THE BUNNEE BUMP: WEEK 17

Dear Little Bunnee,

Mama and papa saw you for the first time at our ultrasound this week!  It was surreal and emotional to see you, all 5″ of you with two arms, two legs, all your fingers and toes and a beating heart.  You danced around for us a little bit but for the most part looked really comfortable chilling.  You are doing such a good job growing inside mama’s belly and we’re already so proud of, and in love with you.   We also found out that you’re a little girl!  You and your sister are going to have so much fun growing up together, and having you two are going to make mama a better woman too.  We asked your sister to give you a nickname, and she squealed “Bunnee!” and kissed mama’s belly.  She also lifted up her shirt, pointed at her own belly and said “Ellie’s baby!” too.  She already loves you so much.

xoxo  Mama

Ellie made me a plate of playdough “noodles” and fed me tonight.  As I was “eating” it, she turned her head and puckered her lips to kiss me.  At that moment, my heart shattered into a million pieces and turned into a puddle of mush. My heart literally hurt. I never knew that your heart could break, not from pain, but from love too. When I was at this point in my pregnancy with Ellie, I had no idea what these “moments” would feel like.  I was pregnant for the first time, and knew that I would have a child and become a parent, but had no idea what that really meant.  This pregnancy feels different in that already knowing what I can look forward to has put a whole different level of depth to what it means to be pregnant, and as my belly gets bigger little by little, I already feel my heart growing bigger and bigger too.

It was surreal and emotional seeing the baby at our first ultrasound this week.  It was amazing in that despite of me not “showing” too much, or not really “feeling” the baby yet, to the contrary this baby is FOR REAL and GROWING!!!!  The moment that wand touched my belly, BAM!  There was an undeniable baby on the monitor.  A real human baby!  A head with the right and left brain, two arms, two legs, all of the fingers and toes, a spine, and a strong, beating heart.  All packed into a tiny, turnip sized baby.  It was incredible.  Matt and I just held hands with our eyes glued to the monitor in awe watching this tiny creature creating life inside of me.

We also found out that we’re having another little girl!  I’m an only child, but feel blessed to have formed a strong “sisterhood” with many of my close girlfriends.  I can only hope and encourage that Ellie and little Bunnee will form their own, unique, loving, and strong sisterhood too.  We already know that Ellie is going to be a good big sister so Bunnee will have a good role model to look up to!  And speaking of which, we asked Ellie to nickname the baby and she came up with “Bunnee.”  When Ellie was in the womb, we nicknamed her “Gigi.”(only a few friends know the story behind the naming.)  We wanted to nickname this baby too so we didn’t have to refer to it just as “baby,” or “it,” and it only made sense to ask Ellie for her opinion.  I think “Bunnee” suits this baby just fine.