Level 2 Sonogram

We had our first level 2 sonogram this afternoon. Level 2 sonograms are super cool! We got to see all the baby's organs (and I mean all the organs) and we also had a fetal echocardiogram to check the heart for defects. Dave's brother was born with a subaortic stenosis and had to have open heart surgery at 11 years old to correct it. He's fine now, thank goodness. But our babe's heart looks a-okay. The doctor even checked the lower and upper heart beats to make sure that both parts are beating together (i.e., no arrhythmia) since I suffered from an SVT. Everything looks (and sounds) great!

Here's a video of the heart beat...man-oh-man I love that whoosh-whoosh sound!


The doctor confirmed that there is indeed a teeny weeny penis growing inside me (attached to our baby, of course)! So our baby's name is Edward Lawrence, named for my brother and Dave's oldest brother. And yes, I realize that our baby will be "Eddie Bower," but at least it isn't spelled the same as the outdoor adventure company.

The only bad news for today is that I can't have chocolate ("especially dark") for the duration of the pregnancy because it contains caffeine. I am to avoid any and all caffeine, lest it excite my heart into another scary SVT episode. The ban on chocolate isn't as bad as it sounds because I don't really have much of a sweet tooth anyway. But still, no chocolate for a pregnant woman? That's a lot to ask. And I don't even have gestational diabetes to blame. Dave's birthday is coming up and he requested that I make him a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. So I guess I'll be making a second, vanilla cake that I can actually eat or just do without cake all together. All in all, however, this "bad" news isn't so bad. Our baby is healthy and that's much more important than chocolate!

I will post about our spring break road trip and an update on our gravel path project later this week.