Lady Leighton's First Photo Shoot

June, for us, is the month of birthdays. Mine is the 12th, my uncle and cousin the 11th, my grandma the 13th, Tootsie the 18th, Jay and Porsche the 21st, my mom is the 22nd as well as others that I haven't mentioned. Add in Mother's Day and Father's Day, we are busy bees during the kickoff to summer.

So to get our summer off on the right foot, a tornado comes barreling through our town on June 4th. It took out our entire privacy fence. Talk about lucky! No damage to the actual house and no one was injured. But man... what a pain in the booty to deal with a broken fence and having dogs.

Post birthday frenzy, we had another doctor's appointment on the 22nd. This time to do a glucose test and another ultrasound to see how the baby is growing. They prepped me before the appointment that it could take a long time, so we went in preparing for a long and happy day at the doctor.

If you remember, the last 3D ultrasound wasn't a success. Miss Lady thought she was an acrobat and they couldn't get a clear picture. The awesome nurse told us she would make sure we had a picture of her before we left. Being my mother's birthday, I REALLY wanted to get a good one. However, our little gal wasn't havin it. Any of it. She made sure we knew it too. She laid on her tummy for the first round, then the second time, she kept her hand in front of her face like Britney Spears coming out of a nightclub! No paparazzi for this feisty diva! This kid really has no idea what she's in for if she is camera shy. In one picture she is even laughing at us. What a stinker!

3 draws of blood, a glucose drink, 2 ultrasound techs, a visit with the Dr., and about 35 pictures later, we have our Lady Leighton's first photo shoot! :) She's not even here yet and we have an album full of photos.

Everything looks great. All organs appear to be healthy and "normal" whatever that word means. She is growing well and is about 2.5 lbs currently. My placenta shifted so I no longer have to have a C section. I'm still torn on how I feel about that. While the C section seems brutal, it seems the less scary. However the recovery is awful. But.. to torture myself, I made the mistake of watching birthing videos. Now I see no real "fun" way out of the situation. Unless you can keep her in your tummy... I am just gonna have to buck up, I know that. But I really like having her there at all times. I seriously like being pregnant. Swollen ankles, shortness of breath and all.

The doctor let us know that we have to keep counting kicks. There is still a chance of miscarriage with all babies with Ds and they have no idea what the cause is. I really think I would die of a broken heart if that happened at this point. I already look forward to our little talks she and I have on a daily basis.  I have also learned what gets her going. She loves apples and ice cream.

Our first shower is this weekend in Louisville. I am SO excited! Mostly to see so many of my friends and family that I haven't seen in a while. But also to celebrate the life we are about to receive. What a blessing this little gal already is. Jay got the room painted and Aunt Kim bought us a super comfy rocking chair. We have the bed and Daddy is working on putting that together on his break from school. Things are moving right along... baby and all.

I also pseudo-joined the Down Syndrome Association board. I haven't done anything with them yet, but I have made the commitment to help them out with event planning, etc. It's really nice to have a group of peeps that we can connect with. Just to know what you are going through. Even if they didn't know at the time they were pregnant, they are experiencing so many things that we will soon be. It's also great to have resources, like pediatrician recommendations, etc.

While I love hearing about other babies, for some reason it feels different for me. I don't want to say, "But my baby is different" especially yet. I know that she will be more alike than different. However, I feel that our baby is so special already. Ds or not! I am sure that is what every parent feels. Yet, Lady Leighton has already captured so many hearts and she hasn't even made her debut... I can't see how she captivates her audience once her show starts!