Drumroll Please...

We had our monthly ultrasound check today and we found out lots of good stuff!  Like he's a BOY (and not shy about it either!  Early on in the ultrasound right after we found out he was a boy he reached down and put his hand on his stuff!  Oh boy, do I have my work cut out for me!)  Our little guy has has perfectly straight feet, no signs of clubfeet on this little one.  There's always a chance that at 20 weeks it will have formed but the Dr said she would be very surprised if in a month they had turned in.  He's also measuring right on track with his due date, he's is about 6oz right now which is perfect for his gestational age.  His spine looks good as do his brain, organs, and heart!  Phew!  He's a very active little guy and while he was not shy about showing us that he is a boy, he would not hold still long enough for us to get a good look at his left foot.  The right foot we could see right away that it was perfectly aligned but he kept hiding his left foot (which ironically, the left foot on Riley is the bane of my existence) but we finally got a good shot of both feet and all is good.  Hopefully this means this is going to be a drama-free pregnancy!

I started progesterone shots today which I will take weekly until I'm about 36 weeks to keep this little guy baking until he's full term.

We are so happy, mostly that he's healthy but we're also excited that we will have a boy and a girl.  Riley was pretty convinced that he was a baby sister and we've tried to tell her that she's having a brother and not a sister and she's pretty much ignored us.  I think she's in denial! 

Over lunch Marc and I were so excited about all of the good news that we said to each other "Wow, so this is what everyone else feels like after their ultrasounds!?!"  We've come to expect bad news in ultrasounds so what a breath of fresh air to leave with great news. 

So here are some pictures of our little guy!  I'll spare him the embarrassment later in life of putting his stuff up on the blog but take my word for it, it's definitely a boy, the Dr even said it's safe to get rid of all of Riley's old girl clothes!

Profile of our Baby Boy!

How straight is that foot!?!

Of course Marc thinks he looks like him.

Two straight feet! :)

And Baby Makes 4!

After a VERY long road, we are thrilled to announce that Baby Zimmerman 2.0 will be joining our clan, due to arrive January 3, 2012!!!

We started trying just before Riley turned 1, so this has been something we've been looking forward to sharing for quite some time.  After 10 months of trying I finally convinced my Dr to do some tests and she started me on clomid, after 5 months on clomid and no luck she sent me to a fertility specialist.  I went mid-cycle to our first appointment and she had some theories but it was too late in the cycle to do anything so the next cycle she tested for any blockages (which came back negative) in my fallopian tubes, meanwhile she had me on femera to stimulate egg production.  After the blockage test she had me come back 4 days later and I hadn't ovulated yet so I was given an HCG shot to force ovulation.  In the ultrasound to see if I had ovulated she saw that I had produced 3 eggs, 2 eggs were big enough to be a viable pregnancy the 3rd was a little too small but the risk of multiples was there.  Fortunately for me, Marc couldn't go to that appointment so I kept the multiple thing a little secret! :)  I was also on progesterone to encourage implantation.  I was supposed to start testing for pregnancy on Marc's birthday and I just couldn't bare to give him a negative test on his birthday so I put it off.  The next day was the day before we left for Vegas and Marc made me take the test, within seconds there was a positive sign, before the test line even showed up.  I couldn't believe it but looking back I should have seen signs, a few days earlier I went to a movie and had a Diet Coke and my heart was racing from the caffeine and I could barely make it through the movie because I had to pee so bad!  I took a digital test the next day because I had it on hand and same thing, within moments it read "pregnant."  So basically all I needed was a few drugs and quitting ConAgra, because when we went back to the fertility specialist to see the heartbeat for the first time, she calculated conception to my last day at ConAgra, hmmmm.  So the timing is not ideal since I just started a new job but after nearly a year and a half of trying I am sure they will get over it!  And we are thrilled to be adding this one to our little family!

So at 7 weeks we went and saw the fertility doctor who confirmed the pregnancy, we saw the heartbeat and heard it as well (we didn't hear it until around 12 weeks with Riley).  That also happened to be the same day we went to Dr H and found out Riley needed to go back in her braces so it was an emotional day.  I'm sure the pregnancy hormones made it all more magnified and was the cause of me crying as I put her braces back on her.  Everything looked so great with the pregnancy that she graduated us from her and I moved over to my normal OB.

At 10 weeks I went to my first appointment at my OB and had another ultrasound and everything looked great.  She spent a ton of time with me talking about having anther preemie, another baby with clubfeet and another small baby.  As of now she's treating this as a normal pregnancy and if things come up along the way we will course correct but as of now all looks good!  So far Baby Zimmerman 2.0 is measuring about 2 days ahead gestationally, Riley was already behind growth wise.

Last Tuesday, at 12 weeks we went to the perinatal clinic and had our 3rd ultrasound.  Everything went great.  The same appointment that took 2 hours with Riley because they couldn't get the right measurements took 5 minutes with this one.  Way more cooperative than his or her sister!  Maybe that's an indication this Zimmerman will be more low key!  Since we got the measurements so quickly the tech took a bunch of images of the baby and let us see him/her moving around in 4D.  We were sent home with a CD of 14 images plus a video!  That's a change from when we had Riley, there were no CDs 3 years ago, just a few grainy pictures to scan into our computer.  We saw the same Dr that diagnosed Riley's clubfeet and so we talked to him about the clubfeet and since Riley was so small he wants us to come back monthly to track growth on this one, he was more concerned about the low birth weight it seemed than the clubfeet.  We go back at 16 weeks to check growth and it also happens to be the first time that clubfeet would be visible so we will be looking for that.  They will also check the baby's gender then too, which we are super excited to find out!

Riley is SO excited to be a big sister.  Currently she is convinced that she is having a baby sister and is even willing to share all of her dolls with her.  I have felt good this pregnancy, it has been SO very different than my 1st trimester with Riley.  I have been extremely tired and can't get enough food!  With Riley I ate cheese, saltines and ginger ale and I have not needed any of that this time around.  I don't remember being this tired with Riley either but I also didn't have a 2 1/2 year old to keep me on my toes all day long.

So here are some pictures of our new bundle of joy!  We've waited so long, but I know it will all be worth it when we hold him or her in our arms for the first time.  And Riley is going to be the best big sister, when we told her she immediately asked if she could give the baby a bottle.  She's already wanting to help!

Of course Marc thinks this one looks like him too...

Ok, the baby still looks a little alien like but it's a cool full body view.  It was a very active baby while we were there.

I love these photos with the baby's legs up, just chillaxin'!

Looking might cozy in there!

Here's a 4D video of the baby moving around!  Pretty crazy!

If...

If there are any questions as to whether Marc is really Riley's dad, this should pretty much cover it! (He used to think it was funny to ask for a paternity test, I think this is better than any blood test could ever be!)

Riley is so her daddy's daughter!!!

Photo courtesy of Ralsto, thanks for the laugh Red Dawg!

When In Buffalo, Have Wings!

Well Riley really was not feeling well! Wednesday night she slept over 15 hours (how's that for brace wear!), woke up, drank a big cup of milk and then went back to bed for another 2 hours. It happened to be cold and rainy so Ralsto and I scrapped our plans to go wine tasting (boo! but I guess that's what motherhood is about) and opted to stay in instead. She was kind enough to run out and get us DD Coffee (did I mention how much she rocks!) and then she went out to get me some Buffalo Wings while I babysat two sleeping babies, not a bad gig! I guess the famous place, Anchor Bar is under new ownership/management and is not as good as it used to be, so the locals are split on two places, Elmos and another place that I can't remember the name of. Adam (her husband) likes Elmos better and well we're obsessed with Elmo around here so we went with them. They were delish!!! I got the Honey Mustard flavor because that's Adam's favorite and I knew I wouldn't eat them all so I wanted to get something he would polish off.

Riley woke up feeling much better and wanting to hold Audrey. She seriously loved holding Audrey. She was so adorable with her, when Audrey was in her swing she took a blanket and covered her and in the car she held her hand and touched her arm while we drove. She even turned on Audrey's mobile (they have the same one) for her. It was really sweet! I can't wait to see her as a big sister someday!

Oh and Audrey sits really well in the Bumbo, I had Sesame Street on in the background for Riley and I was blocking her view. Silly me for blocking Sesame Street!

Yes, they have matching outfits, Ralsto and I are fully aware that they will hate us for this one day but we didn't care because they were stinkin' adorable!

I guess I forgot to mention that Ralsto's husband is an offensive line coach (I think I got his position right, if not, let me know Red Dawg) for the University of Buffalo so he's knee deep in football season and didn't get home until super late on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday Ralsto and I waited up for him but Wednesday after two bottles of wine we both passed out before he got home but Thursday he was able to get home earlier so Riley met him Thursday, he's a pretty tall guy, so Riley was like "whoa!" when she saw him for the first time but she took to him right away! We recruited Adam to take a picture of Ralsto and I with our girls.