ready for my closeup!

no one likes it when they catch a cold. its so miserable, especially when the coughing fits interrupt your sleep. that's exactly what happened to me this past weekend. i somehow caught some bug that has been floating around and let's just say, it got the best of me. i would cough with so much force that i truly believed that i would cough up a lung sooner or later! (don't worry, it never happened). then yesterday, i told evan that i was craving watermelon so he ran to the store and picked up sliced watermelon and a thermometer for me. i took my temperature and it read 100F. NO GOOD!! i was slightly panicky. Evan reassured me that i just needed to get lots of rest and drink lots of fluids and i will be okay. He was right. By mid day, my temperature had lowered significantly and i wasn't as sluggish. But the coughing fits continued through the night. i felt so bad for Evan having to deal with my monstrous coughs in the middle of the night.

But today was going to be a new day! Today was our ultrasound appointment and our first chance to hear the baby's heartbeat. The doctor didn't like the sound of my cough but told me not to worry. With my immune system down since all its focus was to the baby, I was bound to catch a cold. And then it was time to hear the heartbeat. It was literally like music to our ears.  It was so fast and so alive!! We were beyond thrilled. Then it was our turn for the ultrasound. I was a bit nervous. In movies, its always in a bright lit room, a quick flip of a switch and the baby is on the screen. But this was real life and this was our baby. The room was very intimate, and it was dimmed so your concentration would be on the monitor that was positioned for both me and Evan to comfortably look at. A quick squeeze of the gel (it was cold!) and a few pushes on my tummy was all it took when slowly, this image of a small life appeared on the screen. It was surreal. There's our baby.  The nurse pushed on my tummy a few times to get it to move but it looked like it was so comfortable, it wasn't shifting. Then i coughed. All of sudden, the monitor was full of movement, little arms moving, the baby shifting (the baby doesn't like it when i cough!). I even joked that the baby was getting some quick shut eye because I kept it up all night with my coughing. The nurse kindly gave us two profile pictures of the baby. Our baby.  i couldn't stop starring at it. meet baby barry:

With the excitement of today's appointments came the dreadful part of drawing 4 huge vials of blood!! Yes, 4. So you could say that I am pretty exhausted and ready for a good ol' fashion 3 hour nap. 

Evan and I would like to say thank you for all the kind words everyone has shared with us as share the experience of our growing family. We are blessed with so many amazing people in our lives.  We love you all!!!