Pregnancy Update

I had an ultrasound at 20 and 24 weeks in order to find out the baby's sex. Both times, the radiologist said from what she could see it was a girl, but she couldn't be positive. She never really focused on the lower regions or showed us what she was looking at, so it was hard to believe that I should go with it and buy everything pink!

24 week scan, profile of her face and stomach when we saw her swallowing

So back in October, while I was in the states, I went to my old Ob/Gyn to have a check-up and get a second opinion about everything. I had an ultrasound and confirmed I was having a girl, when the technician pushed on my belly until she opened her legs!! It was a lot different than the scans I had in the UAE where she was very professional taking a lot of measurements and keeping very quiet. But in the US, she was very vocal about everything she was looking at and even taking a picture of her girl parts to confirm her gender! This was my 28 week appointment and baby was weighing in at almost 3 pounds (around the 50 percentile). Her head was also down at this point.

28 weeks

a profile pic of baby's face

29 weeks



31 weeks



At 32 weeks, I had my last appointment with Dr. Rhonda at Brightpoint Hospital. We found out that the hospital will not be open for inpatient care by my due date and the doctor will be away on leave until January 20th. Therefore we began the search for a new doctor and hospital. At this appointment, she did a quick scan (although I didn't get pictures) because I wasn't feeling a lot of movement. It turns out that the baby was laying sideways facing back so most of her kicks were towards my back and I couldn't feel them even when we saw her move on the monitor. The following week, I found another American doctor that was fairly new to Abu Dhabi, so I went for a check up with her. She seems to be of West African decent, but she went to school in the states, did her residency at Baylor College of Medicine and worked in the states for the past 15 years. I really like her (Dr. Firmine Jean-Baptiste) and she took a lot of time to learn all about my pregnancy and ask lots of questions. We toured the hospital where she works, Al Noor, and the nurses were very helpful showing us the maternity ward and the delivery rooms. So although it was hard to change doctors so late in the game, I was thankful that I found this one! At this 32.5 week scan, we found that baby was completely breeched, so that was crazy to see how much she had moved around in just a week.
We went back at about 34.5 weeks, as I will now see her every 2 weeks until 36 when I start going every week. This time baby was head down so I was super excited! The doctor also found her precious face and we got to see her move her little lips as she was practicing breathing. There was enough amniotic fluid and the heartbeat was good, so everything looked great!

face shot of baby and her cute lips

33 weeks

34 weeks

35 weeks

Baby is definitely growing, growing, growing, and the due date is getting super close!!!! I feel her hiccup at least once every day and also get some crazy kicks/movements sometimes at nights. I can also feel her little feet on my left side and she moves them around when I rub them. Sleeping is starting to get uncomfortable, mainly because I am constantly turning from side to side and she still shifts and moves when I turn as well. But I really can't complain since its been pretty easy up until now. We are still praying she stays in until at least her due date, but as its only a month away now, its so crazy to think that we will meet her so soon!