Hi, my name is Mindy Clark, and I am the worst blogger EVER!! I really want to document my pregnancy here to share with family and friends and to be able to look back on in years to come, but I have not been doing a very good job. It seems like I've been too busy or too tired. So, since I haven't updated in over a month, I'm going to have to backtrack a bit.
The gender poll showed 14 votes for BOY and 16 votes for GIRL.... and guess what?!!! Well, if you're reading this, I've either seen you in the last month, talked/texted you on the phone, or we're facebook friends, so there is no suspense here, but the poll was wrong, it's a BOY!!!! We are absolutely thrilled and are so very excited to meet our little guy!!
However, in order to document properly, I need to back up even more. So, even though most of you know the story, I'm going to tell it anyway.....
March 25
I usually schedule my doctor's appointments in the afternoon so that I don't have to take a day off of school, but for the gender appointment I was way too excited to wait until after school, so the appointment was at 10:00 am. Keith and I enjoyed sleeping in a bit before heading to Columbia. We prayed that our sweet baby was doing well healthy and were anxious to find out if Itty Bitty was a he or a she! We talked about possible names and dreamed together about fun things we would do with a son or daughter.
The ultra sound was amazing once again! We had the first one at 8 weeks, another at 12, then, now, at 20 weeks. It was so neat to see how much our baby grew from one ultra sound to the next. There are not words to describe just now amazing and miraculous it was!! We were able to see lots of teeny tiny body parts this time. The doctor pointed out the heart, kidneys, and lungs. Not only could we hear the heartbeat, but we could also see it pumping. We could see him swallowing. We could see arms, legs, fingers, and toes. At one point during the ultrasound, he lifted his little hand and layed it beside his cheek...so sweet:) God's divine creativity and attention to every detail has never been so clear to me. I am so thankful that God has blessed us with this tiny person to care for and share life with!
Now, about the gender part, Itty Bitty was snuggling with the umbilical cord and hiding his or her parts. The doctor thought he saw something early on, but with the cord between that sweet baby's legs, he wasn't able to confirm it, and as he looked more and more without seeing "it", he said he couldn't be for sure, but it must be a little girl. Though we were overjoyed with the good health of our baby, we couldn't help but be a little disappointed to not be able to name our baby and begin more specific planning and preparing.
The doctor said he would check again at the next appointment, but that was another month away. I told him that my mom and dad were coming to visit over spring break, and we had big plans to work on the nursery while they were here. Our sweet, patient doctor said to come back by sometime in the next couple of weeks, and he would check again. We called our parents and sisters to fill them in on our news and headed to Nashville to relax and enjoy the day together as we browsed fabric and baby stores. I texted everyone in my phone and told them that we weren't 100% sure, but that we were thinking pink. We looked at lots of pink that day, but didn't buy anything. As we headed back towards Columbia, we wondered if that afternoon was too soon to stop by for another ultrasound, so we called and they said come on in!! Yay! Now, we could have a confirmed answer. We were both thinking we had a baby girl but were excited to find out for sure.
The doctor squeezed us in, between other scheduled appointments, only to find that Itty Bitty was crossing his or her legs. We really didn't want to waste our kind doctor's time, but what could we do with our baby, who we decided must either be stubborn or have a good sense of humor. After trying to get the baby to move without success, the doctor told us he needed to see another patient, but that while he was gone, he wanted us to wake that baby up! Keith talked to the baby, told him to wake up, and pushed on my belly until it turned red:) Sure enough, it worked!! When the doctor came back, the legs were spread and there it was!! Our sweet, precious baby was not a little girl, but a BOY!!!!
We were excited to know and begin planning! We had lots of phone calls to make and texts to resend! We headed to Target and Kohls to pick out a couple of little boy outfits to hang in our sweet son's closet. Then, we celebrated with a meal at Olive Garden! I hope our little guy likes OG as much as we do, since that's where we celebrated the news of the pregnancy and the news of his gender:)
I told my kids at school that I would tell them to news at school the next day by wearing blue or pink. So, I got a new blue shirt while we were at Kohls (the picture at the top of the post was from that day). The kids were just as sweet as they could be giving me hugs and congratulations at the news of my sweet son!! Keith wore a blue shirt to church that Sunday to tell anyone there who hadn't heard the news!
We are enjoying the pregnancy so much!! On the Saturday before that doctor's appointment on Thursday, I felt the first BIG movement!! I'd felt little flutters that I thought were him, but that night, there was no question at all...it was him and he was making his presence known!!! It kind of felt like a little fish as swimming around in my belly:) What a special feeling!!! We are thankful to all of the sweet family and friends who have already shared in so much of our excitement. People have been so sweet and thoughtful...asking me how I'm feeling, telling me about their own pregnancies, and explaining just how joyful parenthood is:)
Our hearts are still full of joy and thanksgiving for the miracle growing inside of me!!!
Here are a couple more pictures from week 20! I was excited to be looking preggers that week, instead of just chunky:) I've grown A LOT since then....I'll update again soon and post more updated pictures! My mom, sister, and husband were annoyed that I kept chopping my head off in the belly pics, so these include my face;) I was just trying to zoom in on the growing belly!!
