I must apologize about the lack of belly picture to go along with this post. We have been so busy lately that I keep forgetting to take a decent new one! I'll be certain to get some to share during our upcoming camping trip.

In the meantime, here's a new picture of Eli!


This was taken at my ultrasound appointment today (21 weeks 3 days). He weighs a bit over a pound and was measuring about 5 days ahead of his due date, but that's not enough of a difference to change it officially. So the due date will be staying put at November 13th! This appointment was way different than what I expected... and way longer! When I had my mid-pregnancy ultrasound with Lydia they had me in and out of there in 15 minutes or less. This time I had to go to the hospital because our insurance changed and required that we go there. They have a totally different process at the hospital. The tech took over 120 pictures and the entire ultrasound lasted a whole hour! I really feel like my baby boy got a thorough examination. And yes, we did indeed confirm that we are due to have a son!

Another benefit to the hospital visit instead of my OB's office was that they had 3D capability on their ultrasound machine. I always prefer to see the baby's face in 3D... it looks a little less like a creepy skeleton! Eli was not in a very good position to get great pictures of his face, though. He had his arm up by his head and it kept casting a shadow. Then he kept trying to turn his face inward. I think he was tired of being messed with after an hour of poking!

In the end I couldn't have been more pleased with the outcome of the appointment. The tech was very friendly and talked us through all of the parts she was looking at. We asked if everything looked good and she said they did as far as she could tell. A doctor has to look over the pictures and write an official report, but I assume if there were any major problems a tech of 16 years would know (and she said the doc would get called in right away for anything major).


So now feeling completely confident in the gender determination, I spent the afternoon browsing Amazon for a few of the "boy" items we'll want to have for our little man. I think we will be in good shape with everything except for clothes. I'm sure I will pick up some new things for him in the coming months and will fill in the gaps with gently used items from a big sale I go to in the Fall.


Oh - and we'll be even more set for his arrival now because today we bought a van!! I think this officially makes me a mom. ;-)