Tonight Mommy felt lots of kicking and told Daddy to try to feel it. Every time Mango kicked, Mommy asked, "did you feel that?" "what about that?" "you MUST have felt that!" But Daddy didn't feel it. Finally there was a kick and Daddy said "was that a kick? I felt something!"

Mommy and Daddy arrived safely in Sydney, Australia today and went straight to the home of Daddy's cousins, Harry and Brenda Braun. Mommy has a cough that won't go away, so she has been drinking alot of tea. Every time she takes a sip, Mango kicks!

Today Mommy had a shortened Mother's Day with Grandma Helene before leaving for the next leg of her journey. She flew to Phoenix and met up with her friend Julie. (Julie's mom thinks Baby will be a girl because she does not look like a basketball!) Mommy had a fun few hours with Julie, who brought a doppler so Mommy could check Baby's heartbeat - 157!

On the phone, Alison said she and Elana also think Baby will be a girl. Alison asked Marty if he thought Baby would be a girl or a boy and Marty said yes. :) Then she asked Elana if the baby would be a girl or a boy, and Elana said a boy. Mommy said that Elana probably just repeated the last option that Alison gave her. Sure enough, Alison then asked Elana if Baby would be a boy or a girl and Elana said a girl!

Baby kicked the whole way to Phoenix and again on the plane from Phoenix to LA! Does s/he like flying?? Then Mommy met Daddy in LA, where they will stay tonight and see Uncle Izzy tomorrow before continuing to Australia tomrorow night.

Great-Aunt Ruthie insisted that Mommy get a check-up during her long trip abroad. Today Mommy went to a nice doctor named Dr. Leach at Grandma Helene's OBGYN office. When the doctor heard Mango's due date, he said "if the baby comes a little late, you could have him on my brithday." Mommy said "oh, I thought you were going to say Rosh Hashana." The doctor said, "yeah, I can't tell you how many birthdays I spent in shul!" Mommy told him that at least his birthday isn't on Pesach like Daddy's, who grew up having matza cake every year!

When the doctor listened to Mango's heartbeat, he said "good wow-wows" (because the heartbeat sounds like "wow-wow-wow-wow-wow-wow-wow).

Mommy was glad to get a good report before she leaves for Australia next week.

Annie and Ruthie Lehmann and Grandma Helene felt Mango kicking tonight! Annie said she thinks Mango will be a boy. Ruthie said she thinks Mango will be a gboy or a bgirl. :)

Then Mommy and Grandma went home and heard Mango's heartbeat on the doppler that Mommy's friend Kathy gave her.

Mommy thinks her belly looks much bigger today. (It's probably from all the pizza that Annie fed her!) Good thing Zeide is coming home from California tomorrow so he can take some pictures.

Tonight Mommy and Grandma went to Sarah's Deli Night with the Hochbaums and Ruthie Lehmann. She saw Brian and Kimmie Schon (and their two cute kids), who were very happy to see Mommy and her belly. On the way out she saw Suzi Benaderet, whose jaws dropped at the site of the belly! Mommy explained to Elana Hochbaum that she has a baby in her belly, but she's not sure Elana understood.

Today Mommy got her first comment from a random stranger about the pregnancy! While shopping in Strawberry Hills, the cashier, Danielle, asked when the baby is due and if it is a girl. Mommy said she was waiting to be surprised, but asked why the lady thought it was a girl. The lady said she thinks it's girl season - all the pregnant customers she's had have been having girls, whereas last year they all had baby boys. She told Mommy to make sure to give that baby girl lots of chocolate milk and goodies - and then she patted Mommy's belly!

Of course, then Mommy got a message that her friend Julie dreamed she had a baby boy....

When unpacking the groceries, Grandma saw that Danielle had packed the pickles and the ice cream together in the same bag. Haha!

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And here's the good news (drum roll, please): A letter from the dr's office in NJ came to Grandma's house in Michigan with news that the ultrasound results were great!

- Baby is currently breech (nothing to worry about at this early stage).
- Heart rate 149 BPM.
- Baby's measurements were one week smaller than gestational age (no worries because Mommy was a small baby too).
- Heart, lateral ventricles, stomach, bladder, and cord insertion site all appear "unremarkable." (Daddy asked "WHAT about my baby is unremarkable?" Mommy reassured him that this was a good thing!)
- A three-vessel umbilical cord is noted.- Due to fetal positioning, the spine and kidneys are not well evaluated (that must be what the tech was looking for for so long).- The placenta is located posteriorly and shows no previa.
- A normal amount of amniotic fluid is seen.

Baruch Hashem! Mommy and Grandma gave tzeddaka after they read the letter.

Today Mommy flew to Michigan to spend a week at Grandma and Zeide's house. When she walked out of the airport she was surprised to see Grandma standing by the car with a video camera. Suddenly, David Lehmann popped around the corner to surprise her! But boy was he in for a surprise when Mommy pointed to her tummy! David helped Mommy carry her luggage to the car and then they drove to his house to deliver the news to his family.

Grandma stood in front of Mommy at the Lehmanns' door, and David stood ready with the video camera. When Annie opened the door, Grandma moved aside and Annie did a double-take! She screamed and hugged Mommy and cried. Then Ruthie came downstairs and was shocked and screamed and jumped up and down too! All four ladies had a big jumping, dancing group hug, while Davidi got it on film for Zeidi, who had missed his flight from California.

Next, Grandma and Mommy went to visit Malca Katz, who hasn't been feeling well. Grandma again stood in front of Mommy at the door and made sure Malca left the screen door closed. When Grandma stepped aside, Malca jumped up and down and said she was feeling better already!

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Then it was on to the shul dinner. The first person we saw was Alison. She was sitting at the registration table, and as soon as she saw Mommy walk in she shouted, "I knew it, I knew it!" She had had a dream that Mommy was pregnant a few months ago! Then Tansy Kraft (who was sitting next to Alison at registration) cupped her hand to her ear and asked Mommy to turn around so she could see if people were excited for the reason she thought they were excited!

Rabbi Silberberg said this was "fabulous, fabulous, just fabulous news." Rabbi Wineberg said he "wished he could give Grandma a 'proper' Mazal Tov." Rochel Wineberg didn't even notice and had to come over to us later and say "I can't believe you didn't tell me and I had to hear it from Avromi!" She said she looked at my face - she doesn't look at people's bellies because she wouldn't want people looking at her belly!

Mommy sat between Grandma and Alison at dinner. When Marty Hochbaum sat down next to his wife, Grandma pointed at Mommy's belly and asked excitedly, "did you see, did you see?" Marty (thinking Grandma was referring to Mommy), smiled and said, "I saw." Grandma said "you're going to be an aunt and uncle," and Marty asked, shocked, "WHAT?!" Apparently the buffet table had blocked his view of Mommy's belly during the smorgasboard!

Dr. Lupovitch was very happy and so was Betty Koloff and her father Mr. Kroll. Amira and Becky Skoczylas were very excited, and Andy Stawis was in tears. Alan Stawis gave Mommy advice (baby aspirin and support stockings) for her flight to Australia. Suzy Kellman and Sheryl Stollman promised to try not to tell their mom until Mommy could tell her in person. Everyone was happy to see Mommy eating "for two."

It was a long and exciting night. At the end, Grandma wanted to help Yael Gross clean up, but Yael told her to take Mommy home and put her to bed!

Big kicks today! Mommy thought for sure that Daddy would be able to feel them. He was very patient and sat with his hand on Mommy’s tummy for a long time, but he could not feel anything. We will try again soon.

Today we had the big ultrasound at South Jersey Radiology Clinic Women's Center. The doctor in Israel said we could wiat till we get home at 27 weeks, but if G-d forbid there's a problem it would be too late to correct anything. So we decided to do it in America, even though we (meaning Grandma) will have to pay out of pocket.

The receptionist gave us lots of trouble for being foreigners. And silly Mommy forgot to drink 32 oz of water in an hour before the appointment, but it didn't really matter.

At first they didn't let Daddy come in. He was annoyed because he scheduled his whole speaking tour around this ultrasound! They took lots and lots of measurements - and Mommy's back was very sore because she walked all over NYC with her friends yesterday. The measurements took a long time and Mommy was nervous when they called in a second tech to find something the first tech couldn't find.

Finally Daddy was allowed to come in! He brought Aunt Sue, too. We saw Baby playing, and it looked like s/he was talking or maybe drinking some amniotic fluid. We also saw a 3D ultrasound, which Daddy said made Baby look like a volcano. Aunt Sue asked the tech to tell her Baby's gender but the tech wouldn't tell! Mommy reminisced about finding out cousin Eli's gender at Aunt Sue's ultrasound about 15 years ago!

Daddy had to leave straight from the appointment to give a speech in New York City, at cousin Mindy's college. He missed his bus so Aunt Sue drove him. She's great!

We hope to get good news soon about all the measurements and that everything with Baby Mango looks perfect!