Meet Elena

Well, we had our big ultrasound appointment today, and found out lots of cool stuff about our baby. We found out that she is healthy (yay) that she's huge (apparently she weights 1 lb 2 ounces already, which is more than expected for her age), that she has a big round tummy, and, of course, we found out that she's a SHE! We are having a girl, and we're going to name her Elena Anne Looten. The Anne comes from my name, my middle name is Anne, as is my mom's, and her mom's name is DeAnn, so that's a tradition. The Elena, well, don't laugh, but it actually comes from the movie Zorro. No real reason other than we liked how it sounded, and thought it was pretty with Anne. It's not a weird name, but it's not really common, either, so it seemed a good compromise on that front. It's said just like Elaine, only with an "uh" at the end. Anyway, we are really, really excited, and the ultrasound was very fun! I just laid there, and we watched things we mostly couldn't identify moving around on the screen (I did think the heart was the face, it was all zoomed in and I swear it was smiling at me). But occasionally we'd see something obvious, like a tiny foot or hand or an actual face float across the screen and it was so cool to think that was in there. Elena was being rather difficult because the technician wanted to look at some part of me and Elena was laying on it and wouldn't move her big head (which definitely comes from her father). So they put my head lower, and measured other things and came back and she was still laying there (apparently it was comfortable). Eventually the technician just pushed up and down on my stomach which was so funny because then her head bounced up and down like a basketball on the screen. Which made Josh and I laugh, and made her head bounce even more. It was kind of cool to see how what happened to me impacted her. It's kind of scary to be linked that closely with another life.

All in all, it was a very cool appointment, and I get to do it again in 10 weeks! :) Probably not as involved because they won't need to do all of the measuring again (I didn't know you could even find kidneys on something that small) but they want to do another ultrasound because they're afraid my placenta is going to cover my cervix, which would be bad. Right now it's like a millimeter or two away from it, but the doctor thought it would probably move away as my uterus grows, so he wasn't too worried about it. So I'm mostly just kind of excited that I get to do another ultrasound, 'cause those things are really cool! And I found out that, despite outgrowing my entire wardrobe, I've only gained 5 more pounds, which puts my total weight gain at 4 pounds (I lost 5 at first, then I've gained 9 since then). So that wasn't so bad... with the amount of food (most of it ice cream) I seem to be eating and the way my clothes have been NOT fitting, I was a little afraid to step on the scale! But we are very, very, very excited! And it's so fun to be able to say "she" knowing that it's really a girl! :)

Enjoy the pictures... I did not put on a front picture of her face because, well, honestly, it's a little scary. Josh and I both thought for a second we were havin Skeletor. But the technician assured us that it was just because she hadn't put on much fat yet. But to be fair to poor Elena, I thought I'd just put a couple of the cute pictures on here... so enjoy! :)