belly pics

Today I went lap swimming for the first time in, well, a long time. It was great, especially since I didn't leave frustrated with how slow I've become since I didn't try to do any sprint sets or anything like that. Now I smell like chlorine.

Anyway, the purpose of this post isn't to talk about the swimming. It's to talk about my attempt to take belly pictures today before I went swimming. I've read articles that it's a good thing to do but I keep putting it off and think that I may regret it later. Doubtful. So since I was in a swimsuit and it seemed like the least pornagraphic attire for such a picture I decided it was as good a time as any. But first, how often do women purposely take up close and personal pictures of their stomachs straight on? I can think of zero times unless you count the entries into weight loss competitions with one handing hold the newspaper, face scowling, slumped over, purposely sticking out the belly, trying to look as horrible as possible. So besides that, it just doesn't happen. Now, since I am pregnant, I guess my belly is supposed to look "cute." I tried frontways, sideways, sucking it in, sticking it out, even the take- one- picture- after- the- other- while- rotating method to get a good angle.

Newsflash: it ain't cute.

It looks weird and I honestly think that my belly button is off center. So I think I am going to wait to attempt the whole belly photo journal again when I can't fit into my jeans anymore. Right now, yes it sticks out, but without knowing can you tell that I am pregnant? Nope. Just looks like I ate too much at dinner and who wants a picture of that?

Definitely not me.

. . . and I definitely don't want it documented for my progeny.

*Disclaimer: there are some women in the world who just love everything about being pregnant. I, on the other hand, think it is very possible to be amazed by the whole process, immeasurably grateful, excited, overwhelmed, happy, and still think that it makes your body do weird and not necessarily attractive things.

**note to self: Take a picture of your stomach every now and then just to see what you find out, i.e. your belly button is crooked.**

baby shower . . . kinda

Tonight I went to the ward's quarterly baby shower. It was a baby shower I guess because we each brought a few dollars to pitch in for the gifts and there was slushie punch. Besides that, it mostly was just women standing around talking for a couple hours which I think is fabulous because I feel sort of embarrassed and awkward at showers with the games and the bows on the head, etc. Anyway, so at the "shower" I sat and talked with one woman about books for over an hour. Seriously, it possibly made my week, especially since I left with a post it note filled with book suggestions. Let's be honest, yes, I am a geek and yes, I am pretty terrible at making friends. So honestly this was probably the longest conversation I have had with someone outside of my family and friends from out of town since I moved here, in October. Funniest thing of all, she is my doctor's wife and the only reason I think we did start talking is because he told both of us that we should because we both like to read. Go figure.

Lettuce or Cabbage?

This morning at 7:25 I got a text message from Jeff:

Thanks for not putting cabbage on my sandwich.

Let me explain:
Jeff leaves from school sometime between 6:30 and 7:30 every morning. Honestly, I am not sure what time he leaves because I am usually falling into my best sleepy time before he even kisses me on the forehead to say bye in the morning. On his work days he goes straight from school to work around 2 or 3 and on his non-work days he gets home about that same time. In an effort to save money and help him lose weight like he wants to, I started packing him a lunch every night so that he doesn't a) starve to death and get ornery and b) doesn't spend money on food every day. Last week, when I was making his lunch I saw two heads of lettuce in the refrigerator and one had been opened so I that is what I used on his sandwich. When I was ripping it to fit on the bread I noticed that it was a little thicker than usual, but didn't think about it too much. To be honest I was proud of myself for slapping more than just turkey and cheese on the bread before calling it good. The next night at dinner my mother in law had made minestrone soup. As I ate it, I noticed that the cabbage in the soup looked a lot like the lettuce I put on Jeff's sandwich the night before (that he ate for lunch that day). Because I have no pride and/or shame I told my mother in law the mistake I was pretty sure I had made with his sandwich and she got a good laugh out of it with me. Jeff's Grandma was at the table and heard and all I got from her was a disappointed shaking of the head and a chuckle. He hadn't said anything about it when we talked on the phone that day so I was hoping that I gotten away with it. But, unfortunately, his mom raised him to be a lot more picky and attentive to food than I'll ever be and after a hug hello his first question for me was:

Did you put cabbage on my sandwich today?

After his text this morning I realized two things. One was that this was the first time I had made a meat sandwich since the cabbage incident. And two, he hadn't seemed all that heartbroken earlier this week when I forgot to make his lunch. He probably felt a lot safer knowing his mom would pick up the ball I dropped and make it for him before he left for school that day!

3rd ultrasound

I don't know if I have mentioned this, but I love my doctor. He is awesome. Yesterday we went in for the much anticipated appt. Of course, because we were so excited, it was the one appt. that we actually had to wait a few minutes in the waiting room! In the exam room Dr. Chalmers was asked how everything was going, and I said, "good." He asked, "Any complaints?" I said, "No, not really." He responded, "What?! Come on, you can't be one of those patients who go through their whole pregnancy without any complaints!" That's when I explained that I do complain, just to Jeff, so by the time we are sitting in the Dr.'s office I don't have anything left to complain about. After that he proceeded to list a bunch of complaints/symptoms that he gets a lot, each one as a question. Maybe he does that to help women who are having a relatively easy pregnancy recognize that they're having an easy pregnancy so far. Or maybe he was just killing time.

I thought that because he was running a little late that he might be in more of a hurry than his usual no-rush-time-for-anything approach- but he wasn't. So like always, he asked if I had any questions, I told him that my questions were more about the actual birth and that we have plenty of time to talk about that later but he said that if I was thinking about it he had all the time in the world to talk about it now.

So my first question was about actual labor and birth positions and that I had read that although flat on the back and reclining were the most popular in the hospital, they aren't actually the most conducive to giving birth effectively. He agreed and said that today, those positions are largely a result of women getting epidurals which make their legs unable to support their weight, therefore they end up on their back. So I asked if he is willing to "catch" babies being birthed in other positions and . . . he is! I shouldn't really be surprised considering how supportive he was about me not wanting an epidural to even be an option in the first place, and that he has done waterbirths before, but it still just makes me really happy because I've been worried about getting an OB who was close minded about how they deliver babies. Who knows, maybe more OBs are like Dr. Chalmers than I realize, but I don't plan on finding out unless I live in a different state the next time I'm pregnant.

My second, well I guess third, question was about monitoring the baby. I really don't want to feel stuck on the bed during labor so I asked his/the hospitals policy on monitoring. He said that the College of Obstetrics recommends monitoring once every half an hour, so that is what they'll do. In between I will be free to do what I want (for the most part). Who knows, I may have my first contraction, cry for my mommy, and want to be on the bed asap until the baby is born, but I am very glad to know that I'll have more freedom then that at the hospital.
I also asked him about what I had read regarding the epidural anesthetic crossing through the placenta and the baby getting some as well and therefore being less aware immediately after birth. He said that from what he had seen the epidural doesn't effect the baby because it is so localized and anesthesiologists have figured out the correct doses pretty accurately. He said that pediatricians he has asked that same questions agree. But, he did say that the drugs like demoral which are given through the IV, "just to take the edge off" do effect the baby and it makes them "loopy."

Finally, I asked him about the IV needle they put in, just in case. I couldn't remember the name of it, he said that it is called a Hep lock. I wasn't a fan of the idea, mostly because I have never had a nurse be able to get a vein on the first poke. Usually, it is a poke, and a dig, then a try again, followed by a couple, I'm so sorry, and then the process repeats itself until finally they give up and until they try the other hand and start from square one. Needless to say, it sucks. But he said two things. The first is that pregnant women are notoriously easy to get an IV in because they have so much extra blood in their veins, that is until they hemorrhage and all the blood rushes to their head and vital organs and then it is sometimes impossible to get an IV in. So that is one thing he doesn't mess around with. He said that he won't require it be put in the second I step into the hospital, but once everything starts progressing they'll put one in. Which makes a lot of sense to me. It was good to hear him put his foot down, basically, about something so that I know he isn't just smiling and nodding in agreement to my preferences just to shut me up, with a totally different attitude once we're actually in the hospital. My mom also informed me that once you're in labor you really don't give a rip what they stick you with- you just want the baby out.

So after all that and a discussion about Wicked, the play versus the book, we headed down to the ultrasound room. I am starting to wonder if I should use the term "sneaked" because this is the 2nd ultrasound that he has done, without charging us for it. This ultrasound was purely for entertainment sake, seriously. He did, however, find the heartbeat before anything else. Then he found the legs and what he thinks was "a pee-pee." Before he started the ultrasound he said that if he wasn't able to tell whether it was a boy or a girl, he wouldn't say. So then he says that he thinks it's a boy, but not to throw away any receipts. By the way, at the first mention of "pee pee" Jeff burst out laughing, so loud. After our experience last time with me being unable to stop giggling, I sat their doing a lamaze type pant, trying as hard as I possibly could, not to laugh. Whenever I did laugh, it moved the baby and he had to find him again. So then I asked if it was possibly a girl, she was just chubby down there, he said that sometimes that does happen but he didn't think that was the case this time. So Jeff laughed harder. Then Dr. Chalmers started cracking jokes, throwing out all the things that Dad's want to hear about their little boys. Then any composure I had was all over, we were all cracking up and the baby was moving around like crazy. In the end, he said that he was 90% sure it was a boy. So for Jeff's sake, I'm crossing my fingers until Feb 22nd, when he will do the official 20 week ultrasound.

Oh, I forgot to mention, he began the ultrasound with a story about a women who weighed 380+ lbs wanting to know the sex of the baby at 16 weeks which is basically impossible and I am not going to elaborate on the rest of the story, but I am sure you get the idea. I don't think Jeff really cares too much about how much Dr. Chalmers agrees with my ideas about birth or anything else, I think he calls him "our doctor" because of the jokes they exchange back and forth.

and I thought I could wait 9 months. . .

Ha!

Tomorrow at 2:10 pm I have my 16 week doctor appointment. Dr. Chalmers is going to do an ultrasound to make sure that the baby is developing okay and he said that he should be able to tell us if it is boy or a girl then too. He knows how excited Jeff is to find out so he is going to try and tell us earlier than the usual 20 weeks. We made this appointment 3 weeks ago and time has been dragging. I thought that I would be able to wait and be surprised when the baby is born but obviously there is absolutely no way I can have that much patience. I honestly don't know if Jeff will be able to sleep tonight he is so excited.

Last night before bed I was telling him that I was starting to get nervous because all the pregnancy calendars, websites, newsletters, etc. mention being able to feel the baby move about this time in the pregnancy. I haven't felt a thing yet. His response was, "maybe we should call Dr. Chalmers office and see if they can move the appointment up to tomorrow." I did try and call this morning to move the appt. to today but it is his surgery day so there aren't any appointments at all. I was thinking that it would be really funny to go in and find out without Jeff knowing because it would drive him crazy if I knew and he didn't. My guess is he would show up on my Dr.'s doorstep at some point tonight (he just lives around the corner) and demand to know the sex of the baby. But honestly, I couldn't ever do that because the look on his face every time I have an ultrasound is priceless- he is one sweet man.

Jeff really wants a boy. Mostly because he thinks that raising a girl will automatically take 10 years off of his life. He is such a sucker for all of his nieces that I think he will make a better dad for girls than he realizes. Boys on the other hand, I think life will be measured by ball games, wrestling matches, and trips to the ER- especially if they get stuck with my coordination.

happy anniversary Lori & Tys!

Yay for being married for 5 years!

you'd think I'd figure it out.

I guess technically I should consider myself lucky because the number of times I have thrown up so far are relatively few. But when it comes to throwing up, I am a wuss, so each instance is horrible and really quite tragic. With this in mind one would think that I would be smart enough to learn from my previous experience's and avoid the food(s) that have made me sick in the past. But no. Once again, I didn't learn and paid the price. 6 times in one night/morning. So gross. If I ever even hint at a desire to eat beans of any sort in any type of mexican food and/or soup- PLEASE STOP ME.

Last night was the first time that I really started to question whether I am ready to be a mom yet. After puking all over myself and the floor in the bathroom the thought that kept running through my head was, "I want my mommy." (Note to self: Growing up, I never remember calling my mom "mommy" it was always just "mom"-- the "mommy" is a sure sign of desperation on my part.) So then I started to wonder how in the hell I was going to take care of another tiny human being when it was about all I could do not to call my mommy on the other side of the country, in the middle of the night, to make me feel better.

Ang says that it is easier to be the one comforting and cleaning up than the one doing the throwing up. I sure hope so because I am pretty sure that the cleaning-up-of-puke ball is going to fall solely and squarely in my maternal lap.

The good news: I was able to call my mommy this morning at 7 (9 her time) to ask for suggestions. Jeff was a champ and went to the store to pick up some coca-cola before he headed to Brian Head to go skiing. And now that I have 24 ounces of soda and some saltines in me I am feeling a lot better. I am pretty sure that if a fetus is capable of backflips and cartwheels, mine is twirling like a pro because this is the only caffeine/soda that I have drank since I got pregnant. Which also made it possible for me to read the entire book Tricia suggested, HypnoBirthing: The Mongan Method that came from amazon.com the other day. Really cool book, I like it, but it deserves a post of its very own so that will come later.

It was a success

I have turned into one of those. By one of those I mean that I have joined the ranks of the barefoot and pregnant. This has probably been pretty obvious to everyone around me but yesterday it just hit me that I sometimes go a day or two without putting shoes on. Wow. I never in a million years would have ever thought that possible. Note to self: this isn't necessarily what I was referring to with the "it was a success" title.

Along with that, yesterday one of my big thrills was that Enrichment night went really well. It was about nutrition and healthy eating and I was afraid it would turn into something about how to get skinny, but it didn't. AND there was like 20 really good foods to try (after I talked myself out of being worried about how clean the kitchens and hands were that prepared the food and not worrying that the women were crowding around the tables talking over the food).

So yay for this month.

hope.

Last night I watched part of Governor Huntsman's the "State of the State" address before going to Enrichment night. He said that this year every new teacher will get a signing bonus, they are increasing teacher salaries and within the next 4 years teacher salaries in Utah should be above the national average. This was pretty fantastic news. Now we just get to cross our fingers that it really happens and Jeff gets hired somewhere. We have until March to fill out the paperwork with our top 3 choices for states and areas within the states.
Also, my father in a law is a loan officer and he said that he thinks if we rent out our house in AZ as close to our mortgage amount as possible then we should be able to buy a home somewhere else too. So maybe that problem will be solved. It's scary though-- we both love our house in AZ and really trust the guys that are in it now. It will be nerve racking to turn it over to a property management company and hope that it doesn't get trashed and that we can keep it rented. Jeff is even more nervous about it than I am, I think. So who knows, he may decide it isn't worth the risk and we'll be moving back there in August-- but I doubt it.

I've decided.

My dad teases me because I have a tendency to announce that "I've decided" one thing or another on a daily basis. So today's "I've decided" is that Enrichment Activities for Relief Society need to be done away with and replaced with an hour once a month that women can get together with no purpose at all without their kids and zero guilt. And chocolate.

I just spent 9 and a half hours helping get ready for the activity tomorrow night. I am not complaining, it was actually nice to feel like I accomplished something today. It just got me thinking about all of the hours of work and stress that go into activities like this when really the best thing about them is when they are over and the women have a chance to sit and talk, without the interruption of spouses or children or jobs or whatever else tends to interrupt a conversation.

A Mom singing while in labor!

I bawled the first time I watched this. I just watched it a second time and didn't cry, so I think it is safe to post. So cool.

Week A & Week B

Jeff doesn't have to work this weekend! His work schedule switches back and forth every week. Every other week he has to work practically all day Friday and really all day Saturday and Sunday. But this week he has the weekend off so I am excited. What's even better is I am pretty sure that college football is over so I won't be nagging him about watching it all day Saturday!

Yippee!

Angie and her family are coming to visit at the end of February for a week! I am very excited.

One of my new "favorite" shows.

JUST COOK THIS! With Sam the Cooking Guy is fabulous, I love it.

Yes. My life, and therefore blog, has devolved into one in which I get my kicks from watching cooking shows.

But this show isn't like the other cooking shows. Other cooking shows like, for example, Rachel Ray. I have attempted to watch her show a couple of times, but I only last for about 5 minutes, and then I was exhausted. She makes it look so "simple" except for the fact that you have to know what the hell you are doing in the first place AND have about 10 random ingredients that aren't sold in most grocery stores.

Sam is different. *He never specifies an exact amount on anything. And he never has stuff already measured exactly in the little clear glass bowls all lined up pretty on the counter. And sometimes he drops things. And burns himself. And his eyes water when he is cooking onions. And he cooks in his own real-life kitchen, in his house. So sometimes he has to search for stuff in his fridge for a second.

This may be stating the obvious but I am not a huge fan of cooking in general. Honestly, I don't remember the last time I cooked an entire meal. When Jeff and I were first married I cooked dinner every night until I realized that he loved me a lot even when I didn't cook so the cooking came to a slow and somewhat screeching halt.

But, I want to try some of the things he has cooked on the show the past 2 episodes so I am going to attempt it. Wish me luck.

*On the website the recipes include measurements-- but my guess is that they don't have to be exact, which means a few less measuring cups and spoons to clean up afterward!

Note so self: There are vegetarian recipes too.

Tagged

Tristen tagged me with these questions and I am kind of glad too because now I have an excuse to post something beyond a complaint about a headache. :)

What's his name? Jeff

How long have you been together? We've known each other since July 2000 and have been together since November 2004.

How long did you date? We didn't really. Our first "date" was after we were engaged and looking for an apartment-- we stopped at Arby's for lunch. Technically we were "dating" for 2 weeks before he proposed but only saw each other the 1st couple of days.

How old is he? 26

Who eats more? Jeff. The juice box is mine, the soda bucket is his.

Who said I love you first? Jeff.

Who is taller? Jeff.

Who is smarter? He remembers stuff better, I make stuff up easier.

Who does laundry? Usually me now. When we were both busy it was probably closer to 50/50.

Who does the dishes? My mother-in-law. j/k If it is between jeff and me- I do. (And I really do try to help my MIL with the dishes as much as possible).

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Laying in bed looking at our feet-- I do. Jeff naturally sleeps on his left side so the snoring is aimed away from me now that I am on the right side of the bed. :)

Who pays the bills? I do.

Who mows the lawn? My father in law. Unless he is out of town, then Jeff really likes doing it so I it safe to bet he will in our own house someday too.

Who cooks dinner? Again, my MIL. Although, I did make the main dish last night!

Who drives when you are together? Jeff. If it is dark and we are driving a long way, then I drive.

Who is more stubborn? That's a toss up.

Who kissed who first? Jeff kissed me first. I was determined not to kiss him but that lasted less than 24 hours.

Who asked out who first? I don't think that ever actually happened. . . he claims credit because he called me when I was 3 weeks away from marrying someone else and asked me to come see him first. So I guess that counts.

Who proposed? Jeff. On my parents front walkway with my whole family watching.

Who has more siblings? Jeff. 2 times as many.

Who wears the pants in the family? Not a fair question. We both usually get what we want when it is important to us-- we just go about it differently. ;)


**I am tagging Angie, Shanna, Lori, and Tricia. Have Fun!**

one of the coolest things I have seen in a long time.

No, this isn't my belly. But it is about the coolest belly picture I have seen.

stupid stupid house. stupid stupid real estate market.

I have been stressing out about our house in AZ on a pretty regular basis. Regular as in at least once an hour I think about it (in between thinking about what I feel like eating next and actually eating it). Long story short: the house is worth at least $50,000 less now than when we closed on it in June. Fanfreakingtastic. I just got off the phone with the real estate agent and learned that not only is the builder selling the homes for a lot less than what we paid for it but the other 2 houses for sale in the neighborhood are short sales. Short sales meaning they are selling them for whatever they can get out of them while damaging their credit score but avoiding foreclosure. But even with the super low price 1 of them has been on the market 6 weeks and the other 8 months.

This is the part where I want to swear really loud and a lot.

Ignorance is bliss because before that fun little phone call I was thinking we were probably gonna lose $30,000. Now I know that it will be considerably much more than that I am going to have to cut back on my thinking about eating time to make more time for the worrying about the house. However, the good news is that the house is only in my name so if we got real desperate we could short sale it and blow my credit rating into smithereens while leaving Jeff's untouched so when we buy another house in 15 years it can just be in his name.

The realtor said that it will probably be a couple of years before the market bounces back. And that QC was the hardest hit area in the county. Sweet. I am not at all opposed to moving back. I love that house and the weather there and wal-mart would be about .25 seconds away so what more could a girl ask for. Arizona has teaching license reciprocity with Utah seemingly few hoops to jump through so I bet Jeff could get hired there when he is finished with his student teaching this summer.

What a mess. Is it worth taking the hit so that Jeff can start working in Utah now? Or would it be better to just go back to AZ for a few years until we can sell that house for what we paid?

Laughing so hard I was practically sobbing.

On the Saturday night of our cruise there was a hypnotist performing. For the most part he was just a creepy old guy in a long black cape but I guess he knew what he was doing from the results on stage.
The show started out with everyone in the audience following the instructions of the hypnotist which led to some of the audience actually being hypnotized and ending up on stage. Jeff ended up being one of those people. The first picture is of him sleeping. The hypnotists kept telling them to sleep deeper and deeper, etc. You could totally tell which ones were faking it just to be on stage because they never completely relaxed (kind of like the girl next to him).
Before the showing started the hypnotists explained that under hypnosis people don't do things they wouldn't normally do-- they just don't care if anyone sees. If that makes sense.
The second picture is them dancing-- I don't remember what the instructions were exactly-- something about butt shaking.
The weirdest thing for me watching the show was Jeff didn't look over at us once-- and he never smiled- for over an hour. That is not normal for him. He is about the easiest person to make smile and the entire audience was laughing and he didn't even grin once.
It's impossible to describe it as funny as it was, but among other things, the hypnotist put a blonde wig on Jeff, gave him a huge blow-up microphone and had him sing and dance to Britney Spears' Oops I did it again. The awesome part was the night before at Karaoke, Ang and I had taught him the arm movements for over the heart and so he kind of remembered during his little performance which was still more than any guy should!

Let me explain.

Who: Jeff and Angie.
What: Making fun of me.
Where: On the cruise ship.
When: The first or second day.
Why: Angie had just taken a picture of me really enjoying the unlimited soft serve ice cream without me knowing it.
How: See photo.

ultrasound 2 pic

Sorry, I don't own a scanner so I just took a picture of the picture and this is what you get. He/she has a big ol' head but my book (yes I finally caught up on my reading) says that is normal. Dr. Chalmers tried to get a picture with the legs showing too but the baby was moving around too much. I'm already failing in the organization arena as a mom to be because I cannot remember where I put the first tadpole ultrasound printout. When I find it I will post it too.

happiness 50:10:40

Last night after watching Friday Night Lights (which is as fantastic as ever) we watched 20/20. They were talking about happiness and supposedly happiness is 50% genetic, 10% situational, and 40% attitude. They compared 2 twin sisters who both had "extreme makeovers" a couple of years ago and compared their levels of happiness. One sister had a husband and 3 kids and her own business. The other was a single mother with one daughter, no boyfriend, fiance, etc. and worked as a beautician. Their hypothesis was that because the twins have the same genetics and both looked the same (situational) that their happiness level must be because of their attitudes. The first sister with the husband, kids, etc. was happier than the single mom. The show made it out to be that the unhappier sister just needed to shape up her attitude and be happy because there was nothing different between her and her sister.

What the?!

I think it is a bunch of crap. I am not at all saying that women need a man to be happy-- but isn't possible that the happier sister has a little more sand in her happy bucket since she has the emotional support of a husband? And maybe less stress since she isn't solely responsible for the care of her children? I know that I have been a lot happier in general since Jeff and I have been married. I am not tempted to drive off cliffs nearly as often as I was before so I have a very difficult time believing that the "situational" only counts for 10% of ones happiness. And I bet it helped the unhappier sister a whole bunch to be told it was her own fault she wasn't as happy as her twin.

Note to self: Denmark is the happiest country in the world. I think that if I could smoke weed and drink at a young age legally without the guilt I would probably be pretty happy too.

ultrasound 2

I have been a major slacker in the posting department the past few weeks. I am finally home again after being gone for 3 weeks and I can't believe it is already Friday! This week has flown by. Jeff is back in school, taking 18 credits, plus working full-time so I am just praying his head doesn't explode by May.

We had another Dr. appt. on Wednesday afternoon. I tried to come up with some questions because the Dr.'s office talks like we should have a huge list of questions when we come in-- but I am too impatient to wait until we have an appt. to ask my questions. The second I have a question I start my own calling tree and call every woman I know who has been pregnant before until I get a hold of one of them! Anyway, since we didn't have any questions beyond how much weight gain is okay and not okay he had my lay down so that we could try to hear the baby's heartbeat through the doppler thing. He was moving it all over (my stomach this time- thank goodness!) and kept getting my heartbeat and couldn't find the baby's. I started to get nervous and then my heartbeat made this loud noise and the dr. said somethineg stupid and jumped or something like that, I don't really remember-- but I started laughing. And kept laughing. And he kept the doppler on my stomach so it was making this loud whooshing/wheezing sound because of my laughing-- which made me laugh more. SO AWKWARD. So then I asked him to take it off for a sec so that I could get control of myself, but then about 2 seconds later when he put it back on I started to giggle almost immediately.
Luckily, Dr. Chalmers is about the coolest doc any girl could ask for and he told us to hold on a sec while he checked to see if the ultrasound room was being used. It wasn't, so he snuck us into it and did a regular ultrasound really quick. I was surprised how big the baby was already. It actually looked semi-human! The head is HUGE right now and the picture the doc took totally looks like an alien. The heart beat was 164 beats per minute. The baby was moving around a lot so that is why he couldn't find it with the doppler (not to mention my laughing). Our next appt. is on the 30th and that will be 16 weeks so the doctor told us that he will do a thorough ultrasound then, and may be able to tell us the sex of the baby. I still don't think that I want to know. I may just let him tell Jeff-- but it will be a lot simpler to argue, I mean discuss, baby names and finally agree if we are only trying to agree on one sex!

** When we were leaving the Dr.'s office I told Jeff I was surprised at how human-looking the baby was already. He said he wasn't because of the pictures in the pregnancy books. Then he looked at me all accusatory and said, You haven't been reading the pregnancy books! YOU haven't been reading the pregnancy books!

Busted.