It's a Girl!!!

Most of you already know this by now since we posted it first on Facebook, but Zach and I are going to have a baby girl!!! Even though we were originally leaning a bit more towards a boy, we are still soooo thrilled to be having a girl. From what the doctors can tell, so far, the baby is healthy and growing well; and that's all that matters to us. As of now, we have decided on the name Madison Collette Benedict. Had it been a boy, we liked Trey Thomas Benedict; so I guess we'll save that name for later. :) We have already looked at cute girly nursery room ideas. Zach sends me emails throughout my day at work of cribs and bedding he finds online. I think it's so sweet that he cares so much and wants to be involved with the decorating. ha ha. Love that guy. To say the least, we are so happy and excited. We are getting anxious to meet her now. I'm 20 weeks along, still not showing much, but still feeling really good. I've been having a few aches and pains in my lower back muscles and stomach muscles from my belly stretching a little, but it hasn't been too bad. I've also been able to feel her kick and move for the first time over the last week or so. It's the weirdest feeling ever! I laughed when I felt the first little kick. It was fun. Anyway, here's a little blurb on how our OB visit went...

.  .  .

When we arrived at the hospital, we were so excited and anxious. Erica came along too. I was a little surprised at the nervousness I felt along with the excitement. I was dying to know. I couldn't wait another minute. After about 30 minutes of sitting in the waiting room, the nurse finally called us in. I told her I wanted to know the gender right away before doing all the measurements! She laughed and agreed. We called my mom in California and put her on speaker phone so she could hear the whole thing. There was a large flat screen hanging on the wall in front of us so that we all had a clear view. 

As soon as the nurse flipped on the monitor and began the ultrasound, right away I saw the baby's cute little bum and saw female parts! I immediately said, "Oh, I thinks it's a girl!!!" The nurse agreed with me but wanted to be sure, so she moved the ultrasound wand around my belly for a better view. After a little bit of wiggling, the nurse finally confirmed that indeed it was a girl! We all started screaming and laughing...and then my mom started to cry. :) I couldn't believe it! But I was so happy. Zach was cute and had the biggest smile on his face. We kept looking at each other and laughing. It was an exciting moment.

We continued to watch and were able to see her tiny developing heart, organs, brain, and limbs. My favorite part was seeing her profile. It was all so surreal. She had made great progress since our last OB visit. After everything was over, they burned me a DVD of our ultrasound video, and we left. I called my family members on the ride home to tell them the good news. Steve and Sandra are happy that little Natalie will have a girl cousin to play with. February will sneak up on us, so we are motivated and happy to get everything ready for when our sweet baby girl joins the world!! :)

On our way in! Both Zach and Erica got off work early to be there with me. We were so excited!!

Before I got pregnant, I spent a lot of time researching hospitals and doctors. I finally decided to go with the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray to deliver our baby. They have a great women's center and the OB doctor I chose had great reviews. She is so kind. She doesn't rush our visits and really wants the best for us. So far, I couldn't be happier with my choice.

Here we are anxiously waiting to be called in. It felt like forever.

A pic of my jellied belly (I still don't even look pregnant at all). And a celebratory kiss right after we found out!

My sweet sister and my mom hanging out with us on speaker phone. :)

New photos to hang on our fridge! 

A girl!

Little foot and toes!

The profile pic with her cute button nose!