Wow, so much to catch up on! It's been crazy with the holidays...I don't even know where to begin!
Well, about a month ago we scheduled a sonogram at Stork Vision in Mansfield for December 19th. We wanted to surprise our family with the news of the gender of the baby (hopefully) for Christmas. Also, Stork Vision offers a dvd of your session and my doctor does not. This is a keepsake/memory that we wanted to capture during this special time in our lives. On the way there I was so nervous. I forced down my bottle of orange juice, even though my stomach was in knots. I heard from many people that the orange juice will wake the baby and WOW that worked for us. We got to Stork Vision about 45 minutes early. BIG mistake on our parts! I was dancing around the whole time, trying not to pee on myself. Being pregnant and drinking 1 bottle of water and 1 bottle of orange juice is not an easy thing to do, if you can't go to the restroom. The sonogram technician likes for you to have a full bladder...makes things easier to see. By the time we were called back I was over the nervousness and just READY!!! The room was so nice, warm and cozy. There were couches and a flat screen monitor to view the sono. It only took her about 5 seconds to find the baby's "parts". I saw it really quick and leaned over to her and said, "IT'S A BOY ISN'T IT"??? She said, it sure is a boy...and then she pointed out the parts!! Nate was completely shocked/surprised. He thought for sure Baby H was a girl!! I had a "feeling" from the day I found out that I was pregnant that I was having a baby boy. I never strayed for that and for 18 weeks I told Nate it was a boy! So, it was mostly just a confirmation to me!!! She let me go to the restroom before continuing with the rest of the sono. She knew I had been waiting a while! RELIEF!!!! I came back and we finished the sonogram. Our baby boy was so active and moved so much. It was amazing to see so much movement from our little guy. Words just can't even express. He was moving his arms, his legs, toes and fingers. She counted his toes and fingers for us. That was pretty neat. At one point in the sonogram we were watching the 3d version and he grabbed his foot and just held it. That was our favorite part!! It was just too cute. He flipped, twisted and moved the entire time. So great!!! We just couldn't believe what we were seeing. The sono technician printed 6 pictures for us, gave us a cd of the images and the dvd of the whole session! It was such a great experience. In the beginning I did not care for the 4d sonograms at all...but after the experience we had and how amazing it was to see our SON on the big screen, I think they have a returning client!! I will take any chance I get to see him!!!
We had a second sonogram on the 23rd with our normal doctor's office. We wanted 2 chances to find out before Christmas. Our 2nd sonogram confirmed that he was "still a BOY". This sonogram was neat, and different though. Since it was with a doctors office they could discuss the medical terminology with us. She measured every little part of his body, pointed out everything to us and confirmed his gender. She said that his kidneys were working, he was swallowing, and that he had 4 chambers to his heart. Yay!! Everything looked great and he was right on schedule with growth. He was 6.5 inches long and weighed 8 ounces. We go back the 20th of January for another sonogram. They want to check the blood vessels around his heart. The doctor said that it's not because he suspects anything is wrong, but it was too early to see details of his heart. We are praying everything is okay with his little heart!!!
Telling the family was great! We had so many plans and great ideas!!! We made our baby boy a jersey/onesie with his name and the number 10 on the back. 10 was his daddy's baseball number for 20+ years and also the year he will be born. It turned out SO cute!!! For Christmas with my family we made a shirt that was baby blue and said, "It's a boy". My mom motioned for me to go put in on once most of the people were in the same place at the same time...and that's hard when you have a family of about 75. My sister did a great job by telling everyone to come in for pictures. Nate and I were SO nervous for some reason. We were shaking and our hearts were beating hard and fast. I am not sure why, hello it's our family. But I guess it was just the thought of having about 75 faces looking at you!! So someone says, who wants to go first and I said, I guess Nate and I will...and then we stepped out with our shirt on!! I am not sure who caught on or read it first...I thought it was Donia and Nate thought it was Tira. =] It was pretty fun!
We are naming him MASON LANE. It wasn't one of our names from the beginning, but Nate mentioned Mason one day and I said, Mason Lane, that's it...that's our name!! We both fell in love with it and love it more and more everytime we say it. It's amazing that our baby boy now has an identity and a name!!! It's no longer "It" or "The baby"...it's "He" and "Mason".
We are so in love with him already and want nothing but the best for him!! It's truly amazing how much you can love someone that you have never met! That's the miracle of God!!!
Mason got so much stuff for Christmas!! It just made Nate and I so happy to open stuff for him! He is our world now and that's all we are focused on! His Papa & Mimi Stowell got him a 32 inch flat screen LCD tv, $100 bucks and a digital picture frame!!! Plus lots of goodies in his stocking that will definitely come handy!! Aunt Leslie, Uncle Scooter and cousin Tanner got him a diaper bag with a teddy bear and blanket, Aunt Leslie made him an awesome blanket and his first scrapbook page!! Uncle John, Aunt Nicole and cousin Jaxon got baby mason 3 outfits from Carters. They are cute. And FINALLY something that says "Mommy" on it! Everything always says Daddy! But that's okay too. I find it adorable. Papa and Granny Hall got Mason his crib and a Sealy Posture-pedic mattress!! They also got him a padded mattress cover and sheets. They too filled his stocking with goodies. Papa Hall got Mason a rockin' Bull. It's like a rockin' horse, but only it's a bull. It's awesome and I can't wait to take pictures of Mason on it. NeNaw also gave Mason $100 bucks. We are going to set him up a savings account very soon! Cousin Jessica bought Mason 5 John Deere outfits and 3 pairs of socks. They are all SO cute!! I can't wait to see Mason in them. THANKS EVERYONE!!! What a wonderful Christmas. Mason is already so blessed and will be welcomed into this world with amazing people!!!
As of today we are 19w3d pregnant. Almost half way there!!! Baby Mason is now the size of
A mango. Mason's legs have now approached their final relative proportions. Mason is packing on the "Brown fat" to keep him warm. Vernix, a milky white coating that protects your Mason's skin, appears all over your his body to keep his skin from getting pickled in the amniotic fluid. Under the vernix, a fuzzy layer of hair called lanugo now covers his body. Mason's sensory development is exploding! His brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that he may be able to hear your voice now.
Stay tuned...many many pictures to post. Just have to gather them off all of our cameras!!!
xoxoxoxoxo,
A very happy mommy and daddy!
