According to my calendar, I thought I was nine weeks and one day along. The doctor says the baby indicates it's more like ten weeks. I'm still keeping my due date of April 25th, but maybe baby will appear a little earlier!

I haven't been to the doctor yet, but according to this test and my calendar, we should meet Baby #3 on April 25, 2011!

Compare to my 38-week belly shot while pregnant with Rhino.

You can compare this to the same week last time around. I think I’m bigger than I was with Rhino. I’m measuring right on target when I go to the doctor, so maybe not. I feel so big, though. And we still have seven more weeks of growth!

It wasn’t a long appointment and isn’t too much to speak of. We saw Doctor #1 again, who I am liking more and more. We heard baby’s heartbeat (he kept trying to hide though, so we’d hear it then lose it and she’d have to chase it down!) Everything sounds good there. I’m putting on an appropriate amount of weight and measuring just right. I’m not having any problems or pains (other than the usual pregnancy discomforts!) I’ve been really hesitant to bring up our birth plans, expectations, hopes, whatever, especially after our doctor the first time around. Maybe I’m too worried about confrontation, but with my pregnancy with Rhino, the doctor made me feel like a wacko or like I didn’t know what I’m talking about half the time, so I’ve just been a little cautious. At this appointment I asked Doctor #1 if anyone ever brings in birth plans or when we can talk about our options (hoping that there are some!) She said that they are very flexible, but we need to be, too. She has no problems with declining medication, laboring on a birth ball, not wanting to be hooked up to the fetal monitor continuously, allowing mobility, different positions for pushing, etc. but within reasonable limits. Of course I understand that if there’s a need to monitor or a problem arises that won’t let me do one thing or another, I can work with that. I just like knowing that it’s not 100% “routine” and the doctors aren’t stuck in their one way. She said that all of the doctors pretty much share the same views (though she paused and looked thoughtful in the middle of the sentence, so I don’t know…) We’ll talk about it more as the time grows closer, I just don’t want to pop any surprises on a doctor at the last minute or have the doc try and sneak something in (like Rhino’s immediate cord-clipping because our last doc didn’t agree with us, or him arguing with me while I’m giving birth about why I’m stupid for not wanting an episiotomy. Ugh!) So I left the appointment feeling pretty positive. We go back again in three weeks. The time is getting closer and closer and I’m starting to get more anxious and excited! It’s completely different this time around, but it’s still excited and I cannot wait to meet our second sweet little boy!

I really hate posting a photo today because it definitely is not my best day! But if I don’t now, I’ll probably miss out on this week’s shot.

And you can compare to the same week when I was pregnant with Rhino. I’m thinking things don’t look too different this time as compared to last time. For some other differences, I haven’t had any new stretch marks show up at all. Maybe because Rhino stretched me enough last time? Or maybe I have nine more weeks for plenty to appear! Also, the linea negra that I had with Rhino (which showed up pretty early) faded after he was born and hasn’t yet reappeared. Maybe there won’t be one at all this time?

Matt wasn’t planning on going with me to find out the gender. He doesn’t really care whether we find out in advance or wait for the birth. Well, I didn’t want to go alone so he took me to the clinic yesterday. Really, it wasn’t very hard to find (for him!) They don’t take appointments; it’s all done on a walk-in basis. So there were a whole lot of pregnant Japanese ladies waiting around. The clinic got through us all pretty quickly, though. I went into the exam room after about 30 minutes of waiting — without Matt and Rhino (it’s too crowded and Rhino was happier playing in the kid’s playroom across the hall.)

They did a 2D scan with a doctor first, who pointed out all sorts of “landmarks”, telling me “head”, “spine”, “foot”, etc. I have the whole thing on video that I will upload soon. It’s nice to see our sweet little baby again and it was moving around all over the place. The doctor abruptly stood up, congratulated me, and left. I was just told “six” repeatedly and wasn’t really sure what that meant. They shooed me out of the room and I stood around, confused for a little bit. I took a guess and sat myself down outside of exam room #6. I waited for a bit longer before someone brought me a some photos from the scan. I wasn’t sure if that was it and I should leave, but I sat back down. They called me into the room eventually and that’s when we did the 3D ultrasound. The technician spent a lot of time trying to see the baby’s face, but I guess the little bean is shy and kept hiding its face. I got a great view of the back of its head and some very cute ears! The technician started wrapping things up and I figured if I didn’t ask, they wouldn’t tell me a gender. She told me that the doctor had said …

So we took a little tour of “down there”, but really I’m not sure I recognized much, haha! It’s obvious now that my ultrasound-reading skills are not very honed, as I was sure from our 20-week scan that it was a girl! They do warn me that they are never 100% positive, but the tech kept pointing out his little boy parts, so I think it’s a good bet.

I know Matt has been saying “she” and “her” during this whole pregnancy and it would have been neat to have a little girl, but I am so excited to have another sweet baby boy! Rhino has been such a blessing and I really enjoy being Mommy to a boy. It will be such a blast raising brothers. And cheaper! I’m glad we can reuse these tons of little boy clothes that Rhino outgrew so quickly (and other “boy things” that we have.) I’m a little nervous about being outnumbered, the wrestling and running, the testosterone … but I’m ready for it! And we can now cut our name list in half and only worry about little boy names!

I know this is a complete switch from how I felt before. We were definitely opposed to finding out Rhino’s gender. The curiosity was really eating me. Especially after the Level II ultrasound where we thought we knew what we saw (or didn’t see) but couldn’t get any confirmation. I’m glad we had someone tell us so I didn’t still think we were going to have a girl, knit up a bunch of pink or flowery things, accept our friends’ girly hand-me-downs, and make any girl-specific purchases. For the first baby, finding out didn’t matter at all. If we had a boy and a girl all ready, finding out any future babies wouldn’t matter. For this one, though, I decided I wanted to know. And I’m so glad!

Want to know how to get to the ultrasound clinic in Hachinohe? Here are some directions!

Your mommy has been a little lazy about writing your letters the few months! So much has happened, but I’m going to only talk a little bit about it this time.

9 Month Letter (Nov 13, 2008)

During your eighth month you started to “army crawl”: pulling yourself forward with your arms while lying on your stomach. You got around for about three days like that before you figured out you can use your hands and knees to move, too! Now you are all over the place!

You didn’t have a doctor’s appointment this past month, but we did weigh you in. You still haven’t gained any weight since we checked when you turned 8 months, so the doctor did want to see what is going on. You were a little sick for a week and you’ve been getting more exercising with crawling, so the doctor isn’t worried at all.

You’ve been trying more solid foods lately, too. We haven’t yet found anything you won’t eat! You are great about eating your vegetables and this month tried steamed broccoli, which you had lots of fun with. You also like mangoes, kiwi slices, and cottage cheese.

This month you traveled a little bit to the towns around us. We went to Rokkasho for their yearly Salmon Festival. You got to see lots of big fish swimming in the river and also in the pools at the festival. Daddy was hoping to get to catch a salmon with his hands, but we didn’t get to the festival early enough. You had fun snuggled up with me and looking at all the Japanese people, fish, and food.

The big news of this month is that Daddy and I found out that you are going to be a big brother next summer! This is very exciting for us because we knew we wanted you to have a little brother or sister that was close to your age to play with. You went with us to my first doctor’s appointment, where we got to hear Little Baby’s heartbeat and even watch a little movie of him or her! It would be neat if you were a little older and knew what was going on so you could be excited too, but I know when the baby comes you will be such a fantastic brother and you two will have so much fun together!

10 Month Letter (Dec 13, 2008)

Now you’re 10 months old and the last month has been very busy! You are crawling around everywhere and starting to get into things! Daddy and I have to put more thought into what we leave around on the floor or what doors we leave open so you don’t get into something you shouldn’t. It’s a lot of work!

In November you saw your first snow fall. It was exciting for Daddy and I because it was our first snow since we’ve been here in Japan, and we haven’t seen any in quite some time! We took you out in the backyard so you could get a closer look, but you really just wanted to eat it. I’d walk you up to the snow on the tree branches or pick some up in my hand for you to get a better look and you’d just reach forward with your mouth to get a taste!

This month we also started our vacation back to the US to see all our family for Christmas. You got to take a couple of trains to get to Tokyo, then fly from Japan to California and were really good, considering how long you’d been up and how long the flight was! In the airport in Tokyo, waiting for our delayed plane to California, you started “cruising”. Daddy was eating some french fries and had them sitting on the chair and you were crawling around on the floor. When you saw those french fries, you pulled right up on a chair and walked yourself down to get a bite! You poor thing, you worked so hard to get over to the snacks, but of course we didn’t let you have any! Food seems to be your biggest motivation to try new things! We spent a little time in California where you got to see some people from our old church, who you’d met before (but you were just born and definitely wouldn’t remember!) We went to see our friends the Lasleys and their little girls. Unfortunately, when we stopped by the girls were asleep, though it would have been fun to see you with them! I know we’ll see all of them again though, and you’ll have a good time when you get to meet up with them then. We took another plane from California to Texas, to see your Pop (my father), Dandy (my grandfather), and GG (my grandmother) as well as all your great uncles & aunt, etc! You turned 10 months in Texas and had a nice trip meeting and visiting with lots of people.

When we’re at home, I usually feed you some baby food that I made or pieces of our meals and rarely ever use normal baby food. We thought that for the long trip, we’d pick some up in case there were meals that we couldn’t give to you or we were unable to cook for you. I was a little worried that, since you don’t eat baby food at home, you wouldn’t really like it. Boy, was I surprised! You ate lots of baby food from jars on the airplane, in the airports, in California, and in Texas and loved it! You’ve become a lot more demanding for food lately, too! When you see me start to get food ready, you’ll whine and hold your fists out and shake a little. Sometimes you even yell at me to “hurry up!” I know that you just get hungry, need to learn a little bit of patience, and really, really like your food!

11 Month Letter (Jan 13, 2009)

You spent your tenth month mostly back in the states, still visiting over Christmas. After we finished visiting my family in Texas, we flew to New York to see Daddy’s family. It was much colder there and you met even more people who were very happy to see you! We spent most of our time with Grandma, Grandpa, and your Aunt Jen at home. Other family members and friends would come over to visit and everyone enjoyed just watching you crawl and cruise around the room, eat your meals, play with toys, and they took lots of pictures of you! You got so much attention and really seemed to enjoy it. We visited at Mom-mom and Pop-pop’s (Daddy’s grandparents) home and they had lots of people over to visit. We got to meet another baby boy, Mitchell, who is just 3 weeks older than you (Daddy’s cousin’s son!) You two had fun pointing at and touching each other and playing peek-a-boo around a chair! Mom-mom and Pop-pop have a staircase, which you hadn’t ever seen much of (right now we live on one floor.) We wanted to see what you would do with stairs, and to our surprise you took right to them! You zipped up eight stairs and then weren’t quite sure how to get down.

We weren’t in New York over Christmas, but we had an early Christmas so we could all celebrate together. You received lots of wonderful toys and handsome clothes and are having so much fun playing with everything. One of the best gifts you got was a little baby piano that plays notes and songs, lights up, and is just your height. Now that you can pull up to a stand on things, it’s so much fun to watch you play with this. One of your cutest recent developments is “dancing” to all kinds of music. While at the piano, you will play a couple notes or start a song, then rock back and forth, and repeat this over and over. You had so much fun with the piano!

We noticed your dancing skills last month when I would sing to you or put on music. It started out with just rocking back and forth, but you’ve developed all sorts of new “moves” since then. Anytime someone would sing a song to you (Grandpa would sing “yummy, yummy, yummy in my tummy, tummy, tummy” while you’re eating), put on Christmas music, or play a toy that makes music, you’d immediately start “be-bopping” (this is what Daddy calls your dancing!) We love it and can’t get enough of it!

After New York, we flew to California to see Grammy (my mother.) Your Aunt Andrea, Uncle Michael, and cousin Amelia, as well as Uncle Matt and his girlfriend Adria came to visit at the same time as well. Amelia is just a week younger than you are and we were all very excited for you two to meet! You guys were so cute together and seemed to have quite a good time! In Colorado you met Jack and Tilley, Grammy’s two little dogs (you also met Jasmine and Mugsy at Grandma and Grandpa’s, so you had seen dogs before.) You didn’t like when they’d lick at your face, but you did enjoy being around and them and petting their fur. We had lots of fun at Grammy’s, going out to eat, making lots of food in the kitchen, relaxing with your aunts and uncles, and having Christmas!

Christmas with you was a great time! Daddy and I went to church on Christmas Eve and Aunt Andrea and Uncle Michael stayed to watch you. When we came back, you sat up with Daddy and I as we opened some gifts. Then when we woke up on Christmas morning, you and Amelia got to dig around in your stockings for some neat books and car toys! We had lots of presents under the tree for the two of you. Neither of you seemed to want to tear the paper off the gifts, but you really did want all the bows! Once the paper was off, you did have fun with it and the ribbons. You both got some wonderful new books, stuffed animals, Little People toys, and some very nice clothes. Even more people came over Christmas afternoon to meet you and eat more food! After Christmas we did more fun things like going to see a cave, which you really enjoyed. When we were in a big, echo-y room underground, you would babble and make all sorts of cute sounds!

You were extra-good on the flight back to Japan (it was an even longer than the flight to the States!) and on the three trains to get back home. You were wonderful to travel with, but we probably won’t go so far away again anytime too soon! You can read more about our December visits in the US in an earlier post I made.

Sorry, baby, for the long letter that covers the last three months! I will be better in the future about not skipping these so that you can learn about what your life was like as a little boy. As always, Daddy and I love you so much and are having the best time of our lives getting to know you better each day!

Hugs and Kisses,
Mommy