Edge of Seventeen

~ "Just like the white-winged dove..." ~

We had our monthly checkup on Thursday! Friday marked the seventeenth week of gestation.

Last month, Nikki had to have seven vials of blood drawn. Sounds easy enough until you discover Nikki possesses the veins of a scarecrow. All those blood tests came back normal, which is good news. This time around, she only had to have one vial taken to determine whether or not the baby is at risk for spina bifida. Her results popped up yesterday and again, everything checked out normal. She explained to the blood taker where to draw the blood (her hand) and there was no problem. We were in and out in about 5 minutes.

The doc attempted to listen to the baby's heartbeat and was unable to locate it using the handheld ultrasound listening device. This made us worry for a moment. We were taken to another room and we still couldn't see the baby. I don't know if the doc was having a bad day or what, but she was finally able to spot the baby on the screen and she was wiggling all over...again. No wonder we couldn't hear anything except the baby moving around. I think the three of us (Hayden included) are going to have our hands full in just over 5 months.

Speaking of having our hands full, Hayden was being a complete four year old during the 30 minutes we were with the doctor. He's continuously hungry, can't hold still for longer than 3 seconds and this is all accompanied by constant chattering. Sittting in a chair the right way is a near impossibility. He's gotta lay on his back and hang his head off the chair so when the door in the exam room opens it smacks him in the head. We tell him to sit up, he will take his time and comply for about 7 seconds. Then it's back to hanging off the chair. I think he's testing our will...like will we give him up for adoption or not? We realize this is typical behavior, but damn it if it isn't infuriating at times. He is also having some issues with sharing, but he needs to figure that out pretty quick because he's going to have a little brother or sister drooling and smashing all of his toys here in the near future.

We are going to be scheduled to have the anatomy ultrasound (the big one where I will continue to refer to the baby as a she, or we drop the "s") next week at Emanuel Hospital. Then we will decide how to tell people to evoke maximum excitement. My guess is that Nikki's face will give it away before she has a chance to open her mouth. We'll see. Nikki's sister, Cari has quite the streak of correctly guessing the sex of babies before the parents find out. I believe the streak is around 7 in a row. She correctly guessed Hayden would be a boy so she's 1 for 1 so far with us. She's predicted a girl for us this time so we will see if she is right or not.

Will it be Lucas or Averie?