It's a BOY!!!

Today, I had my mid-point ultrasound.  I am currently 21 weeks & 3 days pregnant. Of course, Keith and I were really anxious to find out how our little baby is developing and we wanted to make sure that he or she was doing well. But, the highlight of this ultrasound was definitely that we were going to find out the baby's gender. I was very excited and even though Keith was not a big proponent of finding out the gender, I think he was excited too. We had both decided that there were good things about either gender and we really didn't care what it was, as long as the baby was healthy. (Although Keith had said on many occasions that he hoped it was a boy.)

The ultrasound was at 9:15 this morning, so thankfully, we didn't have to spend the day wondering. We were called into the exam room soon after we arrived and the technician asked if we were hoping to find out the gender. I said yes, and not long after she began the scan, she said, "Are you sure you want to know the gender?"  Again, we both said yes and she said "It's a boy".  I said, "Are you sure?  How do you know?" And she said, "I am definitely sure.  Look at this"....

Much to our delight (for now!), our little boy certainly isn't very modest!!! :-) Thankfully he was happy to show us all his goods and we are 100% sure that we are having a baby boy!  

Keith and I had already come to a decision on a boy's name before we knew if it was a boy or a girl (if it had been a girl, we were still undecided). His name will be Jacob Michael.  Jacob is the name that Keith really wanted (it is his favorite person in the Bible) and Michael is after my father (who has always been a very important person in my life, and is now to Keith also). 

Here is a profile picture of our little boy...isn't he cute?

The rest of the ultrasound went well.  The technician did need to take a break at one point and had me stand up and walk around to see if the baby would move a little bit. He had his arms crossed in front of his face at first so she was not able to see the parts of his brain and face that she needed to.  After I walked around a little bit, she came back in and was able to get the scans that she needed.

Once she was finished, the doctor came in to discuss the results of the ultrasound.  Some things to note are:

*His heartbeat was 144 bpm

*He weighs approximately 1 lb 2 ounces

*His heart, lungs, brain, legs, arms, hands, feet, eyes, bladder and stomach all look really good.

*There is one small problem that they detected.  It is something called Prenatal Hydronephrosis. This is a condition where the baby's kidneys are "swollen".  The doctor said that this was something that was not uncommon at this point in a pregnancy and that in a few weeks, it should go away.  They have scheduled me for another ultrasound in 6 weeks to specifically look at his kidneys.  If the swelling is still present at that time, we will need to continue to monitor him and he will have to have certain tests done after he is born.  The doctor didn't seem to be overly concerned about this and said that we should not worry about it at this point.  She did stress that even if it does not correct itself in utero, it is definitely something that can be corrected once he is born.

So, all in all, this was a very happy day for Keith and me.  We even stopped at Babies R Us after dinner and looked at some cribs & bedding to get an idea of what both of us like.  We came up with a few ideas and will need to return to the store shortly to register and pick out all of our stuff.  

Until then, I will try to keep periodic updates coming.  I have my next prenatal appointment scheduled for March 5th, so I will definitely update after that, if not sooner.