20 weeks

I am halfway through my pregnancy, and we found out at my last doctor's appointment that we are having a GIRL! Dave and I both suspected that that would be the case so we are thrilled to find out we were right! This pregnancy has been very different from my pregnancy with James. I was much sicker during the first trimester, and it took longer to get over feeling terrible. The baby's heart rate has been in the
160's and 170's, and James' were always in the 140's and 150's (there's an old wives' tale that says that higher heart rates are girls, and lower heart rates are boys). I have been feeling baby girl kick for about 4 weeks now, and she is very active. She is very low in my pelvis, and on the sonogram, she was buried into the placenta. The nurse said she likely could hear my heartbeat through the blood supply to the placenta so she is very cozy where she is. We were unable to get a picture of her face or profile because of her position, but we could see her from behind, and she was playing with her ear the entire time we were with the sonogram technician. It was really cute!

We are so excited that James will have a little sister! He is so loving and affectionate, so I think a little girl for him to love on is perfect!

We have decided on a first name for baby girl, but we are still working on a middle name. We've chosen Audrey as the first name, and there are 4 or 5 middle names we're considering. We'll post an update once we make a final decision.

This picture shows that the baby is indeed a girl. I don't see it, but the sonogram technician said there was no question.

Baby feet!

This is a picture of Audrey from behind. The back of her head is on the right, and you can see her arm at the top. Her hand is holding her ear.

This picture shows the same thing except now Audrey is oriented vertically. You can see her hand holding her ear in the center of the picture.