Rosebud

The girls are thrilled, and Joel and I are inexpressibly overjoyed and relieved to announce that our new baby girl, due July 3, looks perfectly healthy.  She wiggled constantly through the ultrasound at the specialty clinic in town, but we were still able to get very clear images considering her age.  Her long bones (femur and humerus) indicate that she is actually a bit tall for her age, her kidneys are cyst-free and had no fluid at all (which is appropriate for her age), her heart and brain looked perfect for what they could see, and there was plenty of fluid around her (in which, as I mentioned, she is CONSTANTLY moving!)

We will have another ultrasound at the end of February to check on everything again after she grows a bit more, but the specialty doctor said he was "confident" that we wouldn't see any changes or anything new at that point considering how clear we were able to see everything this time.  And even if we do find problems, whether the familiar issues Oliver struggled with or new and surprising ones, we feel so blessed and excited to be given this child.

Other than the conflicting and overwhelming emotions leading up to the ultrasound I have been feeling fine, though quite tired and craving candy and donuts like crazy (though the craving part is probably more from the emotions than the actual pregnancy!).

The girls ask almost daily how big the baby is and when she will be coming "out," and they have already named her "Rosebud," which is rather sweet but gives us motivation to decide on her real name soon!  I think she will fit into the family perfectly - here she is with her hand to her forehead, already being dramatic:

Welcome, Little One!