4D Ultrasound Video

Photoshoot - Take 2

I was hoping that this post would serve as Eden's video debut, as I intended to have the footage from our latest 4-D ultrasound up for you to see. However, my computer is painfully sloooooooowwwwww. We had the ultrasound on Oct. 3 and the computer still hasn't been able to open the video editing software. Okay, so I'm exaggerating just a bit, but you get the point. I haven't given up on the video thing all together, but I figured I would go ahead and atleast post the latest pictures.



Our "Meet the Baby" 3D/4D ultrasound was once again a fun-filled family affair. Kendall's mom, dad, and grandpa, along with Jeff's mom, dad, sister, and niece all showed up for the shoot. For the first 20 minutes, Eden kept her hands up against the sides of her head, as if to say, "Oy vey! Not again!" But eventually she let us see her face and we got some pretty amazing pictures of her.



Seeing this one with her toe in her eye is pretty funny. It's hard to believe how flexible little babies are, and how little room there is in Mommy's tummy. Jeff said he's pretty good at sticking his foot in his mouth, but can't quite make it up to his eye.




It's hard to make out a whole lot in this one, although you can definitely see her ear very well.



And here's a leg with a foot attached. For those unlearned in fetal development, this is a good thing.

So, all seems to be going well. Kendall went to her midwife appointment today. The baby's heartbeat is around 140 and she seems to be growing right on pace. It's hard to believe that in about 9 weeks she'll be here.

We start our "Preparing for Childbirth" class tonight. We'll be doing those every Tuesday for the next five weeks and then the car seat class and infant care. I'm hoping they tell us the rules about using our lifelines because I have a feeling I may want to ask the audience or phone a friend when the baby gets here. In other words, for you veteran parents out there, stay close to your phone. I may be calling you before too long just to hear you say, "You can do it!"

Best to all. That's the news for now. We'll keep you posted.

Hello, My Name Is...

Well, folks, I think we have a winner. After much deliberation and scouring through the name book, we decided to go with a name that we had talked about since before Kendall was pregnant. Our daughter will be able to rest assured that we did our due diligence in picking a name for her. So, without further ado... Our daughter's name will be Eden Faithe Neely.

Jeff was talking to his mom on the phone the other night, telling her the plans for the baby's name, when he learned of a very interesting coincidence. A close friend of Jeff's mom is going to have a granddaughter who is going to be named Eden Hope. How funny, huh? Actually, that was one of the initial possibilities for us as well.

Oh, and I should probably let you know in advance that we are not planning to use a nickname for our daughter. So, we are asking that people resist the impulse to call her Edie, E, Den, Edenio, Edenarino, Eden Sweden, Eden Eden Whatchu Be Needin', or any other derivation. I know... I'm having fun just thinking of the possibilities, but please, it's simply Eden.

In other news, Kendall recently had a three-hour glucose tolerance test and passed all four of her blood draws. That means she is in the clear for gestational diabetes. We also went to the second level-two ultrasound last week. Everything turned out fine there. The small choroid plexus cyst that showed up at the first ultrasound has disappeared now, so we were relieved about that. Also, the baby is still a girl, so as far as we know we won't have to spend countless hours returning pink outfits and such. We have one more 3D/4D ultrasound this weekend to catch if she's a he before the big day, but given that we've had four different people confirm the gender at this point, we're feeling pretty safe.

One last piece of good news, Jeff passed his oral defense and is now officially a Ph.D. candidate. He has some changes to his dissertation proposal to make, which was to be expected, but otherwise things look to be full speed ahead for completing his degree by August of next year.

That's the news for now. We should have new baby pictures sometime next week. Best to all.

Life is Coming Fast

A friend of mine recently posted a status update on his Facebook page. It said, "Life is coming fast." That line has seemed very appropriate to me recently. These are very exciting times, but the times they are a changin'. It's hard to believe that in approximately three months we will be Mommy, Daddy, and baby too (and Henry).

Kendall and baby are coming along fine. Jeff is able to feel the baby kick pretty regularly now. We are scheduled to go back for the second level two ultrasound next Thursday. Kendall also has to get some blood drawn to test for gestational diabetes, which is all pretty standard. We will also be signing up with the hospital in the next couple of weeks to put them on notice that we will be needing their services on or about the date of Dec. 16. I guess they want to try to process your paperwork in advance so there's not as much wrangling over insurance, etc. once you get there.

In other news, Jeff recently finished taking his qualifying exams and submitting his dissertation proposal. He has an oral defense on Sept. 29. If all goes well then, he will be a candidate and ABD. He has applied to a few jobs starting in August 2010, but he hasn't heard anything yet. It's still very early. The wheels of academia tend to turn fairly slowly. He also celebrated his 32nd birthday this week. Kendall got him a surfing DVD, the Shaun White Road Trip snowboarding video game for Wii, and a CD of Led Zeppelin songs set as lullaby tunes. How cute!

We are also planning on taking a "babymoon" next weekend. That is, it's our one last out of town getaway as just the two of us before the baby comes. We are going to Cocoa Beach for a couple of nights. Jeff is hoping to sneak in a little surfing if the waves cooperate, but mostly we are just looking forward to spending time together and relaxing.

We hope you all are doing well. That's the news for now.

Pregnancy Progression

So, this post is a bit overdue (no pun intended, hopefully). Kendall is staying busy at work and, of course, preparing for the baby. Jeff is in the middle of taking his qualifying exams and has been swamped with studying and preparing his dissertation proposal. But I know, I know... you people expect some content! Gotcha. So, here's the latest.

The pictures above show Kendall's pregnancy progression at 14 weeks, 16 weeks, 19 weeks, and 23 weeks. Kendall is now 26 weeks along, so she has 14 weeks to go. Hopefully, we'll have some more photos coming before long (Jeff finishes his exams on Sept. 16 so maybe he can be a little more attentive to the blog after that). Kendall regularly feels the baby kick these days, and Jeff finally got to feel her kick one night last week, which was very exciting! For a while there it seemed like every time he would put his hand on Kendall's belly, the baby would settle down. He's not sure if she was thinking, "Oh, here comes daddy; I better settle down lest I get in trouble," or "Oh, there's daddy; his hand and voice are so calming to me."

Things are moving right along as well with the midwives' office. The baby's heartbeat has dropped to between 130 and 140. Originally it was in the 150's. The midwives assure us that this is all right on track and normal. We've also signed up for some classes: Preparing for Childbirth, Newborn Care, and Breastfeeding. Jeff thinks he can help out with the first two, but isn't sure how much good he'll be at the last one. We also have a car seat class scheduled for early in November.

So preparations are going well. People continue to bless us with things on the registry and other items, all of which we are very grateful for. We'd also like to send out our congratulations and best wishes to Kendall's cousin, Carman, and her husband Ken, who just recently had their third daughter together! We hope mom and baby are doing well.

That's the news for now. We'll try to file our copy a little more quickly next time. God bless you all!

Glamour Shots

It is quite amazing what technology allows us to do now. We went on Saturday to have a 3-D/4-D ultrasound done, and it's really astonishing how you can see our little girl's features so distinctly. Granted, it's still not exactly like taking a photo, but you can clearly see in these pictures her eyes, hands, mouth, nose, feet, cheeks, and other features. You can click on the pictures to enlarge them for a better view.



In fact, it looks as if we already have life lesson one to prepare; "good finger, bad finger." You can see in the picture above that she appears to be giving us the bird. Maybe she was feeling a little feisty or just didn't want to be hounded by the in utero paparazzi. In all seriousness, the excitement is really starting to sink in with a whole new level of reality. We also have a DVD, and if I can find a way to get that into a format to post, I'll put some of that on here too.



It was nice that the whole family got to come to the "photo shoot" as well! Kendall's mom, dad, and grandpa were all there, along with Jeff's mom, dad, sister, and niece. Kendall laid on the table with Jeff sitting in a chair next to her, while the family sat around on a cushy sectional sofa watching the "show" on a big-screen TV. Jeff is considering setting up a concession stand outside selling popcorn and Goobers. After the ultrasound, we all gathered at the Palmer's house (Kendall's parents) for a shrimp boil, which was delicious. A good time was had by all.



We've been very blessed recently to have friends and family give generously as we get ready for our baby. We picked up the crib today and ordered the changing table, so we are off to a good start in making a home for our little girl. We've also been blessed with a number of adorable new and barely used outfits for her. We are so grateful for the kind, caring people around us.

Until next time, best to all.

Apologies, comments enabled

Hi, folks. Just wanted to let you know that I realized I had not enabled open comments on the blog. It was set by default such that you had to create a profile. I've got it set now where anybody can comment. Feel free to drop us a note. We'd love to hear from you!