30 weeks down, only 10 to go!

Today was our Week 30 doctor's appointment and sonogram, and everything is looking good! To start out, here is a shot of my belly taken this morning on our way to the doctor's office. I am getting bigger and bigger! It's, um, mostly my belly.

Here are the highlights from our appointment:

-- Baby Lima Bean weighs 2 pounds and 14 ounces and is in the 31 percentile for her size, meaning that she is larger than 31% of babies at this point and smaller than 69% of babies at this point. My doctor said this is perfect!

-- Fibroids are the same, unchanged. They do not appear to be impeding the growth of the baby or affecting her in any way. Also, although it's too early to tell for sure, they are not indicating a definite c-section at this time. We'll know more at my next sonogram at 34 weeks. Good news!

-- At this particular appointment, baby was breach, meaning butt down and head up. However, she doesn't need to be in "position" with her head down until 36 weeks, so anything can happen and we'll deal with that situation when we get there, my doctor said.

-- I weighed in at +24.5 pounds since my first appointment. Eeek! My doctor says that I am right on target, but to keep an eye on things so that hopefully I will gain only another 10 pounds before delivery.

Now, what you have all been waiting for, new pictures of Baby Lima Bean! This first shot is of her foot! You can see all of her toes!

This next shot is of her face, taken from above looking down:

And this final shot is one of five similar profile shots taken today:

We have one more picture, but we have decided, for her privacy, not to post it online. The picture confirms without a shadow of a doubt that Baby Lima Bean is a GIRL! Today, we saw a different sonogram technician than we have in the past, so we now have two different people who have checked and confirmed that we have a little girl on her way! Let the pink times roll!

Finally, we have something special to share with you today... Using our camera, Papa Bean was able to video Baby Lima Bean's movements on the sonogram! This short 26-second movie starts off looking down at her face, then switches to a profile shot where you can see her put her hands in her mouth and then yawn. So cute!

Update:

You can now watch this video in a larger format on YouTube!

Lima Bean is a ... GIRL!

We just had our 20-week doctor's appointment today and from the view we had... We've got a little lady in here!

Everything measured normal: her brain, her head, her spine, her heart, kidneys, she's got two arms and two legs... Strong heartbeat. Everything is looking great!

Below are some more photos of our little princess... She's in the same position as the baby girl in the image above.

Except our little darling appears to be fascinated by her hands! It was a trip watching her on the sonogram screen because it looked like instead of sucking her thumb, she was going straight for her whole hands, both of them!

Methinks this one will be way into manicures. Oh yeah...

Is Lima Bean a boy or a girl?

Funny thing is, little Lima Bean is the only one who knows the answer to that question right now. And even funnier, Baby Bean most likely does not even know that the other sex even exists! (There was a day...)

As you all know, the sex of a baby is determined at the moment of conception by the father. So, whether we have a boy or a girl, you can blame - or congratulate - Papa Bean!

After conception, the ball of cells that turns into an embryo looks about the same whether it's a boy or a girl. It isn't until Week 8 that the magic starts happening. By Week 8, Lima Bean's genitals began development, although they are difficult to identify this early on.

At Week 10, Lima Bean officially graduated from the embryonic period and became a fetus. Bones and cartilage began to form, elbows on little Lima Bean's arms started working and tiny buds of baby teeth started forming under the gums.

Farther down, Lima Bean's stomach started producing digestive juices and the kidneys started producing - get this - urine! If Lima Bean is a boy, then by this time he had already started producing testosterone (boys will be boys, even this early on!)

If Lima Bean is a girl, then by Week 11, she already started developing ovaries!

And by Week 12, the pituitary gland at the base of the brain already started producing hormones - so that Lima Bean will one day be able to make babies of his or her own!

Unreal.

All this before we, the parents, even get to find out whether Lima Bean is a boy or a girl!

By the way, if you have not voted yet, what are you waiting for?! We should be able to find out the sex by Week 20, so considering that we are at Week 13/Day 4 right now, you have about a month and a half to register your guesses!

In the meantime, we can't help trying to figure out on our own whether Lima Bean is a boy or a girl...

According to the Chinese conception gender chart, we're having a boy! But according to this version of the Chinese conception chart, using lunar months, we are having a girl!

According to this quiz, we have a 76 percent chance of having a boy! According to this chart, however, my age means that we have a 58 percent chance of having a girl!

Let the guessing begin!