16 Weeks

I had another doctor's appointment today. I finally got smart and asked them to tell me when their FIRST appointment of the day would be, and I scheduled as close to that as possible. The result = no more sitting in the waiting room for more than an hour before they see me! Today, the nurses put me in a room so fast that I didn't have time to sit down in the waiting room. Nice.

They listened to our baby's heartbeat with the doppler scanner, and it was amazing to actually hear it! That little heart beats so fast - I knew it would be much faster than mine, but it's still surprising to hear. The doctor said that she thought it was around 140 bpm, and she seemed pleased. It took her some time to find it because the baby is hanging out a bit high in my tummy. Then they did a quick sonogram with the green monster. (The green monster is a portable sonogram machine of not-so-good quality...I think it might be older than I am. They only use it for quick sonogram check-ups, when they mostly just want to measure the baby or see the heartbeat.)

The baby was so much bigger than last time - no surprise! It was neat to see the little bottom and the curled legs. Our doctor tried to see if she could figure out the gender, but the picture wasn't good enough for her to tell. (And it's still a little early for that anyway.) We have our "official" 18-week sonogram appointment on Monday, October 5, so only 2 more weeks to wait. Of course, for that appointment, they'll use a really modern machine that gives a good quality picture. Hopefully that time, they'll be able to see whether it's a boy or a girl, and then we can start decorating and getting baby clothes!

Meanwhile I've been researching and picking out gender-neutral stuff like car seats, strollers, and furniture to put on my registries. It's so much fun, and it's surprising how much gear you need to acquire for just one little person. We're trying very hard not to fall prey to the "baby industrial complex," which tells you that you simply MUST have every little thing that's invented for babies. But it's fun to go and look at the cute little stuff that's out there.

Well, I'm exhausted, and so off to bed. It's really raining hard outside, and I'm glad for the sake of my plants...they need it.