It's a...

Friday was a big day, and we're very thankful for how it went!

First of all, at 19 weeks I am at least halfway to the finish line. 

For various medical reasons my doctors don't want me to go past 38 weeks... so the latest this baby will be here is January 5th!!! Of course, with a history of preterm labor there's a chance it could be earlier... which I am fine with as long as it's at a safe time for the baby of course.

We had the big anatomy scan last week and David was able to get off work early and come with me. It amazes me how detailed this scan is. Even though the baby is about the size of a banana, they can zoom in and see so much. They went through the whole body and looked at and measured the brain, heart, arms, legs, fingers, toes, stomach, liver, kidneys, and more.

I felt more and more relief as they went through each body part and everything looked normal. 

At our "for fun" non-medical ultrasound a month ago, we found out she's a girl. And this ultrasound confirmed it. We are so excited to know and to be able to start planning for her. We're going to have a daughter!

We even have her name picked out. It's adorable and I'm dying to tell everyone but we're not going to yet. From the moment we did the embryo transfer, I was sure it was a girl and that this was her name.

The last piece of big news at my appointment was that this was the first time {I was told} they were checking on my cervix. It was a very big deal to me considering that's what caused our loss last time and we're now quickly approaching the point of that loss.

It ended up being obnoxiously difficult to get them to do that. Long story short, the appointment was with a random doctor I'd never met and he thought it would be "too stressful" if they checked it. I got upset that he was refusing and thought that was a dumb reason... silly me, it seems like I should be the one to choose what's too stressful for ME. But whatever, it worked out.

The great news is my cervix was a really good length, twice as long as last time, and completely closed. That was another BIG sigh of relief and helps me feel more confident that everything will work out.

Later that night we had my parents, sister, and brother-in-law over to do a little gender reveal. I didn't want to tell them until it was confirmed!

Of course I had to involve our puppy Poppy. I tied a pink banner to her collar and had her come running out of the door after a countdown. 

It was cute and simple, and I want to remember this happy day.