Sorry to take so long to post the pictures, but I finally got them up. All of these were up on Tuesday night in case you already saw them.
So the ultrasound went great and we found out we are having a boy. Elijah James weighed 1 pound 4 ounces, and Lydia will be 23 weeks pregnant on Friday. He is healthy and everything is looking good. We were not allowed to take a video of the ultrasound and the guy only printed out two pictures. Lydia is not happy about it, but our baby's healthy and that is all that matters. This should be our only ultrasound unless there are complications in the future. And for those who are wondering, the hospital does not have the 3D/4D ultrasounds, so it was not even an option. The first picture is of Elijah's head, no word on whether it will follow in the tradition of most Winters males. (For those that don't know, we tend to have large heads)
The other picture is of little Elijah's face. Lydia is convinced that our child will have dimples, and has been trying to see if the ultrasound reveals anything. I don't think it does.
Lydia's due date is still October 15th. Both sets of parents have already made plans to come out soon after the baby is born and we cannot wait. Lydia is doing great and is slowly regaining her energy. I actually fell asleep before she did last night, which hardly ever happens. Her belly keeps getting bigger, and the midwife says she is right on track for her weight gain. Like the midwife says, there is still not a bit of fat on her, she is just all baby.
Alaska was amazing. But the first night was horrible. We arrived in Anchorage at 12:30 am, and waited about an hour to get our bags and get our rental car. Thankfully, the guy at the rental car place new exactly where the Air Force base was and gave perfect directions. Sadly, there was a ton of road construction going on, so the directions he gave us did not prove to be very helpful. After a short detour through some sort of retreat center, we made it to the base. Once at the base, around 2am, the guards gave us directions to our lodging and we were off. Unfortunately, there was road construction on the base that apparently the guard was not aware of. After cruising around the base for a bit, we found the lodging. Only to have no clue where the lobby was, as the lodging was spread across several buildings. One phone call later, we found the lobby, only to discover that they messed up our reservations. They had empty rooms but none of them were clean. So, at 3:30am, we were given a list of hotels and told to call one for the night. Needless to say, Lydia was not happy. So, we called my parents, got them to look up the Days Inn number, and checked into a hotel about 4am. As checkout was 11am, we paid far too much for only a few hours of sleep. Thankfully, after that, everything went great.
We stayed at Elmendorf Air Force Base, and the room was great. Another wonderful perk of Lydia's job. Our rooms were right next to their runway, which was noisy, but we got to see fighters flying in and out everyday, which I enjoyed. We checked out a weekend market in Anchorage where I got to eat halibut, salmon, and reindeer. All were tasty.
We hiked along a trail in Anchorage that went right past two moose chowing down on the bushes. Lydia took two quick pictures, and we moved on.
We traveled south down Seward Highway along the coast to Portage Glacier, which can barely be seen in the background of our pictures. To get any closer, you needed a boat. We also got to visit an animal conservation center that had black and brown bear, moose, elk, caribou, muskoxen, etc. It was probably the coolest part of the whole trip.
We also headed north to Eklutna lake where we were attacked by mosquitoes, and met a moose standing on the road.
The Salmon runs were in full swing while we were there, and we got to see people fishing Ship Creek everyday. We only saw one salmon get pulled out, but we still had fun.
There were warnings about bears everywhere but we never saw them, or any trace of them, which we were thankful for.
And finally a few pictures of us standing beside much safer versions of a bear and a moose.
Overall, the trip went much better than we could have hoped for. Lydia got to spend several hours at the clinic, and was able to find out a ton of information about the residency program. They encouraged her to apply this October, and seemed very encouraging. We continue to pray about where God would have us go, but if we had to make the decision right now, we would be heading to Alaska next summer.
Needless to say, with everything that has been going on, the book has gotten pushed aside over the past two weeks. The rest of my week is going to be focused on putting together our baby bead and changing table, and cleaning up our house. Things got out of control with the trip and all. And we are also getting ready for Lydia's sister and niece to come visit a week from Sunday. This will be their first time out here, and we cannot wait.
We are looking forward to our trip home in July and cannot wait to see everybody. Thanks to everybody throwing the church showers, we really appreciate it, and love that we will get to see so many of you. We love you all and miss you.
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