The Plan....

Here's the plan...since it has been requested in written form.

I am taking a full load of classes and teaching this semester...I know I'm crazy! My finals are over by the 7th of December so that will leave me with about two weeks before I'm due to deliver the little bundle of joy. In January I will take one internet class and another in August, by this time the baby will be a year old and I will be finished with my degree (except for student teaching of course). In January (2009) I will student teach and then graduate in May.

Our master plan...I can hear God laughing...is to get pregnant again in March of 2009 so that I will deliver in December 2009, making the babies two years apart. After staying home for a year and a half with the second child I will apply for my provisional teaching certificate and hopefully get hired on at Maricopa High School where I will teach for many years to come.

The pictures, I promise, are coming soon. Soon (in the Shelby dictionary) is defined as: as soon as I get around to it. :o)

The Nutty-P

I had the ultrasound today that was checking on the kidneys, they are still slightly dialated however the doctors do not see a need to worry at all. In fact, they think that the baby will literally grow into the kidneys and make this a "non issue." So good news there, I also got some great new pictures...of course I haven't scanned them in yet but I promise that will get done ASAP!

The baby has been kicking like crazy lately! I'm so glad he's been active because it reassures me that he's still doing alright in there but it's fun to feel all the little taps and big kicks too. He's exactly on target for the due date according to the ultrasound measurements (which must be fairly uncommon judging from the surprised reaction by the ultrasound people). I'm 20 weeks along now which is a big milestone in pregnancys because the chance of survival outside the uterus is greatly increased after 20 weeks. It would not be optimal of course, but at least now if something happens there is a chance that he could survive. Survival of the offspring always makes a mother feel warm and fuzzy. :o)

New pictures coming your way soon!

It's a Boy!

Sadly, I haven't had time to scan in the newest pictures of our little peanut, but we did find out that it's a boy! I will have to get those scanned in over the next few days and get them posted.

This ultrasound, aside from finding out the sex, was an explorative endeavor to check on the health of the baby. Since we decided against having an amniocentisis done this was the best way for the doctor to check for any birth defects and abnormalities. All systems checked out well except for the baby's kidneys which show a slight dilation of the renal pelvices bilaterally-a fancy term that means baby's kidneys are not properly draining the urine into the bladder. The doctor does not seem to be concerned at all, apparently this is quite common for baby boys and it generally clears itself up by birth. In very few cases the baby will need a minor surgery to correct the problem shortly after birth but they have told us not to even entertain the thought until after we get the results from a more extensive ultrasound with another doctor's office scheduled for August 10th.

I did feel the first few kicks over the past week. That's been exciting! The doctor told us that it would probably be a few weeks before dad would be able to feel the kicks but surprisingly he was able to feel the second kick! He is very excited and starting to realize the magnitude of what is going on in my body. It's so cute at night when I wake up to baby kicking me and sleepily tell dad that I feel movement because he jolts awake and tries to feel the kicks too. What an adventure we are in for!