IT'S A BOY!!!

This post is way too late, as pretty much everyone knows we are HAVING A BOY!! In the days leading up to finding out, I was not as anxious as I thought I would be. Most of my worries dealt with the health of our baby. It must have affected me because my blood pressure was pretty high for me....which it never is when I go to the doctor. Baby got a clean bill of health but the doctor was unable to see one side of his heart so we had to come back when he was bigger. We were assured that his lack of cooperation in utero was not a predictor of future behavior. However, we are talking about George and Amanda's baby...chances are we are going to reap what was sewn. We were elated to find out that we are having a baby boy, although I don't believe it really mattered either way to us. We waited until George's parents came to town to spill the news as we wanted to tell our parents face-to-face. We will never again wait that long (1.5 weeks). From the moment we saw that he was a boy, we referred to him as our son and it was difficult to be gender neutral in conversations regarding him.

We have decided to name him Mark Perry Bensabat, II. This is George's father's name and for those who don't know, George was named after his paternal grandfather. The name is also special to me as it is my father's middle name. After a lot of input from everyone else, and talking about it amongst ourselves, we have decided that we are going to call him Mark. Although I am sure I will come up with an endearing nickname that will embarass him by age 5.

Since then, we have gone back for his 2nd anatomy scan to look at the other side of his heart that the doctor could not initially see. Everything is great! He is measuring right on track and at 1lb 7oz, is in the 51st percentile. He was moving so much more for the 2nd ultrasound and at one point, placed his entire palm above his head, on my uterus. I took that as a sign he was communicating with me. I can't wait until he can put his sweet hands on our faces. He is quite a wiggle-worm, moving the most during daylight hours.

I also had to take the Glucose Tolerance Test for gestational diabetes. I PASSED!! I was so relieved. However, I found out that my iron count is low so I either have to supplement with food or take the supplement. I am trying for now to do so with diet...although since I dislike red meat, it might prove to be too much of a challenge. Other than the tiredness that comes with that, I am feeling great! I have been able to keep exercising about 5-6 days per week which is helping a lot with my energy levels.

Our good friends Melissa and Jordan and Mimi (my mom) came over to paint the nursery a couple weeks ago. It is absolutely beautiful! Nowhere near complete but I'll post pics soon. I find it so sweet that every night, George goes into Mark's nursery and looks around. It is as if he is picturing our new life.

Sorry for the long post---will try to update more regularly so as to avoid the novels!

Happy Mardi Gras!!

Happy Mardi Gras!

George and I had a great Mardi Gras weekend and baby went to his/her first (of many) parades. It was quite a different experience not to drink at Mardi Gras and I'm hoping to never be pregnant over Mardi Gras again. But overall, the weather was gorgeous and we were surrounded by good people! We spent much of our time picturing what it will be like next year and what baby will be doing. Will baby be big enough for his/her own ladder?! We'll have to see....we saw some pretty tiny babies up in their ladders.

Other than that, things are going well. George has had a nice break from his 80 hour work-weeks, although all of that has changed beginning this week. Work for me has been incredibly busy as we gear up for trial. Although it is very exciting and I am learning so much.

With our busy schedules, I feel like my pregnancy is flying by. This makes me pretty sad at times. I am loving the experience of pregnancy and some part of me will be sad when it is over. I am trying to enjoy every minute of it. Baby is officially too big for me to sleep on my stomach, so I had to order a special pillow after one night of very little sleep. It is WONDERFUL!

I am now 18 weeks! Baby is the size of a sweet potato. We find out next week what the sex of the baby is and we are so excited.  Stay tuned for more on that. I haven't done much shopping for baby as I am not a fan of green or yellow....pink and blue are so much cuter! I have, however, been buying books. George and I were both read to as children and it is very important to us that we do so for our children. A few weeks ago I picked up a book that we both have loved for many years:

Here is a quick peak of my growing belly:

Week 7:

Week 14:

Week 16:

Next post- baby's gender!