Jaci's Belly Buldge after 20 Weeks - Nov. 25th & Baby Ultrasound (Sex Determination)

Before we unveil the baby's sex and latest ultrasound pictures, lets take a look at how big Jaci's belly has gotten (currently the baby is the size of a canteloupe and Jaci has gained 12 pounds overall - perfectly on track to gain 20 to 30 pounds, which is a healthy amount).

Jaci has officially transitioned from "I want to look pregnant" to "I feel like a cow" as her belly had grown noticably in just the past couple of weeks. She had a kindergartener this week ask her is she was pregnant and that brought a smile to her face. Jaci loves when people ask her is she's pregant.

Okay, the 20 week mark is the milestone where they do an ultrasound and search for a hangy-downy-thinging to determine the baby's sex and also to check to make sure that the main organs are developing appropriately.

So was there a 3rd arm?........

Most importantly, all of the main organs appear to be functioning correctly, there appears to be 2 eyes, 2 arms, 2 legs, 1 torso and approximately 20 fingers and toes.

So again, was there a 3rd arm?........ Look in the picture below to see for yourself.....

World meet Ahnika Hess (middle name undecided, but we're leaning towards Kenley). Name is pronounced just like Monica, without the M (spelled differently to hopefully make it easier to Alabamians to get it right - they are not the sharpest tools in the shed).

To quote the technician, the four horizontal streaks on the left side of the picture below the word "girl" is her "hamburger". The technician said she was 100% certain that we are having a girl.

In all honesty, Jaci and I were slightly disapointed that it wasn't a boy, because I was convined it would be. After all, science says conception in the summer time makes it significantly more likely to be a boy, along with eating a steady deit consisting of a big breakfast high in potassium, which Jaci was doing and we were doing other "adult" related things to increase the liklihood. So based on all that, we figured science was on our side and it would be a boy. However, after telling everyone that we are having a girl, I've come to find out that the overwhelming majority of parents say raising a girl is easier overall. That being said, we'll take her!

We fully expect to have a short, beautiful blue eyed, blonde hair girl (the hair color is good because she will probably be hairy), however she may be a bit stubborn (if she takes after her mother).

Okay, lets show some more pictures. In the two pictures below, Ahnika's feet and hands can be seen.

The three pictures below are of Ahnika's face; in the first picture, she is "lying" on her back looking straight at you with her head on the right and her body on the left (you can also see her arms); in the second and third pictures you can see a profile of her face, oriented as if your looking directly at her left cheek and she is staring towards the sky.

In the picture below, Ahnika can be seen stretching out her left leg. This was an interesting picture to have taken because Ahnika became very active during these pictures. Ahnika was being a good girl and keeping her legs closed, so the technician had to shake Jaci's stomach a couple of times to get Ahnika to start moving around, during which she opened up her legs (pictures shown above). Afterwards, she started to stretch out her arms and legs. As we watched with the ultrasound probe fairly stationary, Ahnika stretched out her leg downard, then proceeded to bring it up to her face and almost grabbed her foot with her hand. The picture below shows her leg streched out in front of her face:

Pro's of Owning 3/4's of an Acre

... if you happened by chance to marry a resonable woman, she will let you get a riding lawnmower to make mowing the lawn a bit easier (and a lot more fun).....

Much Prettier than Corn Fields

Since Jaci and I had never been to Alabama (or anywhere down south before), we were a little but nervous about what the local scenery would be... Would it be like the midwest with endless fields of brown crops and nothing.... Surprisingly, there were a lot of hills (they call them mountains here) covered with trees and cotton fields everywhere (which if you've never seen them before, they are actually really pretty to see).