Birthday Bumpdate!

A 16 week bumpdate that happens to fall on my 31st birthday? Which also happens to fall on a glorious, sun-drenched Friday after a week of gloomy weather? With plans to have dinner at my favorite restaurant with some of my favorite friends tonight? You BETCHA. :)

So let's celebrate with some photos, shall we? The 16 week belly pic will be taken tonight, so sorry to be a tease. Those are coming. But I have something I think you'll like instead...

Y'all. That is our BABY! From top to bottom, the photos are the profile, the "baby booty" shot, the cute little feet, another booty shot which may or may not tell you the gender, and two photos in 4-D of the whole sweet thing! Can you believe it? Isn't technology AMAZING?

So here's the story...we went in for our 16 week appointment, asked all our questions, and then asked for an early ultrasound (it was scheduled for our 20 week appointment). Because my OB rocks, she was able to squeeze us in that very morning. And because the ultrasound technician uber rocks, she talked us through the whole thing explaining all those teeny little parts and movements and gave us about 16 beautiful photos to keep, as well as a surprise DVD of about 20 minutes worth of the ultrasound so we can see Baby T moving and kicking up a storm. Not only that, but here's the best part...she let us record the sound of the galloping (158 heart rate) baby's heartbeat on my iPhone, so now I can listen to it anytime I want. Which is about every other 10 minutes. Best idea ever. I could have hugged her. In fact, as soon as I got up from the table and wiped the goo off my stomach, that is exactly what I did.

So here's the big news. When looking at that sweet little "bottom up" shot on the screen, the ultrasound tech said she couldn't be positive, but things are looking very much like a GIRL! Trying to contain my excitement, I said "Really? As in what percentage would you put on it?" To which she responded "Mmmm, I would say 96%." Oh, I could have just cried!!! No wait, I did cry. Goodness, I can't remember anything anymore - pregnancy brain is in full effect! But y'all! A beautiful, healthy, measuring-just-perfect baby girl...my heart could just explode I'm so happy. And she was a whopping 5 inches and 5 ounces, growing like a champ! We won't know for sure until our next appointment so I'm not shopping just yet, but things are looking like sugar and spice and everything nice, and honey, I hate to say it, but I told you so. I've been feeling girl for weeks. Don't mess with a mother's intuition.

What a perfectly perfect birthday gift. Feeling blessed beyond belief. Happy birthday to ME!