It's a Boy!

We did the ultrasound today. The baby gave his daddy and I a thumbs up, waved at us, sucked his thumb, pointed at Gene, and of course kicked mommy a lot. All 4 chambers of the heart are beating away. The brain is developing nicely, and 10 fingers and 10 toes are all wiggling away. Also, my son has absolutely no modesty, leaving no doubt that I'll neet to go buy some blue booties. Here is a photo of the tiniest DeClark. He has just stopped sucking his thumb and you can still see his little fist held near his chin.

Kick Daddy!

I felt almost nothing until the last couple of weeks, and then the baby has been moving around more in the last week or so. It's finally starting to get to the point where a few of the kicks are enough to feel from the outside. And what does my little baby want to do with it's new strength? Kick Daddy! This evening Gene got to feel his first kicks. I was about to give up and go to bed when the baby decided to make his or her little presence really known. There's just something about feeling it that makes it so much more real. Next step...the ultrasound. We go in Friday. I hope the baby isn't shy!

Quad Screen

Apparently having a baby requires that you give blood samples constantly. I can't say it's my favorite part of the job, but it's not so bad. This most recent test was the quad screen which appears to test for down's syndrome and neural tube defects. The lab inexplicably took about twice as many days as they said they would, but after I called to complain they helpfully told me that the test came back negative for neural tube problems and down's, so that's a relief!