Something That We Do: 34 Weeks, Hot Lips

First, let me say this.... no, he hasn't been born yet. But....

Y'all, meet Luke.

I've been waiting to tell you Luke Robert's name until I could show you these pictures that I adore. And in order to show them to you, I had to first share them with family members (cough cough, proud grandparents, cough cough).

Back in April, we had a 3D ultrasound done of Luke. The ultrasound is supposed to take about ten minutes, but our little boy was being stubborn and wouldn't show his face for quite some time. After I drank some ice cold water (momma's sorry, Luke), he finally moved his little hands off of his face. He stayed asleep for the full HOUR that we were there, and we got some pretty good shots. Here's one with his hands on his face, before he finally moved them.

Once he decided to move them, he kept his little hands and arms under his chin, all cuddled up.

The name Luke came about because Carl and I both liked it. His middle name is Robert after my dad, who has the same middle name, which is his father's first name. So, to be clear, my grandfather's name is Robert, my dad's middle name is Robert, and Luke's middle name is Robert. We've had this name picked out for a few months now. We really enjoyed the ultrasound, and seeing Luke's little features. We loved seeing him suck on his toes while in the womb, and while we were watching him, something funny happened. The woman performing the ultrasound asked (with enthusiasm and confusion), "Guys, whose lips are those?!" She looked over at my mouth, and then at Carl's. "Whose lips are those??"

Look how full his little lips are! After staring for a moment, I told her "Those are my dad's!" Soon as my mom saw his pictures, she commented on him having my dad's lips as well. My dad has always had very full lips, and I love that we can already see that trait in little baby Luke!

A little backstory for you: my dad's first name is Harry, and he sometimes goes by the nickname "Har" (pronounced like the hair on your head). Well, this past Saturday, when we had an ultrasound (remember, I mentioned it in this post when I asked for prayers) we found out that Luke has hair! So my dad says "So he officially went from Baldy to Harry (hairy), eh?" Bahaha, my dad cracks me up.
Even better, since he has been named after my dad and has my dad's lips, my dad has given Luke a nickname that absolutely cracks me up.... "Hot Lips Har." I hope I'm not embarrassing him with these stories, I just never want to forget them. And for those of you that know my dad, I'm sure you can totally hear him saying these things!

Regarding Saturday's ultrasound... here's the scoop. Since I saw my doctor for the very first time, she has said "Baby's big." She always has said "Baby is happy." But she has also always said "Baby is big." And that has concerned me. Visit after visit, she said "Limit sweets and carbs. What will make you big will make baby big." Well finally I told her I don't eat many sweets or carbs because I get nauseous from both. At that point, she decided to have an ultrasound scheduled. I asked if I was gaining too much weight and she said "No, your weight is fine, baby is gaining too much. But I don't want to put him on a diet."

So, Saturday rolled around and the ultrasound tech informed us that Luke's head is big. Ouch. Not what I wanted to hear. She measured his head (without looking at our chart) and turned and said "Oh so your baby is due June 22?" Carl and I were both open-mouthed and bug-eyed. Until this point, we had been told that Luke is due July 13.... almost a full month after the ultrasound tech was estimating!

"WHAT?!" I about flew off the table. She continued to measure his femur and the rest of his body.

"No, maybe the middle of July instead....." We were beginning to wonder what was up with these measurements. She looked at both of us and asked if big heads run in our family. She then told us that baby just has a big head, but everything looks okay.

So when I told my dad about the size of Luke's head compared to his body, I may or may not (okay, I did) say something along the lines of "Luke's head is due June 22 but the rest of him is due July 13." I was being dead serious, not intending to be funny in any way, but after I had heard what I said, I couldn't help but laugh. So, that's the scoop. Luke is not too big for his age... just his head is on the large side. So, I'm going to ask that you continue to pray for me and Luke to have a safe delivery. I've been worrying about delivery since Saturday, but I am trying really hard to just hand it over to God and trust that I will have him either naturally or by C-section, and either way will be okay. I am not in control. I just thank God that he is a healthy little boy.

I could just stare at his photos all day... I absolutely cannot wait to see his precious little face just inches from mine in a few weeks!

Here are two ultrasound photos from Saturday. If you tilt your head to the right, you should be able to see his face pretty clearly. The white at the top of his forehead (far right of pic) is his hair. We could clearly see it floating in the amniotic fluid... pretty cool! The tech said he has a bit of a mo-hawk going on in the front right now. Cute little thing! :)

Also, Luke is DEFINITELY head down (which explains why I am more uncomfortable these days). He get hiccups somewhat often now a days, and they tend to last from 10-40 minutes.

And to cap off this update, here are the 34 week belly photos. Saturday (when I was in the orange shirt), I was EXHAUSTED. And it shows. But I want to remember all of these feelings, so despite it being a not so good picture, I'm going to share it anyway. The next morning I was feeling slightly better, so I retook the photos for me to remember that it wasn't all uncomfortableness at this stage. There are happy times too. Although, to be honest, this is after changing my shirt three times before church because every shirt I put on showed my belly. And that was a little frustrating as well. But it's all part of the journey, and I wouldn't trade it for the world!