Baby Update--very wordy--for extremely interested readers only

A brief overview of what's been going on with Baby #3:

We had the 20-week ultrasound right after Christmas.  Baby was fine, but laying in a funny position.  He/She did not want to roll around and be cooperative, and the technician wanted to get a clear picture of his/her heart.  They routinely check the heart looking for all 4 chambers, checking blood flow, and identifying the "aortic arch".  The tech eventually gave up and told us we'd probably be asked to come back in 4 weeks to try again.

I returned 4 weeks later to give it another go.  Baby was still fine and slightly more cooperative.  We got a better look at the heart, but were later told that the baby's heartbeat was irregular.  Hearing scary words like, "cardiac arrhythmia" and "level-2 ultrasound" is not pleasant.  We were set up with an appointment at the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Center in Burnsville for a more detailed ultrasound.

The six days of waiting in between was no fun.  Sam and I learned that we both deal with scary news in the same way: don't talk about it.  If you don't talk about it, your fears do not seem quite as real or possible.  (We were the same way during Sammy's eye surgery--pretty much silent for 1 hour while we waited)

Last week we went to Burnsville to see our babe yet again.  While everyone there was extremely helpful and professional, I would prefer to never go back.  It is definitely the place for high-risk pregnancies--a category I do not want to be a part of!  We got to see the baby again and any concerns about his/her heart were gone.  The technician and the doctor both kept saying that, "Everything looks normal"  What they suspect was seen at the 24-week ultrasound were atrial flutters caused by caffeine intake.  Treatment: no more caffeine for me.  No more chocolate, even!  I promise I was not ingesting more than 1 cup of coffee per day....seriously....

In other news, our baby continues to "measure big", meaning his/her bones and whatnot indicate an earlier due date than May 15.  I am sure that this due date is correct; we had 2 big babies before, though neither of them measured big at any point.  This one may just be the biggest one yet :)  The ultrasound techs have asked, "Do you have big babies?" and we like to tell the story of newborn Sammy not being able to keep his hospital-issued hat on his head because it was stretched so far.  It kept creeping up from his ears and just balancing on the top of his skull.  I have already found a bigger hat to bring for this baby!

We are at 26 weeks now; 14 to go.  The time is FLYING by as we have so much to do in the next 3 months.  The basement project is progressing nicely; the walls are scheduled to be textured tomorrow, meaning we can prime and paint anytime after that.  Paint, floors, and trim work are all that stand between us and a dramatic increase in square footage!  Any other minor work can be done after that.  HUGE thanks to our pal Karl (and his generous wife and children) for helping Sam with the drywall.  I'm sure we won't be doing that project again anytime soon :)