I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday. For the next month, I'll be going every 2 weeks! I had gained 4 lbs. since my last appointment 3 weeks ago. The baby's heartbeat was about 146 beats per min. and my belly measured 28 cm. My doctor thinks that since the baby's lying sideways, that could be why I'm measuring on the small side.

Mom threw a baby shower for one of her co-workers last weekend...made me excited for my own! There was a bunch of leftover cake, so Mom and I brought it all to the nurses at the hospital who couldn't attend. While we were there, we took a peek at the baby and learned that the head was on the right side of my belly and the legs were on the left side of my belly. It was facing inward and not cooperating very well, so we didn't get any pictures. It was still fun to check in on the baby though! I keep feeling faint hiccups near the lower part of my abdomen. It's so cute!

Danny and I have our first class tomorrow at the hospital, Heading Home: The First 3 Months. I'm excited to see what we'll learn! I'm assuming diaper changing, bathing, feeding, etc. I'll have to post how it goes!

28 weeks...12 more weeks! The horizontal stripes really accentuate, huh?!

Right now, Danny is feverishly touching up the paint job and newly installed chair rail in the baby's room. My dad and Danny put the chair rail up this weekend and picked up the furniture at the store! Danny's goal is to have the crib assembled tomorrow night. Isn't he the best husband ever?! I'll try my best to help. :)

I posted the most recent ultrasound pictures over on the side of my blog. I absolutely love the pictures. One of mom's friends was nice enough to take a peek at the baby one night in February while he was on-call at the hospital.

So I'm almost 28 weeks at this point. I experienced my first leg cramp while in bed in the middle of the night. Not too bad...but painful! It's starting to finally warm up here in Ohio, so I'm out on the hunt for some cute, but not-too-expensive, maternity clothes for Spring. I've gained about 20 lbs. (in total) and feel it. I can't imagine what I'll feel like by the end of May! I also think I felt the baby hiccup for the first time today. They were a little faint, but very rhythmic...it was annoying, but cute!

So today was the big glucose test at the doctor's office. I chose the fruit punch flavored drink...wasn't as bad as I have heard. Filling 3 vials with blood was a little painful though! Everything went well. I gained 2 lbs. in the last 3 weeks since my last appointment. My belly measured 26 cm. (from pubic bone to top of my uterus). I was told this measurement should match how far along I am +/- 2...so I'm right on. The baby has been moving around a lot. When the doctor put the scope down to hear the heartbeat, you could hear a loud kick! The heart rate was 145 bpm...according to old wive's tails, that's still girl range...we'll have to see!

Danny and his mom painted the nursery last weekend. It already looks great...and it's not even completely done! I'll post pictures once the furniture and bedding are set up. Hopefully we'll be able to pick up the furniture this weekend. We're getting there!

Here's the 24 week "belly shot"... Danny said I look like an "S". :)

We had a great visit at the doctor's office yesterday. We went ahead with the 2nd ultrasound and everything looks great with the baby! We basically got an anatomy scan to make sure all of the important parts are developing as they should. Since we know there shouldn't be any unpleasant surprises now, we might be able to go to St. Ann's to the labor & delivery floor where Mom works and maybe have a photo shoot of the baby. We're going to try to go on a night when they aren't as busy and see if we can get some more ultrasound pictures. I'd love to get a good profile shot! Since my last appointment a month ago, I've gained another 5 lbs. The baby is estimated to weigh a mere 1 lb., 7 oz. Crazy!

Here is a shot from the top of the head. At the top of the picture, you can see the 2 eye sockets with the nose in the middle:


This one is kind of creepy...if you turn your head to the left, the large black oval is where the brain is, with the two eyes below that:


Again, looking at the top of the head, you can see one of the hands near the face:

Here is a picture of one of the arms. You can see the 2 main arm bones and the index finger extended:

Here we're zoomed in on the heart as a cross-section picture. You can see the strong 4 chambers of the heart creating a 4-leaf clover look:

Here is the healthy spine!

You can kind of see the 2 feet:

And the legs are crossed! At the right are the thighs and at the left are the feet with the legs crossed at the ankles:

We finally registered for baby stuff at Babies "R" Us on Friday night. We were the only crazy people out shopping in the "blizzard." We originally thought the place was closed! It was really nice...it was like we had the whole entire store to ourselves! It was great when we had a question - we got some one-on-one help! It was overwhelming, but fun.