The Hawks Nest: Introducing, Baby Hawk!

....In utero. :) Baby Hawk's 20 week ultrasound was today. We can hardly believe we have reached the half-way mark. According to the doctor, from what he could see, the baby is developing perfectly normal from an anatomical standpoint! What. A. Relief. I have been worrying about this day for weeks, praying, basically every other minute of every day, that the baby was healthy and developing well. We got a great shot of all the babe's body parts (well, except for those identifying gender!) and it was b-e-a-utiful. From the nose, to the chambers of the heart, to the little fingers and toes. The doctor knew I was a speech pathologist specializing in voice and swallowing disorders, and very kindly zoomed in to show me Baby H.'s esophagus, larynx, vocal cords, and we got to see him/her swallow! I have no words to describe how wonderful the experience was. I naturally had tears streaming down my face the entire time. Go figure. I've pretty much decided that I will cry every other day for the rest of my life. Or at least this pregnancy.

Baby H. measured at 20 weeks and 3 days, and is currently 12 oz. Which, make me wonder, if baby is only 12 oz, where did the other 8 lbs, 4 oz come from?! ;-) Baby's head and body are pushing quite nicely into my abdominal wall (already) as well as my bladder, which I am guessing is why I am feeling discomfort, and possibly why I started feeling movement relatively early for a first time momma. Then again, I'm not a doctor and really have zero clue what I'm talking about.

Apparently Baby H. was more than willing to show the "goods." They asked us at the beginning if we wanted to know the sex, and we said "No." Stupid. When they got to that part of the exam, we were asked to look away. You have no idea how hard it was not to look. Patience and the ability to tolerate surprises is not my forte. I wasthisclose to taking a quick peek. But alas, I did not. Now we won't know for another 20 weeks until the baby makes his/her real world debut! Ugh. Yay?! (Momma still says boy!)

Finally, a few pics from today's photo session (Yes, they are pictures of pictures. It's the best I got!)

Profile. It's tough to see the profile in its entirety because it's smooshed up against my abdominal wall. We got a better shot of the profile and the face straight on, but the doctor wasn't able to capture it in time.