Alexis at 17 weeks 4 days...

Our sonogram this week was very rewarding! Not only did we find out the sex of our little baby...the sonographer also surprised us with some 3D images! It was really cool because this was all done on John's birthday --- so it was a great birthday present for the daddy-to-be!

Here are the 3D pictures that the sonographer took for us:
She looks absolutely precious. It is so cute to see her little face and hands...not that it really looks like much, but to "see" her in there was really cool. The sonographer says she is growing nicely --- weighing in at 6 oz! She had a good strong heartbeat again...this time it was a nice 158! Must have been the cake I ate before I went to the appointment :)

Here is a new profile shot of her with her leg in the picture: Again...quite the cutie!

I am doing pretty good as well. The doctor said it appears that the area of concern is not getting bigger...which is great. But it is also not getting smaller --- which probably means more bedrest for me. Anything for our little Alexis though! I am getting use to it more and more with each passing day. I have developed a routing pretty much for the day. I finished "Dear John" and now will be starting the 7th and final Harry Potter book --- yes I am probably the only person who has not read it! I am slow :)

John came home yesterday from running errands with the cutest little girl outfit from Carters! He had to exchange the boy outfits we had bought and was brave enough to pick out some girl outfits. He did amazing! The one outfit is absolutely beautiful and I cannot wait to see Alexis in it!

It's a...

little girl!!!!!!!

The sonographer confirmed it today with a nice little 3D ultrasound! She is doing great and had an awesome heartbeat of 158 today!!

We love you Alexis Madison and can't wait to meet you in October!

A Crib and a Ton of Reading...

Well we have officially purchased the baby's crib :) Well I should say John went to order it and his amazing parent's bought it for us. Thank you mom-in-law and dad-in-law :) It was the exact one that we wanted just in the darker espresso color. We decided after much deliberation that the darker wood was actually nicer looking than the tea stain one. Hopefully the baby will agree :) It should be ready for pick up in 7-14 days! I cannot wait to bring it home and be able to have John assemble it. It is going to be absolutely beautiful in the baby's room!!!

In the past 24 hours I have read 2 books! I read book 5 & book 6 Lemony Snickett's "A Series of Unfortunate Events" series. They are both over 225 pages. I cannot believe I had the energy to read. The next book I am going to read will probably be "Dear John" by Nicholas Sparks. I am trying to do other things than just watching TV all day. Yesterday I didn't even watch TV and it felt pretty good.

I have also been working on one of the two baby blankets that I got the yarn for. I started on the girl blanket, at John's request --- he seems to think the baby is a girl! It is turning out so pretty so far. It is purple and white (to match the girl bedding we selected if the baby is in fact a girl). I have already over a foot done on the blanket so far. I will probably finish it this week. Then I will get started on the boy blanket.

Our next sonogram is this Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. It is always nice to see the little peanut swimming around. Mom Stuntz is going to go with us so that she can see her little grandbaby. I am hoping the little peanut cooperates so that we can find out the sex on Tuesday. That would be a cool little treat for Mom Stuntz :)

Belly Pic - 16 Weeks 5 Days

I forgot to include a recent belly picture. This was taken this morning (16 weeks 5 days). It has definitely grown since the last time. Now you can actually see the belly through the shirt. I cannot believe that there is actually a little being in there!

It is not the greatest picture of me as my eyes were closed so I look horrible! But whatever, you get the point :)

Tonight I will be starting a baby blanket for our little peanut. John went to Michaels for me tonight and bought me yarn for a girl blanket and yarn for a boy blanket. I figure since we don't know at this point what it is going to be...I will do one of each while I am stuck in bed! Whichever one we don't end up needing I will either give it as a gift to one of my friends who is pregnant or we will save it in case we decide to have a 2nd baby one day.

New Baby Pics!

Today we have our 1st of our monthlong weekly songrams. The baby looked great...good heartbeat of 148 (the little peanut is consistent --- it was 147 last weekend). The subchorionic bleed looks to us like it was healing. Will have to wait for the doctor to look at it later. Bad news is I do have to continue bed rest. I knew I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up :) It will be okay though. We will get through it. Anything we can do to help our little baby we will do! Below are some of the pictures from today's sonogram...now it really looks like a baby!!!

This picture is the baby's profile...what a cute nose :)

This next picture is of the baby's face looking at us! Kind of alien-like huh! Looks like a job for Scully & Mulder! (X-Files reference in case you aren't privy to knowing such an amazing show!)

This last picture is of the baby's hand. To Aunt Kari & Uncle Bob's delight it looks as if this little peanut is already starting to develop "metal hands" to better rock out to Metallica!! :) You should be proud of your niece/nephew!

So overall, I guess I am happy to report that things are going okay. I haven't been doing a whole lot during this bedrest time. I have watched a lot of tv...I have learned a lot from HGTV! I have worked on the baby's cross-stitch a little bit but then I get tired and lay down :) The cats have kept me great company which is nice. Jingles likes to lay with me on the couch. I think that Jingles wants to make her presence known to the baby with her purring. She lays right up against the belly! So cute!

Well our next appointment is next Tuesday at 3:30 p.m....so let's hope for more healing! :)

Rock the Red

Well peanut and I have spent day #5 on the couch today watching crappy daytime tv. I think I watched more episodes of Golden Girls than I could even begin to count. Now, John and I are getting ready to watch the 1st game of the 1st round of hockey playoffs! The Capitals are playing the NY Rangers at home tonight. Hard to believe that this time next year our little peanut could be enjoying playoffs with us! Don't worry peanut...we are all prepared for you to enter hockey season!

As you can see the little peanut already has its own Capitals Onesie! This also came with matching booties and hat. They really are too cute!

Well physically I seem to be doing much better. I am hoping that next Wednesdsay will yield some good news in regards to the healing of my placenta. Keep your fingers crossed. I really would like to get back to work as soon as possible. But until then...I will lie on the couch and watch tv and read books!

A little scare and some bedrest!

Well today is day 4 of bedrest. It has been such a long 4 days. Saturday I woke up at 7 a.m. gushing red blood. I was terrified. So off to the ER we went. They checked me in and brought me right back. They drew blood and hooked me up to an IV. I was so worried that we were losing our little baby. Then it was off to radiology for an ultrasound. Immediately the tech showed us our little baby's heartbeat! What a relief! This was the first great ultrasound we were able to see. We saw the baby's feet, hands, brain, eyes, and nose! It was absolutely amazing to see our little one just floating in there! Once the ultrasound was over and we were wheeled back to our room the doctor, Dr. Lisse, came in and said it looked like what was a subchorionic bleed and that a small portion of the placenta had detatched from the uterine wall. So still a little scared, but feeling a little more reassured, I was sent home for 48 hours of bed rest.

Sunday we had to have a return visit to the ER as I was passing some clots so they wanted to check and see that everything was still going okay. Sure enough it was the same...because the blood had slowed down considerably there were able to positive conclude that it was in fact a subchorionic bleed. They advised me to see my OB on Monday to determine the proper course of action.

So yesterday, Monday, I ventured to my new OB --- who I absolutely love! She said that it is about a 4cm separation, which is not bad, but not great. So she has put me on a month of bedrest with repeat sonograms every week so we can see if it is healing or if it is getting worse. My next sonogram is next Wednesday and my hopes is that it is getting better! I really want to return to work sooner than later. It sucks because I am now having to eat up my maternity leave. But we have to do what we need to do for this little baby. I want to minimize the risk of possibly losing him/her.

On a positive note --- hopefully next week we might be able to find out if the little one is a girl or a boy. The tech tried really hard to find out what it was this weekend when were at the ER, but she had no luck. Whatever it is...I will love it!

So because I am on bedrest for a month...this blog will probably be updated more than anyone really cares to read :) So check back often!

Keep Baby Stuntz in your prayers...he/she is a fighter and I know in my heart he/she will be okay and will read this one day and realize what stress he/she put mommy and daddy through! :)

We love you little peanut!