Halfway there

This week marks the 20 week or halfway mark. I'm finally starting to look pregnant and not just ambiguous. I'm officially in the strechy clothes and the blouses that poof out over my tummy. This was a busy week. On Wednesday morning, we went in for our second sonogram - everything looks good, and they estimated the baby's weight at 12 ounces. You may remember the first sonogram from earlier email. This time, we were able to actually see the beating heart, the function of the kidneys, the little hands and feet, and some movement. Also, I found out what that spot is where something keeps poking me when I take a shower - it's a hand!

The big news to come out of this is, of course, the sex. It's a boy! When we asked how certain this was at this stage, the ultrasound technician just looked at us and said "It has a penis." I guess that's not so ambiguous. We were lucky to have a really experienced person doing the test, and she let us bring in a VHS tape and make a recording of it. Nathan's worked up a quicktime and some audio of the heartbeat, which I'll try to post here.

Anyway, just hours after the sonogram and the big news, I had to fly to Orlando for a business trip, and I've been here since then. Thankfully, the hotel is pretty deluxe and there's a fabulous pool in which to flaunt my new maternity swimsuit and big tummy while I drink virgin pina coladas. Mom and Dad drove up and met me for a swim and dinner in the hotel tonight. Tomorrow after my presentation, they'll pick me up and we'll go to Cocoa Beach to see GMR and BDW. GMR is still in the hospital, but it sounds like she might get moved back to the rehab facility soon. I'm anxious to see her for the first time since all of this started with the hurricanes. Sometimes it seems like there's just too much going on. Tuesday night, I was all weepy thinking about grandmom and then Wednesday morning, I was all weepy with joy, seeing the healthy heartbeat. Meanwhile, Nathan's mom, Lucille, has actually had a heart attack, and she's in the hospital in Indiana with issues that sound very much like GMR's. Nathan's home in Alexandria, but he may travel back to Indiana soon. It's hard to really know what's going on from far away, but thankfully, his brother Romey is there and Nathan talks to everyone several times a day.

Now that we're well on our way with this pregnancy, I'll try to keep up this blog and keep people in the loop a little more. We find it all endlessly fascinating, of course.