Babymoon on Orcas Island

Brian and I spent Memorial Day weekend on beautiful Orcas Island in the San Juans, here in WA. We stayed at a B&B called the Turtleback Farm Inn, which is an old 1930s farmhouse and 80 acres of farmland. It was so much fun and extremely relaxing. We enjoyed exploring the little village, Moran State Park, and the rest of the island. We hope to go back to camp there with Sophia when she is older. Here are some pictures we took on the trip.

Views from Mt. Contitution

In Eastsound Village Observation Tower

More Pictures from Mt. Constitution

Pictures from Turtleback Farm Inn:

Coeur d'Alene Shower

This past weekend, Lyle & Roberta threw a shower for us in Coeur d'Alene. It was great to celebrate with everyone over there. Hope you all enjoy the pictures!!

The cake

Dock Jake & Greg

Gary, Lana, and Ethan Lyle & Roberta

Mark & Jodi Brian & Jim

Brian & Bethany Daisy & Mollie

Latest Ultrasound

Well, I was back at MFM (Maternal-Fetal Medicine) this week for the latest ultrasound and an NST (non stress test). I scheduled it with a different doctor this time, since I felt like my previous specialist wasn't listening to a thing I was saying and treating my pregnancy is though it was high risk, which it isn't. Right away, I could tell that my new doctor was much more attentive. He informed me that he needed to take a closer look at Sophia's kidneys because the sonographer hadn't seen anything. When I asked him what he meant, he seemed very surprised and said, "Didn't they discuss with you last time that they thought they saw something near her kidneys?" I said, "No," and he seemed rather taken aback, but I'm sure not nearly as much as I was! Of course, he didn't find anything wrong either. My previous doctor also "thought" he saw something in her large intestine last time. Curiouser and curiouser.

So, this new doctor didn't even go into percentiles with me. He said that my blood pressure has been exceptional throughout the pregnancy and very steady and to stop taking the baby aspirins in two weeks. He told me that Sophia is 3 lbs, 14 oz, and that she's right on track to be around seven lbs or just shy on her due date, and more around 6 lbs if she comes a week or two early. He seemed very pleased with her progress, and frankly rather surprised that I was still coming to the clinic. He told me I could wait a month to come in for my next appointment, and that it would probably be the last one.

Just a cute story: Dr. Wall was spending a lot of time checking out Sophia's heart at the ultrasound. Eventually he said, "I don't want you to be concerned that I'm spending so much time looking at her chart. There's nothing wrong; it's just so beautiful. It's not often that I get to see the heart so well, but you're slender and the baby is in just the right position. What a beautiful heart." It made me smile :)

Rochester Baby Shower

Hi Everyone! It's been a long couple of weeks. First, Brian was away speaking at MEDC in Las Vegas, which went very well, and then I was in Rochester for five days. I can't believe that I'm already 31 weeks pregnant! This pregnancy has flown by so fast and has been such a blessing so far. Brian and I are both getting really excited as we anticipate Sophia's birth.


Meg, Mom, Me, Aunt Pat

Opening Gifts



........ More gift opening...... close up of cake



....and more cake.... Me with the cake



Michelle & Me (she's due a week after I am)


Aunt Pat's tropical fruit tray and her amazing punch!


All the tablecloths were baby blankets and most of the decorations were clothing, books, and stuffed animals for me to bring home for Sophia. All the silverware was tied together with little pastel flower ponytail holders.

Thank you to everyone who attended the shower, and especially to Aunt Pat, Meghan, and Mom for throwing it!!!

28 Week Pictures... Trimester #3 Begins!!

As the title says, these are pictures of me at 28 weeks (and 2 days, if you want to be precise), also known as 7 months or the 3rd trimester. I can't believe we've only got 12 more weeks until Sophia is due to be born! It's going to be a very busy month. Next week, Brian will be speaking at the MED-C conference in Las Vegas for 4 days. Then, I'll be in Rochester for 5 days for Mother's Day and the baby shower. The following weekend, we'll be in Coeur d'Alene for a second shower hosted by my lovely in-laws, and the last weekend in May, we'll actually be going on our "babymoon" (ie. last trip before we have to wrangle a baby-sitter) on Orcas Island. And, then...no more travelling until this little one is born! Anyway, enjoy the pictures.

25 Week Belly Pics!

Ultrasound #3

Just to keep you all updated... I went to the maternal-fetal medicine clinic at our hospital this week and got a very thorough, very long ultrasound/Doppler scan. Mostly, the news was good. They found no trace of the uterine artery notching, and Sophia seems perfectly healthy. However, she's still very small (back under the 10th percentile, they believe). I've been put on even more protein (those disgusting health shakes--yuck! I really need to buy some ice cream or something to make milkshakes with that powder). I'm supposed to consume about 40g of protein a day! On top of that, I've still got my twice a day folic acid/calcium supplements, and I'm not supposed to take 1 baby aspirin a day, as well, to help prevent pre-eclampsia, which because of Sophia's size, I apparently have a heightened risk for. So, with all that and the prenatal vitamin, I'm beginning to feel a bit like my grandmother. But, it's all for a good cause :) I have another ultrasound at the M-F clinic in two weeks, so we'll let you know how things are progressing.

In other news, our carpet is being put in on April 10th!!! Yay!!! And, Ethan will be coming out while I'm in Rochester over Mother's Day weekend to help Brian put in engineered hardwood in our main living area. I can't wait to put up new pictures. It's like an entirely different house already, just from the paint. The floors should be a big improvement.

Celebrity Look Alikes

Just something funny I did today!

Name Change!

Well, spelling change, in any case. Just wanted to alert you all that we've changed the spelling of our daughter's name to Sophia Christine. That's all for now. I'll post more pictures of the baby belly later.

Ultrasound #2

Well, we've reached the goal for the month: Sophia is up above the 10th percentile now. She moved from the 8th to the 14th in 3.5 weeks! She is still on the smaller side, though, and since they discovered some uterine artery notching (small gaps in the pulse of the arteries connected to the uterus), I am being referred to the specialists at the maternal-fetal medicine center. They are going to do some special Doppler test to make sure that the baby is getting sufficient nutrients despite the notching. I'm not sure what happens if she's not, but since she was able to grow so effectively with relatively minor dietary changes, I'm hopeful. Please pray that the tests all go well and that Sophia continues to grow healthfully.

Some other interesting pregnancy news: my OBGYN is getting married and moving to Montana! So, I'm being transfered to a different doctor in the same practice. I do like my current doctor a lot, but I'm not too concerned about the transfer since there are only 6 doctors in the practice, all of them female, and I have heard excellent reports of all of them. Besides, there's no guarantee who will be delivering Sophia, anyway.

Brian has been extremely busy at work, and with all the rennovating we're doing on the house--and will continue doing over the next couple of months--it's been quite a time here. Please pray that his work schedule would lighten up some and that he will be able to work more efficiently with what's on his plate.

Love to all!

Per Request:

Here are some shots of my growing belly! Hope all of you who have been asking for them enjoy. We'll post more as I move increasingly towards what Stephanie's mother refers to as the "beach whale stage." hee hee.

The verdict is in...

We're having a baby GIRL!!!

We had our 20-week ultrasound this morning at 8 AM, and around 8:15, the technician made a definitive call that we're having a little girl. I was surprised that she could so easily tell that it was a girl; I had always thought that they predicted that because there was an absence of male genitalia. But, nope, our technician was very sure that she was looking at a girl.

We got to see the baby's spine, face, hands, brain, heart, legs, arms, stomach...all sorts of things! It was truly fascinating. We've got a video, too, so if anyone's interested, they can check our "little scrapper" out. That's what my OB called her since I started feeling kicks on February 1st (~17 weeks), which is considered quite early for a first time mom.

The only concern the doctor had with the ultrasound was the baby's size. Apparently she measured very small (below the 10th percentile). The OB wasn't worried, but she did put me on folic acid supplements, instructed me to increase my protein intake daily, and scheduled a second ultrasound for next month to check the baby's growth progress.

Oh, and we think we've finally decided on a name: Sofia Kristine Hudson. Now that the baby's not an "it" anymore, we can start calling our daughter by her name!