Ultra Sound!!!!!!

Today Ken and I got up and headed to Cville to see Mandy and an ultrasound of our little girl. We got there early and went to target to buy the bins you saw filled with clothes. She definitely looked more pregnant this time around. While we sat in the waiting room I got to press on her belly and feel our little one moving in there. We had a small shock when the technician said only one of us could go in for the test. Fortunately, after she did the measurements, she let me go get Ken so he could see her in there too. It is a little rough in the photos. They wouldn't shoot anything that was very identifiable, but I will show you what we have.
This is the profile view. You can see her forehead and nose, but she was sucking on the back of her hand the whole time, so we didn't get much of a view of her face...she was also modest and wouldn't show us that she was indeed a girl. So it is good that Mandy saw that earlier! Mostly they would only shoot images of what the doctor ordered, head size, femur size, and placenta location. She spent a long time on that, which was low in the womb, so we will see what the doctor says about that when she meets with him on the 9th. (We will be in New York visiting Jules and David, so we will miss that one, and I will miss the next two after that being gone. I don't know if Ken will go without me...maybe if Deasree is there?)
I call this second one, creepy alien baby. the shadows show her right eye and nose area, the mouth is sort of there but is partially blocked by the hand that is weird looking due to the technology. Let's hope she doesn't resemble this photo when she comes out!


This last one is a slightly different pose from the first. I thought we might also have the femur or the top of the head, which looked pretty cool to me, but this is all they gave us. I am stopping by Deasree's office tomorrow to get the earlier images...we will see how she has changed!

After the ultrasound, we took Mandy out to Cracker Barrel, I needed eggs. So we got to talk with her a while about things. During the test, she asked about names...in a way that gave us total ownership over that process, which is a good thing! I told her our top contenders and she liked them, so I feel good about that. (No...we aren't telling.) She also asked if anyone else was coming to the hospital. I said no at first, but then, when we got to breakfast, I told her depending on when my mom came, she might also be there to see the baby. We also talked about her boys, and how they were doing. She said that Gabriel and Nathan didn't really seem phased by anything and mostly just had to be reminded that there was a baby in her belly when they get rambunctious. She also told us about telling Tyler, her older son about it. I was glad that she did as my understanding was that she wasn't going to. He was mostly worried he would never see her again, but when Mandy said it would be like seeing their cousins that live in Arkansas...once every couple of years or so...he seemed to be fine and said he wanted to make us something (he sews and does cross stitch...his uncle does too...they are a crafty family).
So I told her we like purple and green and to go for it! It will make for a great photo op for their book. I was also interested in how her sister was doing with the adoption, she had mentioned that her sister wasn't thrilled, but was supportive. She said it was hard for her, but that ultimately, her sister understands that she can't raise another child. This sister has 4 kids and their other sister has 5, so the whole family is pretty fertile it seems. Ken and I know about that!!!
The due date is still July 11, but the new doctor, who she loves and feels is very attentive to her pregnancy concerns (thankfully!) has said that she will be induced at 39 weeks if she hasn't already started the process. So we are looking at July 4 or sooner...Mandy will ask for the 1st if he is inducing so that she can be with her boys on the 4th. So...Baby Rowe will be here...ready or not! (Please let us be ready!)

we painted last weekend...I am slow

I just took the photos of the wonderful paint job Amy, Rose and I did on Saturday. It is a light, bright lavender that is on the bluish side. It feels like you are in a blueberry cloud!

The window is all ripped apart by Ken the window warrior! He was proud to finally get out the top sash this evening. They were in desperate need of a scrap, glaze, paint job and we can't get to them without a tall ladder and some vallium. (Ken may be a little afraid of lights...which isn't great at Christmas time when we put up lights.)

It will look great when it is done. He is doing a great job with that and the closet door. The hole in the corner is access to the little bit of roof above the kitchen. Now I just have to sand and paint all of the trim and the stair railing. Then put the trip back up and we will be home free.

Well, after we re-carpet and fix the stairs, clean out the bedroom up there, sort the baby donations...see the 4 bins of clothes we got from Janet and Steff...OK, I have bought some things...how can I resist when I see the perfect tiny blue bunting with golden giraffes on it???
I mean really. We probably have to get a few more little things, but I don't want to over do until we know how big she is.
Oh, and you can see the green chair mom and I recovered when they were here in March.

The stairwell image is to show that we finally painted it to match the grey of the living room and hallway. It all looks so much brighter...ahhhhh fresh paint! And the uggo carpet I live with now. Sigh. So bad.


Keona is tired of the mess. So am I really. Which is why the clothes got sorted into bins!

I just talked to Mandy

I just had my first phone conversation with Mandy. She called to tell me about the ultrasound appointment tomorrow. We will get to see the baby AND they allow us to burn the ultrasound to a cd, so you may even get to see her tomorrow if I can figure out how to put it up here.
She is also MUCH happier with this doctor. The other guy had the gaul to suggest that if the baby got to 11 pounds they would just do a c-section rather than induce. As if she needs to have a c-section so she can go home and be unable to take care of her three other kids...insensitive!
The new doctor told her that he would induce at 39 weeks if she isn't moving along by then. She said her body has often started the process at 37 or 38 weeks anyway. So...we will not have to wait until July 11. Mandy's hope is to be able to have her before July 4 so that she can take the boys to the fireworks. We will see how it all plays out. Watch for an ultrasound update tomorrow! (and probably something about the upstairs too...I know that will bring you back!)

The best part is that she said that she feels really good about this and that we make her know this is the right thing for this little girl. I am so glad I called her back when she left the message! I hope she is ok when I burst in to sobs of joy tomorrow at the sight of our tiny, staticy, wiggly, girl-child. Maybe I will be able to hold back until we reach the car.