Not a whole lot to report in terms of development this week. We did get to do a little shopping this past weekend and FINALLY got to buy some cute little girl stuff. Next weekend we’re going to register, so we’re excited about that too.
And now, on with the belly!!!
We didn’t get the belly shot up last night, but here it is today. Hope you enjoy.
If you cannot see this video, click here.
Well, the wait is over and after giving the ultrasound tech quite a challenge our little baby finally opened up her legs (that’s the last time till you’re 30 young lady!) and showed us what she’s got and with no doubt it’s a girl. We’ve chosen the name Linnea Ann. Linnea was the name of my grandmother who was one of the most amazing women I have ever met. I can only hope a little bit of her trickles down into my little girl. Ann was my other grandmother’s name and is Steph’s mom’s middle name so we went with that for the middle name, and we thought the flow went well.
For the record the boy name was Liam Alex and while we would have been exceedingly happy with a boy we’re both wanted a girl deep down so we’re elated.
And it may not come as a surprise, but I just registered linneanielsen.com 
We’ll keep using this site until she is born though.
We have great ultrasound photos to scan and put up, as well as a dvd that gives about a 2-3 minute tour of our little princess. Some of it is real clear, some of it is like reading an ink blot test. Watch those last few seconds for a shot of her sucking her thumb! I planned on putting all that up now, but the internet here at Atlanta Bread Company is very, very slow.
so for now we’ll say goodbye and we’ll have lot’s more for everyone to look at later.
Love Chris and Steph
It’s Monday night and tomorrow when we wake up we go to the doctor to find out if we’re having an in-ey or an out-ey. We’re both really excited, it’s doubtful we’ll sleep much but we both have a couple of big fat Harry Potter books to keep us busy.
After very little deliberation we’ve decided to announce the names tomorrow. We’ll also announce the new website, though the plan is to keep using this website until the baby is actually born. That said we’ll have a website of some sort up tomorrow. I just spent 2 hours picking out a girl theme and a boy theme so you better believe I am using one of them!
We wanted to thank everyone for their thoughts and well wishes, and their input as well. Seeing everyone else so excited just makes us even happier and it’s wonderful that we can all bridge the geographic gaps and stay close to our little belly monster.
So for mom, Emy and myself I’ll say goodnight and tomorrow we’ll wake up one step closer.
Here’s what’s gone on in weeks 14 through 17:
A week from today, on July 24th, we’ll be going in for a sonogram at which time we should get to learn the sex of Emy (finally). We already have names picked out, and we’re solid on them, so we’re trying to decide whether or not to announce the name when we learn the sex or wait until the baby is born. Personally I think we should wait, but Steph thinks we should go ahead and spill the beans, in part because she doesn’t want to call him or her Emy after we know what the real name will be, and partly because she hasn’t a shred of patience. thay are good names though 
So cast your votes in the comments section and cast them now for in a week we will be forced to decide and reveal the name (or not).
17 Weeks
Yes, she’s growing, and this time I am not talking about the baby. We’ve been waiting to put a belly shot up until there was a clear belly and not just a pouch, and I think you’ll agree we’re there! Look for these weekly.
It’s sort of a morbid subject, but when you’re pregnant you have the option to take what’s called a quad screen test. This tests for the presence of “stuff” that indicates “other stuff” might be wrong with the baby, such as spina bifida, down syndrome, trisomy 21 and 18 and edwards syndrome.
It’s a surprisingly difficult decision to make whether or not to have the test performed. For all practical purposes it shouldn’t be, but ignorance can certainly be bliss. We talked to our doctor who really tried to avoid influencing us, but gave us her party line of “I always tell people to decide whether the knowledge would change anything, and then decide” which ultimately just made our head’s spin more. Of course it would change things, but to what extent? We certainly wouldn’t terminate the pregnancy, but what exactly would it mean? Add to this the fact that the quad screen is notoriously inaccurate and even a positive result means nothing more than more testing is required, and we really had a tough time pulling the trigger.
The kicker comes with the trisomy thingie. Personally I have never heard of it, but it boils down to your baby dying. Maybe before birth, maybe at birth, maybe shortly after, but any way you cut it….. Well that was the one thing we couldn’t see ourselves not finding out. It’s hard to say exactly what the implications would be, but we were certain (finally) that we wanted to have the quad screen done.
And so we did, and 24 hours later we were elated to get a phone call that everything was perfectly normal and although the quad screen often gives false positives, false negatives are not a concern.
So all is well and one of the most feared (rationally or not) to-do’s has come and gone with a happy ending.
