Today was the big day, and now we know that Russell is going to have a baby .........Well, we'll let you figure it out! If you can't tell, try reading the text in the picture. It says "Family Jewels"! :) It's a BOY!!!
Everything looks great with the baby. The heartbeat was strong, and all 4 chambers of the heart looked good. The technician didn't tell us the estimated size of the baby right now, but she did say that his head is 4.6 cm, about the size of a lemon or lime. The spine looked very good, and when she looked at his thigh (one of the measurements is the size of the femur), she made sure to point out how "meaty" it is. Must be all that chocolate ice cream I've been giving him!
I was terrified of finding out what we were having, and the baby must've known because at first all he would show us was the top of his head and his back. Eventually he decided to "spill the beans" and let us know what he was, and boy is that what he did! He also showed us his pretty smile, or maybe he was just laughing because he knows already the mischief that he and Russell will be causing! For some reason Russell wanted to see the eyes, so we also got a picture of the face; he looks like Ben's side of the family in this picture! :)
Everything else was good, so I go back again in 4 more weeks for another check up. I'll keep you all posted on how Russell reacts since he's been saying the whole time that he wanted a baby sister. I don't think it's quite sunk in that he's going to have a brother instead. Things are about to get interesting at the Hill House! Keep in touch for more updates!!

Love,
Ben, Lindsey, Russell and Baby Boy Hill

Well the fighting and tattle-tailing has already started and the baby's not even here yet! The other night Russell was laying across my lap, kind of resting on my belly. The baby was pretty active, and happened to hit/kick right where Russell was laying, so I told Russell that his baby brother or sister had just kicked him. With the most pitiful face you've ever seen, Russell looks at me and says, "Ow, that hurt me!" I said "Russell, you couldn't even feel it; I had to tell you it happened!" So his response was, "Well that wasn't nice of her!" I could not stop laughing, because he really had the most pitiful look on his face when he told me it hurt. :) But of course it didn't hurt him. Even though the baby's movements are getting stronger, they are still not strong enough to be felt outside my belly.
The baby is becoming a lot more active, and definitely has day and night mixed up...It's a party in my belly around 9:00 pm, and then rest most all of the day. And he/she is letting me know which foods are good. Blob really likes chocolate poptarts, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chip muffins, chocolate ice cream...Notice a trend here? Mimi, watch out! You're going to have one hyper kid on your hands!
We go in less than one week to find out if it's a girl or boy, and I get more nervous and excited with each passing day. But at least we'll be able to know what to call it. Nana Jody doesn't like for me to refer to it as Blob so I'll stop doing that soon (maybe). Check back in about a week, as there will definitely be an update. If it will reveal anything is still up in the air, but I will at least let you know how the baby's doing. Take care!