Montana Weekend

So, this has nothing to do with the baby, but we headed down to the house in Montana this weekend and I thought I'd share the highlights (if you can call them that. Dog costumes? We were bored).

Kenny met his lifelong hockey hero, Lanny McDonald, at the Waking Up Old Man Winter party at the Tamarack (a local microbrewery that the McDonald family owns).

We also humiliated the dogs by dressing them up in Christmas costumes that we found at Target and taking pictures of them in-front of the fireplace at the house. Merry Christmas from Jakob and Niki!

Our First Glimpse!

On Tuesday, December 2, we had our first ultrasound and caught the first glimpse of our little pal! It was love at first sight, see for yourself:

His/her little face. The black spot on the baby's chest is the heart.

The following three photos are your fairly typical ultrasound pics of the baby's head and upper body.

This is our favorite picture, it's the bottom of our baby's little foot and he/she even has an enormous big toe just like Kenny!

The ultrasound was so much fun! Kenny got to watch the screen the entire time while the ultrasound technician took measurements and checked our little baby out, and he loved every minute of it (we have heard stories of husbands only being let in the room for the last 5 minutes of the exam, but not in our case!). Later on in the appointment, she angled the screen so I could see it too. She said that the baby is very active and even got frustrated at one point in the exam because the kid kept squirming and wouldn't let her get a good look at its spine! The lady said the kid is all arms and legs, which doesn't surprise me because I am 6 feet tall. There was one point in the exam that the baby had its legs stretch right out though, so he/she isn't running out of room quite yet.

We decided to leave the sex of the baby as a surprise, but the ultrasound technician did ask us if we wanted to know what we were having, and let me tell you, it was tempting to say yes.

The best part of the exam was when the lady told us that the baby was 19 weeks and 5 days old and that the measurement my doctor took must have been inaccurate because I have such a long torso. That means that we are right on for dates, actually 4 days ahead even! I'm excited to see if my due date will be adjusted accordingly at my next doctor's appointment.

As you can tell, it was a very exciting day for us and has really made this whole pregnancy thing real to us. As well, the baby has been moving around quite a bit in the last two weeks and Kenny has even been able to feel some of the little kicks and wiggles. We know you guys are excited as we are!

December Doctor's Appointment

Monday, December 1 was our monthly checkup. We were both excited to go because we only heard a very quiet heartbeat last month and wanted to hear it again. The doctor found the heartbeat right away this time and it was loud! 

We were also excited because we knew that our doctor would book an ultrasound for us at this appointment. However, we were kind of disappointed to find out that I was measuring only 14 weeks pregnant when I was really supposed to be 19! Our doctor booked an ultrasound for the next day and said the ultrasound technician would be able to tell us exactly how far along I was. We had our fingers crossed that the dates wouldn't be that far off... I didn't want to have to go back 5 weeks!

The Beginning of Our Little Pal

Family & Friends-

If you're reading this, you're probably already aware that I, Erin Aitkens, am pregnant (shocking,I know). And even though the idea of having a baby didn't truly become a reality to Kenny and I until August 21, 2008 (our fourth anniversary!), I felt it was time to create this blog in an attempt to keep you guys, the people we love, in the loop on our journey towards Babysville. We will try and update this site as often as possible so feel free to check in from time to time and see how Kenny and I are adjusting to life as parents-to-be.