First Tummy pics

Today is our 4 month check up with the midwife. All is going well, I am growing, growing which is good. Most of my clothes are t-i-g-h-t so, I am wearing the last of my regular clothes for a while. We were playing in the kitchen and I guess the kids noticed my belly more than usual so, Emily grabbed the camera and took some pictures. Here are a few. All of us are so excited about our newest Shiflet and anxiously await his/her arrival.



My baby bump is starting to show and we
are all getting excited






Andrew asks almost every day if he can feel
the baby kick him yet. Not yet, but it won't
be long.



Kathlena likes to pat my tummy and say, " baby Shiflet get out,
I want to see you!"

A window into the womb

Today we were so very excited to hear Baby Shiflet's heartbeat for the very first time. He/she is now 12 weeks along...almost the size of an orange now. All six of us were present and it was so fun to see the faces of all of our children when that sweet sound resonated across the Doppler. For Daddy and Mommy it is much encouragement that things are progressing normally and gives us our first sounds of life to cherish. We are all becoming very excited and anxious to meet this little gift.
Andrew asks me almost everyday if the baby is big enough for him to feel it kick yet. He cannot wait for this to happen and I too am excited with him. I asked him if the baby was a boy what name he would give the baby...without hesitation "Larry". After Larry the cucumber from Veggie Tales of course. I then asked him what name he would give the baby if it were a girl...he thought for a moment then replied with a shrug "That would be Kathlena's business" Such a thoughtful boy and clever too! Well, thankfully all can rest assured that Daddy and Mommy will have the final say on names and I am thinking that Larry probably isn't going to make the cut, but we appreciate Andrew's thoughts.

Below is a recording Emily made of Baby Shiflet's very strong heartbeat. Coming in at 160-170 beats/min. Kathlena was quite fascinated with the Doppler machine and once that heartbeat came across the speaker she jumped up and went straight for the speaker to get a closer listen followed by all her other siblings. We were all smiles. Thank you my sweet Emily for recording this precious moment in Shiflet history for us to cherish.

You can turn the music off in the sidebar so you can hear the audio. It is a short clip, but such a sweet sound.