The Results Are In . . .

and baby #5 is . . . a GIRL!!!

It was an interesting day. Our sonogram appointment wasn't until 3pm. We spent the morning making a double batch of chocolate chip cookies - some for our neighbor, who spent a bit of time yesterday mowing and edging our front lawn (we unofficially sort of try to trade off mowing each other's front lawns - although we've never really talked to those neighbors, we appreciate them!), and some for the nurses at the dr's office as I thought it would make it a more positive experience to walk in with 4 small children if I brought cookies.

Well, we didn't end up bringing cookies to the dr's office. We also didn't end up bringing children to the dr's office. The kids and I loaded up into the car a bit early as we had a few errands to run first. As we pulled out of the driveway, it immediately became apparent that something was wrong with the car. One of our front tires was completely flat. So we pulled back into the driveway and I called Rob and told him to book it home as fast as possible so I could use his car to go to my appt. I called Brittney, who had planned to go with us to help with the kids, and explained the situation. Knowing that we couldn't fit all the kids in Rob's car, and knowing that Rob really looked forward to being there for the sonogram, I called Travis and Susan to see if either could run over and watch the kids, but both were working. Beca came to the rescue and happily offered to let the kids play at her house while we went to the appt. The kids were disappointed, but I promised we would get the sonogram on a dvd so they could watch it and that I would call them first to tell them the gender. They probably enjoyed playing at Beca's house much more than they would have enjoyed sitting through the sono.

In the meantime, I got a call from Brittney, who was very disappointed that she wouldn't be going to the sono. Her mom got home from work early and Brit told her what was going on, so she let Brittney use her truck and Brittney met us at the dr's office.

We didn't have to wait horribly long for them to call us back. All my other babies have disliked performing for sonograms and buried their heads as far down as they can go, making getting the necessary measurements difficult, but making it very easy to immediately determine gender. We were therefore surprised to find this baby's head up. The tech appreciated it as that position made it easy to take the measurements he needed to, however he had a lot of difficulty determining the gender. About halfway through, he guessed it was a girl, but couldn't tell us for sure. I ended up having to roll up on my side several times as when I was laying flat on my back, the pressure made me start to black out (which the tech said was pretty common, although I had never had that problem before), but it turned out to be a good thing as she moved a bit when I moved and we were finally able to determine that it was in fact a girl :) She looks very healthy and was measuring 18.5 weeks, so almost a week ahead of schedule, which is normal for our kids :) We got to hear the heartbeat, which was about 170.

Following the sonogram, my dr came in to do my regular monthly check up. I mentioned that I had started having some small contractions. He was concerned that they were starting so early. Although they were all Braxton-Hicks contractions (meaning they aren't "real" contractions), he told me he wanted to put me on modified bed rest, which basically means I need to stay in bed and not do anything I don't absolutely need to do. I could have just been dehydrated or they could have been caused by walking around the mall that night, but he wants to stop them if possible. There are medications I can go on to stop them as well, and we'll use those if we need to, but bed rest is our best bet.

Brittney immediately offered to do whatever she could to help, as has every friend I've talked to about it. My parents response was to offer to send my mom down this week, but they are in the process of trying to pack everything up and move down here as my dad is retiring, so I think we'll have Brittney and our friends help out for the next 5-6 weeks. My mom is thrilled that she'll be able to take care of the house and kids for me and my dad is already searching for a laptop for me :) Brittney is excited to be able to help out and although I've only told a few friends about this so far, I've had offers of childcare, meals, grocery shopping and even household cleaning. We're still trying to mentally adjust and figure out how things are going to work, but I feel so blessed to have people who care about us!

Honestly, I'm not sure how to react to this. I go from trying to figure out what to ask other people to do to worrying that I'm making people do my job while I sit in bed. Rob told me that considering the possible consequences, he didn't think any one would mind if I did that. It's a hard concept to wrap your mind around though. Logically I know that when they start talking about bedrest and terbutalane (or however you spell it) at your 18 week appt, it is not over-reacting to plan to spend the next 18 weeks on bedrest. Another part of me keeps thinking that I should stop being silly, of course I'm fine. Don't worry, the logical side will win out :) It will just be hard to sit there and let other people do my jobs. I don't like feeling lazy and I don't like making people wait on me :) Honestly "taking it easy" is one of the hardest things for me to do.

We have decided that I'll stay in school this quarter. It's not like I won't have time to do homework :) It looks like I may not be making it to Phoenix for my residency this September though. The dr said there is a chance that the contractions will stop though and if they do, then I can go. We'll know more about it in two weeks at my next appt. At this point, I'm assuming I won't be going. We'll figure it out.

We've decided on a name - Eva Grace. We aren't sure if we're going to call her by her first or middle name though. We'll keep you updated!