The Growing Caldwell Family

For those who are curious whether SG and Chubby may look alike, here is Chubby's ultrasound picture and SG's together.  I don't think they look that much alike, but we will see sometime in the next 10 weeks!

After a very long week and a stressful one at that, I was grateful to have a lovely Saturday.   The day was off to a good start when Lovie came to join us for breakfast and Music Together.  The bobcat from the previous evening had been replaced by my usual, bubbly, little girl, making the day wonderful! After music, we met up with Aunt Nay and had lunch.  Sarah Graves was delighted that she could have a strawberry milkshake (she called it ice cream) and french fries for lunch!    After lunch we all headed to get a glimpse of Chubby.  Chubby was not in the mood to show off for us.  He was more than willing to show us his bum and his boy parts, but his face was a different story!  For everyone who looks at me and proclaims that I am having a girl, we have not had 4 ultrasounds all claiming this is a boy.  I will be floored if they announce at the birth that it's a girl! Here is a shot of his foot; showing off all of his toes....

We had another ultrasound to check on me and Chubby.  Chubby is looking darling!  His estimated weight is 2 pounds and 3 ounces and his heart rate was 148.    Here you can see Chubby's profile and his hand by his face.  In this one you can see his profile again and his hands making little fists.   This is a look straight on at Chubby's face.  You can see his nose and mouth, which are both developed nicely.  Sarah Graves has been focused on his nose because my belly button has started to protrude and she thinks it is Chubby's nose! The placenta has moved out of the way just like they hoped.  My fluid levels are right in the middle of the range and my cervix is closed tight.  They did notice one thing that has us a little concerned.  There are two fibroids (benign tumors) that are likely growing due to all the hormones of pregnancy.  Right now they are small and not in the way of the cervix, but there is some ...

We went for our 20 weeks ultrasound and found out that Sarah Graves is getting a brother!  My feeling from the very start was that this was a boy and I only doubted it when I had a dream a couple of weeks ago and we were looking at an ultrasound of a chubby girl!  It turns out my first instinct was right!  Aaron is really excited and SG only cares that it's a baby!  This a picture of the little dumpling's profile.  This is a picture of his feet.  I just thought they looked so sweet! They checked all of his measurements and organs and all looked healthy.  They estimate this little dumpling weighs about 10 ounces right now, but we know he will grow a lot in the coming weeks!  They did a detailed look at his heart and that all looks right on track.  Same for the brain, spinal cord, kidneys, bladder, umbilical cord, lips, and nose!  My cervix looks long and closed, which is exactly what we want right now.  The only pa...

This morning I went for what should have been a standard check-up.  I was expecting to hear the baby's heartbeat and basically be on my way.  That's not quite how this visit went, but rest assured all is fine.  They started with the usual checking urine, blood pressure, and weight; all of which were fine.  Then came my favorite part, listening for the heartbeat.  The midwife I saw was new to me, but she seemed nice and she patiently moved the doppler device around looking for the heartbeat.  With each passing moment I became a little more anxious.  Then, she suggested that she bring in the very basic ultrasound machine that they keep in the office.  She quickly found the baby with the ultrasound, but couldn't get a good read on the heartbeat.  My anxiety began to heighten at this point and I started really wishing that Aaron was there with me because hearing the heartbeat is one of the few ways to check in on him/her at this point.  She...

Yesterday we went for our 3-D/4-D ultrasound and it was quite amazing. Mom, Dad, and Jeanne' joined us for our first real glimpse of Sarah Graves.  We think she's quite the cutie already! We were able to see that sweet little face! She likes to keep her hands up over her face and seems to grab onto the umbilical cord a lot, but we managed to get her to cooperate some! I love the fat cheeks and those sweet little lips.  I have been in love with her for some time, but having a face to think about just makes me more in love!  I can't wait until we can kiss those sweet cheeks!  They might be chapped for some time! That's the umbilical cord coming down the side of her face, not a long ringlet!

Here is the first picture of baby Caldwell. This is one of the baby's face toward the ultrasound. Everything looks good with baby. We could see the heart beating, arms and legs moving, and hands waving. The eyes, nose and mouth seem to be there on the face. The only shock was that instead of 8 weeks we are actually 13 weeks! I thought my head might spin around when she told us that! Our new due date is Jan. 19. I think we are more excited now than when we first found out that we're pregnant! It's only 5 weeks difference, but it means we're out of the first trimester and a lot of the risk of miscarriage has passed.