Just Kickin' It

We are officially at the HALF WAY mark of the pregnancy!

I went for my 20 week prenatal visit and had the usual measurements taken, but also had my uterus measured for the first time. All looks good, and Baby Pea D's heart rate is normal. I am gradually gaining weight and am really showing now. The most amazing part is that I feel Pea D kicking! The kicks feel like little flutters and are more noticeable when I sit down at the end of the day. I cannot wait for the kicks to get stronger and for Shereif to feel them too!

Shereif and I are really excited to meet Pea D, especially after the last ultrasound, and we constantly read the weekly emails sent to us explaining the changes in Pea D's development. Right now, Pea D is about the size of a banana, which is why I must be eating so many of them! I have not had too many cravings, but I always want to eat fruits and vegetables (which is definitely a good thing). I miss my mom's homemade Lebanese meals the most, though, but thankfully I had a chance to fill up on her amazing food during Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Since Pea D is able to hear noises now, Shereif and I want to start reading books to the baby and already have a library thanks to generous gifts from friends and a few books I kept from my childhood. It is really starting to hit us that Pea D is coming soon. We are thinking about nursery decor, and my nesting instincts have definitely started kicking in. We also applied for life insurance and have talked about savings plans for Pea D. This is going to be one well-organized, taken-care-of baby!

Here's Looking at You, Kid

We went for another ultrasound on December 22nd at 17 weeks, which was the day before we drove to Cleveland for Christmas. I had to drink 32 oz. of water in 30 min. immediately before the ultrasound, which gave me a nice, full bladder.

The results from the ultrasound showed that Baby Pea D is healthy. The measurements for the head, hands, heart, and feet were all normal, and the baby weighs aproximately 7 oz. Pea D's heart rate was 153 bpm, which is good. The tech kept commenting on how easily she could see Pea D and that the baby was "pretty" even though she constantly referred to the baby as "he." The tech also commented on how long Pea D's legs are, which I hope means that Pea D will not be vertically challenged like "his" mom and will be tall like "his" dad.

Pea D kept moving around and cupping his/her left hand and placing it on his/her chin. It was cute to see all the movements, and I was surprised that I could not feel anything. Since Pea D was playing around and tossing and turning so much, we could not definitively determine the gender. I guess we will have to wait a bit longer to find out if Pea D is a boy or a girl, but we are just happy that he/she is healthy.

Profile of Pea D's face and body

Pea D showing some leg


"No more pictures, please"

Seeing Pea D was amazing! We cannot believe how big the baby is, and I finally started wearing maternity pants on Christmas Day. The holiday was definitely a joyous time as we celebrated with our family and friends. We look forward to next Christmas with our little one!

Drop your pants?!?!

Today, we went for our 16 week prenatal check-up. The nurse took my blood pressure and weight measurements as usual. After I gave a urine sample, the nurse (who we later found out is new to the office) told me to undress from the waist down and wait for the midwife. I did as I was told, but questioned the orders since I knew that the AFP test (a screening tool for Down's Syndrome) was going to be a blood test. Shereif mentioned that it would be like going to the dentist's office for a filling and having the dentist ask you to take your clothes off. :)

When the midwife entered the room, she promptly asked me if I was experiencing any discomfort or bleeding. After a few minutes of additional questions, the midwife finally commented that it was strange that the nurse told me to undress if I wasn't having any serious symptoms. All 3 of us could not stop laughing!

We then listened to Baby Pea D's heartbeat again, which was much louder than the first time and at 160bpm. Afterward, I had the blood test; and we will find out the results at our next appointment after the holidays. We do have another appointment next week though for the BIG ultrasound so we will keep you posted!

...And the beat goes on

We heard Baby Pea D's heartbeat for the first time on November 21st at 12 weeks. It was an amazing experience, and we looked at each other and just smiled! Shereif was taping it all, and you can faintly hear the heartbeat, which becomes more audible towards the end of the video.

Love at First Sight

Here is a picture of Baby Pea D from our ultrasound at 9 weeks, 4 days. Pea D is upside-down so the order of body parts is feet, torso, hands, and head, which is easier to see if you examine the picture in that order. :)

It's official!

We are happy to announce that we are expecting our first child in June 2009! We finally told our families at Thanksgiving even though we had known about the great news for a couple months. Although we had agreed to wait to tell our friends until we told our parents, Shereif told all of our friends early on since he could not contain his excitement. We wanted to tell our parents in person and to surprise them in a memorable way so we devised a plan for how we would tell each of them.

When we arrived at Shereif's parents' house, we hugged and kissed his mom upon entering and asked where Giddu (which is the word for grandpa in Arabic) was. She was taken aback for a second; but then Shereif's dad came into the kitchen, and Shereif called him Giddu and his mom Teta (which is the Arabic word for grandma, as you probably guessed). They were so excited! Shereif's mom promptly told us that she wanted us to have a girl since she has two sons and never had a daughter. We could only laugh at the request :)

When we arrived at Pam's parents' house, Pam gave her mother a bag filled with a few belated birthday gifts. The last gift was a picture frame with the words "#1 Grandma" printed on it. As Pam's mom pulled the frame out of the bag, she took a minute to read the frame and to examine the sonogram picture we had put in it. She immediately gave us each a hug, and Pam's dad quickly realized what the gift was and congratulated us as well. Pam's younger brother Pat was also there and commented that he had known about the news even though no one had told him. It must have been brotherly intuition, but the announcement of our news didn't end there. We later learned that Pat had left a message that night on his Facebook profile that he was going to be an "Uncle Diddy." Since Pam's older brother Joe was away at a convention, he had not been told the news yet; but he quickly found out through a phone call made by one of our cousins to congratulate him after he had read about it on Facebook. So, we were not able to tell Joe in person, but he found out the news regardless. We promised we would tell him about the next kid in person.

Now, all of our friends and family members know about the upcoming arrival of Baby Pea D this summer. We are excited to begin the new journey in our lives as parents and thought that a blog would be the perfect way to stay connected with all of our family and friends who cannot share this experience with us first-hand!