We made it.

As of tomorrow, we have officially made it to the second trimester. I am pretty much still in disbelief that this is actually happening.

I keep thinking that every hurdle that we pass might make it a little more real, but it just doesn't seem to be the case.

We just made the "announcement" to many of our friends that we don't talk to/see on a regular basis and while their excitement and congratulations make me smile, I can't help but keep feeling like a fraud. My heart skipped a beat when I sent out the email, like I was jumping the gun or was not telling the truth. Telling people has (by far) not been my favorite part of this to date. I feel so awkward and in a way it makes me feel exposed. However, I wanted to get it over with. We probably could have waited a little longer, since I am not really showing yet - but why? We made it to the second trimester. That is what people wait for, right?

Anyway, I am feeling good. The ms hasn't completely left yet. It moved to nights just before and after dinner. It isn't nearly as bad as it was in the beginning, but it is definitely still lingering. I am hoping that it will make it's way out the door soon.

We had the NT scan on Thursday. Unfortunately, J couldn't make it because he had to attend training out of state. Boy did he miss out. The u/s tech was really nice and left the doppler on my abdomen for no less than 1/2 hour. She got all of her measurements out of the way right off the bat. The measurement was a 2.1, with a 3 or more being a sign of a positive for Down's, so it looks like our chances are good that the baby will not be at risk. However, we have to wait for two sets of blood test results to come back, the second round of which I will not have done until between 14 and 16 weeks. So, it will be a little while until we have the results.

After that was out of the way, she did a complete anatomy scan which showed that the babys brain is developing properly, has two arms, two legs, 10 fingers, 10 toes, all of the internal parts are in the right place, etc. It is still too early to tell the sex. They say 16 weeks is when you can tell, but I am not sure that we will have another scan until 20 weeks. Our next appointment is on May 5th, so we will find out then.

The tech proceeded to print out numerous pictures of the babe for us, half of which were 4D and oh so cool! She left the 4D up on the screen for a minute or two while the baby was dancing and it was the coolest thing I have ever seen.

Without further adieu, here's the bean lookin like a baby!