Weeks 11 & 12: It's a ... gummi bear!

June 9-June 15 & June 16-June 22, 2008:

This week began with a bang! Jon and I went to our ultrasound at the Woman's Hospital of Texas, where we'll deliver our baby. I was a complete wreck during the wait ... there were so many what-if worries racing through my head. I was so completely afraid that we wouldn't see what we hoped to see when the images came up, and I just kept praying that God would ease my anxiety and our healthy baby would appear on that screen.

Faithfully, God gave us our ... gummi bear. The nurse was tickled at how adorable our itty-bitty baby looked; we noticed a remarkable resemblance to a gummi bear, which is what we started calling Baby Biggerstaff. We were, however, assured that this would evolve into an actual human-looking baby eventually. As cute as the nostalgic-candy kid was, we felt relieved to know it would not stay like this forever! Of course, the gummi bear wasn't the only image we marveled over. The baby also took on the appearance of a T-Rex and a snowman. Well, curious readers, see for yourself.

T-Rex, as it would naturally appear hanging from its back on a ceiling (can't you hear the "rahr!"):

Gummi bear (sideways; head is to the right. That little ball on the top left is the yolk sac. So cute we could eat it up! Whoa, not the yolk sac. Eew. You know what I mean):

Snowman (where'd the legs go?):

So, the ultrasound turned out quite well, and Jon and I also got to hear the heartbeat for the first time. People always say it sounds like galloping horses, but I thought it sounded like cars driving through a high-speed tunnel. Hmmm. I guess I have a slightly more urban perception. Anyway, it was music to our ears.

The following week, we had to let go of an old friend. As our family and friends know, Jon and I have had his-and-hers '92 Toyota Corollas for years. Yes, we still had our first cars up until recently, when I sold my 'Rolla to my brother and got a used Hyundai Santa Fe (we knew kids would be on their way before long, so we needed more vehicular space ... and something to tow Jon's bass boat, because my car looked flat-out ridiculous hauling a trailer). However, we'd continued to hang on to Jon's ride. We just hated to part with it; it had so many memories for us (he'd had it as long as we'd been together), plus it had always been so reliable. Yet, Jon decided it was time to move on up, so literally within half an hour of him posting it on Craig's list, it had received several offers, been sold and been driven away by its new owners (whom we liked -- we couldn't give it to people we didn't approve!).

Here's the Red 'Rolla in all its glory:

Yes, it still functioned with all its experience; Jon took fantastic care of it. And, yes, that is 313,268 miles. Wow.

Here's Jon being sad (you can also see our new '08 Corolla in our driveway; this is our first totally new car, but we still have to go with what we know! I just hope we didn't hurt old 'Rolla's feelings :

And here's our old friend being driven off into the sunset to go live on a retired-car farm where it can roam free and breathe easy. Actually, it was destined to be someone else's first car. The nice couple who bought it planned to turn it over to their driving-aged kiddo. Sigh. At least the 'Rolla would again be surrounded by youth!

As we said good-bye to our beloved car, we also said good-bye to my first trimester. This was exciting, because I was ready to graduate from this risk-fraught trimester and move on to the "golden age" of pregnancy: the second trimester, when legend tells energy and appetite return! Also, we finally planned to tell friends and family sometime this trimester ... woo-hoo! By the way, I did have an appointment with my cardioelectrophysiologist this week, and with the pregnancy keeping up my fluid levels, it appears I'm doing wonderfully and my dysautonomia is more or less in remission!

Oh, and I think the belly pics will return next week ... still can't find the missing photos from these last few weeks. Hmmm.