pupils do not have their final color until a few months after birth. In addition to seeing their little studio in your belly, they’ve recently acquired the ability to say “yes” and “no” in rudimentary sign language as they can now move their head back and forth. This is also the time where your little super star’s head hair is starting to grow! A cute little cowlick or two may be springing into position right now, getting ready for years of cute-but-stubborn bed-head. Also, their toenails have grown in and your little raisin continues to slowly pile up fat beneath their still-loose skin. Most importantly, brain tissue and neurons are all developing at a rapid pace, increasing their (genius-level?) brain activity and will continue to function at accelerated levels for the first seven to eight years of childhood!

Other facts for this week: Your baby's blood circulation is completely functional. The umbilical cord system continues to grow and thicken as blood travels with considerable force through the body to nurture the baby. The placenta is now almost equal in size to the baby.

Week 25

Your tiny grower’s physical proportions are evening out at this point and most of their remaining development will largely be weight gain and lots and lots of nervous system development. The good news is: if your child is born premature now they’ll be more likely to survive without too much trauma as their lungs began to produce “surfactant” last week, which means their tiny respiratory system is getting stronger with each passing day. Yes, now’s a good time for a minor sigh of relief and a quick pat on the back—all that hard work and conscientious living is really getting your child prepared for a healthy delivery. Keep up the fabulous work mama! This week they’ll be scootching slowly out of the old breech position and start rotating (already!) into a better position for exit during their birth. Their head and feet are slowly rotating so that the head is pointed down towards the birth canal. Time is short (or really long, depending on who you ask)—just 14 weeks left before you can go back to being a single-resident human.

As your baby becomes more dextrous, he will be able to touch and hold his feet. Babies also begin to prefer their left hand or right hand at this time. Because babies settle into routines of sleep and activity, you might begin to notice these patterns as well. Some women experience the most fetal movements while they are trying to rest.

Middle Name Poll!

Happy Birthday Aunt K!

We want to wish a "happy birthday" to our wonderful Aunt K (aka FA)!! This is a bit early - her b-day is June 10th - but with my "pregnancy brain", I didn't want to forget :) We hope you enjoy your day FA!! :)

Week 24

This is another big week for your smaller-than-life magic growing baby! Just take a look at the checklist for this week: 1) ears—done; 2) fingernails—done; 3) (if you have a boy) testicles—taking their 3-4 day trip from the abdominal wall to the scrotum; and 4) lungs walls—secreting “surfactant”. What’s that? Well, surfactant is sort of what it sounds like: a surface-activated fat whose main purpose is to assist the air sacs (their little lungs) during inflation (as in: filling with air, not getting more expensive). Just in case you’re curious, your submerged baby is still breathing in amniotic fluid, preparing and rehearsing the lungs for an oxygen-filled life outside the womb. By the end of this week, your child is around 1.5 lbs and 14 inches long—perhaps a little more plump, but isn't anywhere near their full baby-fatted cute-self. Because your growing baby is getting plumper, he has less room in your tummy to do cartwheels and somersaults.

Your little one is moving (spinning, kicking, pirouetting, shimmying, and maybe even doing a bit of the Can-Can) so much these days that if you invite your friends and/or family to touch your belly there’s a good chance they’ll get a milder sample of what you’ve been experiencing.

Wondering what (and who) your baby will look like? If you had a baby cam, you'd almost be able to tell by now. That beautiful face (though still tiny) is almost fully formed. The fetus's eyes are close together on the front of his face and they are still shut. Your baby's ears have moved into their final position on the sides of his head. Where they are now is where they will be when your baby is born! Hair will continue to grow on his scalp and his eyelashes are well developed. Most of your baby's features look the same as they will at birth.

Because the inner ear — which controls balance in the body — is now completely developed, your baby may be able to tell when he or she is upside down or right side up while floating and making movements in the amniotic fluid.

A few more random baby facts

Just a few more random baby trivia - I seem to stumble across them frequently in magazines and in weekly baby development emails.

-The fetus has the ability to cry at 18 weeks

-The fetus savors its mother's meals, first picking up the food tastes of a culture in the womb (Noah must loooove mushrooms, rice, and sweet corn by now :-)

-Women pregnant with boys need more energy (this starts even before they're born, apparently...), supporting the theory that carrying a male fetus also needs more energy and thus eat more when carrying a boy. At birth, boys tend to weigh about 100 grams (3.5 ounces) more than girls. An international research team wondered whether that meant that boys' moms ate more during pregnancy. In data from a study conducted by the Boston Public School of Health, the scientists now confirm that's exactly what happens. Though women eat more when carrying a boy (190 calories more), they don't gain more weight during pregnancy than do women who have girls, researchers find. (yes! yet another reason to eat more! hopefully A's goodies count :-)

The researchers speculate that the signal tells a mother's body that it has extra work to do to bear a son. Studies have shown that during fetal development, the male sex is clearly the more fragile one. This idea probably elicits a hearty laugh from parents who have seen their rambunctious sons dive over furniture and survive daily bruising while cavorting with pals.

Junior commandos might not seem fragile, but before birth, boys are more at risk than girls. Researchers suspect that the higher energy demands of boys during fetal development may represent some evolutionary adaptation that increases their odds of survival.

Baby Noah

If the name isn't already completely given away...here are the 2 other clues from the other posting:-) (Yup, A&W, you were right on!! It was fun to read your name guesses :) We have been calling him by his name instead of Lil' Bean lately - he already is his own little person :-)

Clue 5: The name is Biblical.

Clue 6: He's already popular in the media world...

Middle name fun on the way...

Clues to Lil' Bean's (Real) Name...

The moment y'all have been waiting for :-) A couple of fun (perhaps rather obvious) clues first...

Clue 1: The name has 2 syllables.

Clue 2: The name ranked number 15 on the top boy baby names for 2006 (according to the SSA), and number 7 according to the BabyCenter Baby Names List.

Clue 3: The name has also been historically popular in Belgium, Denmark, Canada, Australia, and Norway.

Clue 4: The name means "peaceful" or "comforter" (one of the reasons that P particularly liked this name :-)

Any guesses?? ;-)