More Baby Pics!

Well as I post this we are now 22 weeks and 6 days along in our pregnancy. On Monday, Calie and I finally made it back to the doctor since moving up to Minnesota. We were very bummed that we had to leave our doctor in St. Louis who was really great, as he said he was only throwing out the first pitch. But our new doctor here also seems to be very good. We lucked out because a church member is a labor & delivery nurse so she gave us a list of the top doctors in the area. Our new doctor was number two on our list; and even though she was not accepting new patients she made an exception for us! We both really like her even though she talks super fast. Our appointment went well and we got to hear the strong, healthy heartbeat of our little miracle baby. And this time I know I heard it!

The very next day on Tuesday, we had to go back to the health center to get new ultrasound pictures! It took over an hour as they took over 100 pictures but it was awesome! We saw so many different pictures and views of our little one, though not enough to determine the sex; we'll just have to wait 'til baby is born. I was a bit humbled though because every time I thought I knew what I was looking at I was corrected. I wasn't usually even close--not even on the right half of the baby.

Even the ultrasound tech was impressed with how photogenic little baby Vera was. She had never seen such clear pictures of the heart and got very excited over our 3-D pictures. But she kept clicking away and printing pictures. She had to check all the different body parts to make sure everything was there and forming properly. She checked the lips/nose to make sure the baby did not have cleft lip. She checked the heart many times and we saw it pumping with all four chambers. We saw the different pockets near the brain that are holding the fluid for the spine and the inside of the umbilical cord which showed three open areas (that's good!). She showed us the stomach, kidneys, lungs and liver. Everything looked strong and healthy so we certainly give God much thanks for that. It's a wonder how anyone can look at ultrasound pictures like these and not believe that God exists or that He doesn't carefully craft a human from the very moment of conception. What an awesome thing to be a part of God's miraculous process!

That's all for now, hope you enjoy the pictures...

Here's a picture of the baby's profile. It's amazing how much they grow in a few short months. The baby is now too long to view from head to feet so we could only see one half at a time. In fact, the only way for them to take measurements of the baby now is to measure the width of his (or her) head, and the femur bone. As of right now, baby weighs 1 pound, 2 ounces

Say Cheese! Who would have thunk that our baby would be such a ham; this is the face of baby and he (or she) is looking right at us! You can see the eye sockets and nose, even a bit of the jaw.

Here are the little feet that baby uses to regularly flip around. Baby moves around so much that I almost thing we should call him (or her) flipper until they're born.

Actually, on Sunday night I felt the baby move or kick for the first couple of times. Calie has been feeling it for a long time but now I have too. I smile just thinking about it!

This is the first of two 3-D pictures. These were awesome and we had no idea we'd be able to have them. You can see the entire face of the baby, along with the umbilical cord in front of him (or her). Poor baby looks like an alien with those big eyes!

Another 3-D picture. A child after my very own heart. If you look real close at baby's mouth you can see him (or her) sticking out their little tongue!