Because of popular demand....the belly!

Week 21 & 22 Photo, I'm getting there!

A holiday greeting

Week 22, She is getting bigger!

Your baby's crown-to-rump length is approximately 7.6 inches and your growing baby weighs about 12.25 ounces now! The organ systems in your baby's body are becoming specialized for their particular functions. Your baby's senses are developing daily. The fetus now has a full complement of neurons in the brain and is learning about her body and surroundings through touch. Touch is one of the first senses to mature and your baby may stroke its face or feel her arms and legs. Your baby now shows an extremely rapid brain growth (which lasts until five years after birth). The ovaries of female fetuses contain primitive egg cells, all of the eggs a woman will have for her entire life. The uterus of female fetuses is also fully formed.

So I will try to get an updated picture to post in the next day or two. I think last week the baby really pooped out a bit. It seemed like it happened in one day, Greg came home from work and commented that something had changed that day. Maybe the banana sized girl was just too big to stay within my frame and I popped out! She has also started moving like crazy. I usually feel her throughout the day, just gently moving around. Although I have already felt a couple of movements that have startled me. By the time I get to Greg she has calmed down and there is nothing that he can feel yet.
We flew to Saint Louis for a few days and while I was in the airport a woman casually asked me when I was due, which I was thrilled to answer. I was just excited to think that I am looking pregnant and not just chubby. We had tons of fun in Saint Louis visiting family and friends. We got lots of baby gifts which was lots of fun. I will have to take some pics and share her growing and stylish wardrobe with everyone. We also found out that Greg's sister Shani and her husband Jamie Wahl are expecting their first baby, and only 6 weeks after us!! We are so excited Baby Girl O will have a cousin so close in age!
Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you have a happy and safe New Year too!

Week 21, She's as long as a banana!

Your baby's blood circulation is completely functional. The umbilical cord system continues to grow and thicken as blood travels with considerable force through the body to nurture the baby. The placenta is now almost equal in size to the baby. Your baby will be getting much larger during the second half of your pregnancy. Your baby's crown-to-rump length at this time is 7.2 inches and she weighs approximately 10.5 ounces. Your growing baby is about the size of a large banana. Your baby's different organs and systems are maturing. The fetal digestive system is functioning in a simple way and your baby can swallow amniotic fluid. After your baby swallows the amniotic fluid, she is able to absorb water and sugars from the fluid and then the waste is passed as far as the large bowel. Your baby swallows the amniotic fluid in order to prepare itself for life outside of the womb. Some babies consume as much as 17 ounces of amniotic fluid in a 24-hour period. Your baby already has a high number of red blood cells and the white blood cells are beginning to be produced. Taste buds are being formed on your baby's tongue this week also.

Last week I had a Doctors appointment and everything went well. No new ultrasounds to share yet. I heard the heartbeat again and it sounded good. The midwife that I met with had a hard time finding the heartbeat because our baby girl kept moving around, she laughed and commented that she was being a little stinker since she wouldn't stay still! Seems like she is giving us little clues about her personality already....I'm thinking she'll either be a little stubborn or just an active baby always on the go (maybe like her cousin Beau?). They also measured the baby and said that her growth is perfect for her age, and they told me that I have gained the perfect amount of weight too. My belly is really showing now, we'll post pictures tonight...

Week 20, Half way there, just 20 more to go!!

This week marks the half way point of the pregnancy (Already? This seems hard to believe!). Your baby's skin begins to thicken this week and will develop four layers. Your baby's sebaceous glands secrete a waxy substance called vernix caseosa. Your baby will be born with this wax and it will look like paste. The vernix caseosa is crucial because it protects the fetus' fragile skin from the continuous immersion in amniotic fluid. Lanugo hairs secure the vernix caseosa in place and it is thick around the eyebrows. Scalp hair and toenails are beginning to form at this point. Hair can also be seen on the upper lip and eyebrows. Your baby has established sleep patterns akin to a newborn now. Many babies even have a favorite sleep position already. Some snooze with their chins resting on their chests, while others nap with their head flung back. Many babies at this age fall into noticeable cycles of sleep and activity, so you may know before she arrives whether you have a night owl or an early bird. (Haven't noticed any patterns yet, but I usually do heal her moving around late at night!)

I have a Doctor's appointment this week to meet my new Doctor, and am very excited. The practice has a 3D Ultrasound machine so I'm hoping they will let me peak at the baby in 3D! Of course it they do you will all hear about it!

Week 19, the Bump

Week 17 and Week 19... (looks like I got smaller, but I promise I didn't!)

Week 19, She's big, healthy, and cute!

Your baby's crown-to-rump length is 5.2 to 6 inches this week (We think She is a little bigger than that). Your baby weighs approximately 7 ounces (The ultrasound showed she weighed 9.1 ounces, a little bigger than average!) and will increase its weight more than 15 times between now and birth! One of the most amazing aspects of your baby's growth and development is that of the fetal brain (Her brain was one of the first things we saw at the ultrasound...we saw a section through her skull, with a view of both halves of the brian...amazing). Your baby's brain is one of the first organs to appear. Your baby's oversized head shows the brain's importance in her development. Because the nerves that connect the muscles to the brain have grown into place, your baby's movements are consciously directed. Your baby's ears stand out from the sides of the head and the buds for your baby's permanent teeth appear. Your baby's arms and legs have reached their relative proportions and her feet are approximately one inch long (This was one of the last things we saw, two feet, ten toes, wiggling and moving around!).

Click the images to enlarge

Wednesday's news...

We found out Wednesday before leaving town that we're having a Girl! The ultrasound showed that she is a very healthy girl, weighing 9.1 ounces! During the ultrasound we saw not only all of her healthy little organs but we saw her moving around, opening and closing her mouth, she opened her eyes, and even stuck her tongue out at us!

Greg and I were both pretty emotional seeming our little one for the first time. Even though my belly has been getting bigger and we have known there was a baby in there, it feels like we just got the news that we're going to be parents for the first time!

Thanks for all of the exciting emails, phone calls, texts etc. It has been fun to share the news and hear from everyone.

Week 18, Baby Ortyl can hear!!

By week 18 of your pregnancy, your baby's crown-to-rump length is 5 to 5.5 inches long. Your baby continues to develop fat layers and weighs about 5.25 ounces. Your baby will continue to grow and develop, but the rapid growth will slow down for a little while.

At this point of your pregnancy, your uterus is approximately the size of a cantaloupe. There is still space available in your uterus and your baby will be active for periods at a time. Your baby may sit cross legged or turn somersaults (Practice a golf swing?). Around this time, your baby becomes more sensitive to the outside world and shows her presence through powerful kicks and prods. The bones through which sound is passed to the inner ear have hardened and the parts of the brain that receives and processes nerve signals from the ears are developing. This means that your baby can hear now. (I wonder if the baby can hear Greg belting out Christmas carols?) Your baby will get used to familiar sounds, such as your heart beating, familiar voices, blood rushing through the umbilical cord and other daily routine sounds. Your baby will become startled if he hears a loud sound.

We find out the sex on Wednesday so we'll be in touch! (Packers are coming to the house tomorrow, Monday. The moving truck is loaded on Tuesday, Wednesday the truck leaves, and we leave on Thursday for Denver...what a crazy week. If you want to chat and catch up call our cells Thursday we will both be driving our cars! We will get there Thursday night and spend the weekend settling in...of course we'll post pics and updates once we get there!)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

So much to give thanks for, right now we're thankful that I have started feeling the baby move! I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and when I laid back down I just felt a little tickle in my tummy. It felt like a butterfly was in there gently beating its wings! Pretty amazing!! Hope you all have a wonderful day today, we wish we could be with all of our family and friends today!
Love you all! Becky and Greg

Horiscope for Taurus children born in 2009

This was given to me by my fabulous friend Anna. I had to read this a couple of times. There are definitely a mix of traits in this description, some are more "Becky" and some are more "Greg." It'll be fun to meet this little person and get to know his or hers little personality over the years! Thanks again Anna! (click on the article to enlarge)

You know your from Colorado....

Sent to us by our wonderful Real estate Agent in denver, we don't "get" all of it but will figure it out soon enough! 8 days till we hit the road!!

NOW:

You're from Colorado if You'll eat ice cream in the winter.

When the weather report says it's going to be 65 degrees, you shave your legs and wear a skirt.

It snows 5 inches and you don't expect school to be canceled.

You'll wear flip flops every day of the year, regardless of temperature.

You have no accent at all, but can hear other people's. And then you make fun of them.

'Humid' is over 25%.

Your sense of direction is: Toward the mountains and Away from the mountains.

You say 'the interstate' and everybody knows which one.

You think that May is a totally normal month for a blizzard.

You buy your flowers to set out on Mother's day, but try and hold off planting them until just before Father's day.

You grew up planning your Halloween costumes around your coat.

You know what the Continental Divide is.

You don't think Coors beer is that big a deal.

You went to Casa Bonita as a kid, and as an adult.

You've gone off-roading in a vehicle that was never intended for such activities.

You always know the elevation of where you are.

You wake up to a beautiful, 80 degree day and you wonder if it's going to snow tomorrow.

You don't care that some company renamed it, the Broncos still play at Mile High

Every movie theater has military and student discounts.

Everybody wears jeans to church.

You actually know that South Park is a real place not just a show on TV.

You know what a 'trust fund hippy' is, and you know its natural habitat is Boulder

You know you're talking to a fellow Coloradoan when they call it Elitches, not Six Flags.

A bear on your front porch doesn't bother you.

Your two favorite teams are the Broncos and whoever is beating the crap out of the Raiders.

When people out East tell you they have mountains in their state too, you just laugh.

You go anywhere else on the planet and the air feels 'sticky' and you notice the sky is no longer blue.

Week 17, Baby bump

Not huge, but I am feeling bigger. Here is week 14 next to 17, there is definitely a difference! My friends that see me often have even commented that I'm just a little bit more curvy
now!

More baby fashion

Over the weekend Greg and I along with Gregory Leslie, went to our first Saint Louis University Basketball game in the new arena. It was an exciting game and it was fun to be back on the SLU campus. So much has changed since we were there.

Then on Monday we got a small package in the mail from Greg Aunt Naa, who sent the red onesie for the baby. Too cute! (click the pic to enlarge) Thanks Aunt Naa!! XOXOX

This is how Baby Ortyl will roll!

Baby's first anything...too cute to pass up! Figured it would be great for girl or boy.

Ashby's thoughts on Week 17!

Week 17, Baby O update

Your baby's weight has doubled in two weeks and now weighs about 3.5 ounces! The crown-to-rump length of your growing baby is 4.4 to 4.8 inches. If you spread your hand out opened wide, you can see about how big your baby is. Your uterus is moving up and is now approximately 1.5 to 2 inches below your navel. You are showing more now and there is a noticeable swelling in your abdomen. (It's true...we'll post an updated picture tomorrow!) Huge changes continue to take place within your developing baby. This week fat begins to form and will continue to do so until he is born. Fat is important to the body's heat production and metabolism. Right now, at 17 weeks, water makes up about 3 ounces and fat 0.018 ounces of your baby's body. In a baby at term, fat makes up about 5.25 pounds of the total average weight of 7.7 pounds. The eyes are facing more forward. The ears are now close to their final position. Your baby is more flexible with ability to move head, mouth, lips, arms, wrists, hands, legs, feet, and toes. Fingerprints are forming now. (Still haven't felt any movement but I'm paying attention and waiting!)

This weeks Dr's appointment & Finding out the sex!!

I had a Doctors appointment on Friday and got lots of good news.
First, I heard the heartbeat again and it sounded strong and healthy!
I also was talking to my Doctor about our upcoming move. I should have scheduled my 20 week check up (which is when they would do an ultrasound and determine the sex) on Friday but because of the move we will be in Denver by then. Since it will take a few weeks to get in to see my new doctor in Denver, my Saint Louis doctor said she would set up an early ultrasound for us so we can determine the sex before we leave!! We are so excited!
So the countdown is on....girl or boy?......make sure you vote on our poll!

Becky's Baby Belly...update

week 14 & 16...small changes but its still there!

Week 16: A growing avacado!

At this point of your pregnancy, your baby is approximately 4.3 to 4.6 inches long and weighs 2.8 ounces, about the size of an avacado! The child can grasp with his hands, kick, or even somersault. At this time, your baby is holding her head erect. Because her muscles are developing, she can make some faces now. Your baby is able to squint, frown and open its mouth. There is enough calcium in the bones that they will show up on an x-ray. Your baby's fingernails are well formed now and the legs are longer than the arms. The patterning of her scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. (What do you think, fair hair like Dad or dark hair like Mom? Take our new poll) And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop. Because your baby is moving well now, you may begin to feel his movements! Some women say that the early movements feel like gas bubbles or a slight flutter. (Haven't felt anything yet, but I will be alert now and you will all get a full report!) If you have not yet felt the baby move, don't worry. Fetal movements are usually felt between the 16th and 20th week of pregnancy. You may feel your heart beating 'louder'. This is because there is a lot more blood in your body than normal. (about 20-25% more)

Week 15, Fruit of the week!

Your baby's crown-to-rump length is approximately 4 inches and she now weighs approximately 1.75 ounces (almost doubled since last week!). Your baby is the size a naval orange and you can easily tell that you are pregnant now! If you wear maternity clothes other people will be able to tell that you are pregnant also.
Your baby is growing at an amazing rate and looking more like a human every day. Because your baby's skin is so thin, you are able to see blood vessels through the skin.
If you have an ultrasound at this point, (we still have to wait a few weeks for this) you might be able to see your baby sucking its thumb. Even though the eyes continue to move to the front of the face, they are still widely separated. Your baby's ears look like normal ears and continue to develop externally. The bones that have already formed continue to get harder and retain calcium. The baby is very mobile and flexible at this point. She can bend her arms at the elbows and wrists and she can also make a fist with her hands. (She?)

Week 14, Big development: Lanugo!

You are now in your second trimester! Your baby's crown to rump length is 3.2 to 4.5 inches long and he weighs approximately 1 ounce now. Your baby is about the size of the average fist. Now that you are into your second trimester, you may be starting the best part of your pregnancy (Yippie!). You will probably start to feel more energetic and you may get the `pregnancy glow`. At this time, your baby's face is becoming more developed. The cheeks and bridge of his nose appear and the ears move from the sides of his neck to much higher on his head. The eyes continue to come closer together. A big development from this week onward is the development of lanugo. Lanugo is the fine hair that grows over almost your entire baby. The hairs grow in whirled patterns that follow the grain of his skin. These patterns later give way to your baby's fingerprints. The lanugo will be shed before birth and replaced by thicker, coarser hairs. Your baby's thyroid gland has matured and starts to produce hormones. If your baby is a boy, the prostate will appear and the ovaries descend from the abdomen into the pelvis in baby girls. (Make sure you take our poll to guess the sex of the baby!). The embryo`s soft cartilage is now being replaced with ` real` chalk bones. Your baby has eyebrows, but no eyelashes. Fine, light hair also begins to grow.

This is a little dark, but I think you can get the picture.

Greg had just flown home from Seattle where he had resigned that day. His flight got in super late andall he wanted to do was relax. I told him I needed him to hold something up for me so I could photograph it and send it to my sister, he could tell something was up but agreed to help. I sat him on the bed, handed him a box with tissue paper overflowing out of it and turned the camera on….

Inside the box was the smallest St.Louis Cardinals onsie that that I could find with a note attached saying "We're going to have a baby!"

Here's everything that was in the box:

Week 13, It's a peach!

Hi family,
Ok, at the end of the first trimester and feeling better, thank goodness!
Feel free to share the news with your friends and any family that we missed!

Here is this weeks update:
This is the last week of your first trimester and your baby weighs 14 to 20 grams. The crown-to-rump length of your growing baby is 2.6 to 3.1 inches. Your baby is now about the size of a peach. (who doesn't love a peach?)Fetal growth is amazing from now through about the 24th week of pregnancy. At this point of your pregnancy, there is a steady flow of pregnancy hormones in your bloodstream. Your body will adjust to the changes and morning sickness might stop and other early symptoms will begin to ease. Because the second trimester is approaching, feelings of anxiety or nervousness may also diminish. (Good news for Mom and Dad!) You have probably gained some weight by now. You are losing your waist and your clothing is probably fitting snugly. (This is exactly what is happening!) There is a milky membrane that surrounds your baby. It is pierced by the umbilical cord and is made up of two layers, which are fused together. Your placenta provides most of the nutrients and oxygen that your baby needs. By this week, the placenta is well formed and ready to take over hormone manufacture from your ovaries. The placenta will produce progesterone and estriol. These hormones will be crucial in the maintenance of your pregnancy. Tissue that will form your baby's bones is being laid down, especially around the head and limbs. The nose and chin are becoming more prominent. Your baby's eyelids meet and fuse together and they will not open again for nearly four months. The eyes started out on the side of your baby's head and they are now moving closer together on the face. The ears come to lie in their normal position on the sides of the head. If examined outside of the womb, you will be able to distinguish male from female at this time. The sockets for all twenty teeth are formed in the gums, (Aunt Sally and Uncle FooFoo are excited about this!) and vocal cords are beginning to form.

Welcome to our baby blog!

In an attempt to stay connected with our family and friends as we get closer to our due date and as Becky's belly gets bigger we wanted to create this spot where everyone can check in on us and where we can keep you posted on what we are up to.

Things to come....
Week by week baby development updates
Pictures of the Belly (Becky's, of course!)
Home videos
Reports from the doctor
Updates on the move to Denver, Greg's new job, etc.
And of course occasion pics and updates about Ashby!

Please bookmark this page and check back often!!