24 Weeks/6 months

I'm 24 weeks or 6 months, only 16 more weeks left. Yeah!

Today, I had another doctor's appointment. It was 60 degrees in Chicago and it was so nice to go downtown when it wasn't below zero. It made me think about spring and once spring arrives, then our baby will be here shortly after that.

Anyway, it was a general checkup. My doctor checked my blood pressure, which was 112 over 60. She also checked our baby's heartbeat, which was 155 beats per minute.......strong as ever!! We will never get sick of hearing that little heartbeat inside me! She also measured my belly which measured at 24 weeks so the baby's growing just as he should. At the end, she said I looked healthy and thought everything is going great for us.

I'll post some more pictures of my belly. I'm definitely growing and our baby is still very active. I swear he's going to be an athlete with all the kicking he does!

As for other updates, we're starting to shop for cribs and other baby furniture. We also plan to register soon. It's all so very exciting.

That's all for now. Our next doctor's appointment is March 10th when I'm 7 months. After that, we'll have appointments every 2 weeks.

6 Month Pregnant Belly Pics

Here are some pictures of me at 6 months/24 weeks.

23 weeks

My sister, Holly, who lives in London keeps asking to see pics of my belly so I took one today.......I'm 23 weeks.

No real update other than our baby is super active...........I constantly feel him kicking........but then there are periods where I think he's passed out like his dad......maybe he has CFS too (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). In any case, he's going to take after his dad in more ways than one - sleeping and kicking (our lil' soccer player).

Well, that's all for now. We have our next appointment on February 10th. It's just a general check up, but we'll update the blog again after that.

My Pregnant Belly at 20 weeks

For those of you that aren't seeing me daily, I thought I'd post a picture of my belly. It's definitely starting to grow! This picture was taken on Sunday, January 11th, at the start of my 20th week.

20 week Ultrasound Video

We have attached a video of just a portion of our 20 week ultrasound. This one goes through mostly the hands, but at the end of the video (around 2 minutes) the technician points out the boy parts again to us. She had already told us it was a boy at this point. Unfortunately that video (of her telling us) was too large to attach. In any case, we have one more boy to add to the Byrne clan (poor Ciara) and the first nephew on the Barrett side! Enjoy the video.......there are many more videos from that ultrasound so if you would like to see more, just let us know!
Also, if you have trouble with the video or if it stops when there is still more time to it, just fast forward a little bit and press play again, it should play. Or if it stops while it's still on the "play" button, then just let it sit for a minute sometimes it starts to play again (sorry this might be a pain). Hope you are able to enjoy it!

1/13/09 - 20 week Ultrasound - IT'S A BOY!!

Today was a great day. We not only found that we're having a boy, but we also found out that our son is normal and healthy. We could not have received better news!

The ultrasound was amazing. The technician showed us in its entirety the anatomy of our baby from his head to his toes to his cute little beating heart. It was really exciting. Then halfway through the ultrasound the technician asked us again if we wanted to find out and we said yes. She said that she thinks she knows what the baby is, but needed a better shot of the little one......finally, she told us "It's a boy!"......we were shocked because we were both convinced it was a girl. All of my dreams have been that we're having a girl.....so much for my instincts. We were thrilled though and a whole new excitement came over us. It's been fun calling our baby by "he" or "him" or referring to him as our son. We are so happy that we found out.

The technician continued to look at our baby's anatomy in detail and concluded by telling us that we're having a healthy baby boy. We were ecstatic.

Mike did a great job videotaping the ultrasound, which I'll attach a video or two. We also got several pictures from the ultrasound which are attached. I think the best picture we got was the last one before we were finished with the ultrasound....and that is with our son giving us a thumbs up (last picture above this post).......as if he was telling us that everything is all good! So cute! The other pictures are: 1) The boy parts 2) our son's profile (you can see his cute nose and lips) 3) our baby laying down which shows his head, a little hand on one side and his body 4) his spine and finally 5) the thumbs up!

After the ultrasound, we went to my doctor's office for some general tests......blood pressure (110/64), baby's heart beat (152 bpm), etc. All great numbers!

We then headed home and called our friends and family to share the news. Our next doctor appointment is scheduled for February 10th, which is just another general check up.

By the way, the baby has been kicking like crazy....typically around 10-11 am and occasionally throughout the day and then again around 10-11 pm. We've been enjoying feeling his little kicks and seeing my belly move from the little guy. Adorable.

I have been feeling great so far which I'm happy for. I've been exercising at least 3 times a week doing yoga, water aerobics, and other light exercises. I do get the occasional aches and pains but I know that's all part of pregnancy and probably preparing me for aches and pains of motherhood. Ha!

No other news so we will continue to post things when we have updates! Love all of you!

Mike saw a few kicks!

Mike and I were watching TV on the couch today and I could feel the baby kicking a lot........Mike thinks the baby might be a soccer player like his/her mommy and daddy. Anyway, we were watching my belly and Mike finally got to see my stomach move from some kicks or maybe they were punches....either way, it's cute! And we're both excited because this is becoming more real for us.