First Ultrasound

Well, I guess I had an update sooner than expected. At my last appointment I didn't know if I was going to be doing the new test they've been starting to do in recent months for mothers in their first trimester but I did. It's an ultrasound to test specifically for Downs Syndrome, they measure the thickness of the skin at the back of the baby's neck but they also let you take photo's home too and they'll record it on DVD for you if you want and of course I did! I have to say....I thought hearing the heartbeat for the first time was exciting stuff but WOW....seeing my baby (yes, only one for you twin wishers!!) for the first time was the most amazing experience!! My cousin (and soon to be God Mommy) Christina joined me as Ryan couldn't make it. It was definitely nice to be able to share that with someone close to me and Ryan is most definitely going to be at my 20 week ultrasound when we are able to find out a lot more information like pinpointed due date and the sex....yippee! I'll finally be able to say he or she, not "he/she" or "it", those references slip out once and a while but I just don't like the sound of it ya know?? :-) When the technician was walking me to the room she asked "so you have a full bladder right?" and I said "what? I just pee'd 2 seconds before you called me in ...no one mentioned not to pee?!?!" I guess someone was supposed to tell me but failed. So, as she got started I drank a liter of water to try to fill'er up again and I guess she had some luck w/o the full bladder but wanted me to drink a little more and walk the halls a bit to get the baby to switch positions because the little bugger didn't want to cooperate. I didn't mind, it was just more time for me to look at my little one :-) Turns out even with a full bladder they couldn't get "ideal" pictures but they got a few that gave them what they needed. From what the ultrasound technician could see everything looks normal but the photo's get passed on to the real expert after my appointment to be looked at along with the results of my blood work.....I'm sure everything is just fine. Baby is 69.5 mm long (approx. 2 3/4") and the heartbeat came in at around 150 bpm. Here's a sneak peak, the profile..........

and my little alien!.......

What you are looking at is the baby looking straight up at my belly. It's not hard to see the 2 eye sockets and above those is where the skull is forming. Look at that belly! Baby's got Daddy's beer belly already?!?!? First heartbeat, now pictures.....I really am pregnant!!

First Appointments

I know it has been a while since I've posted an update but that is mostly because I've been symptom free and there really hasn't been much to update everyone on. I have been a bit tired but basically that is about it, I can hear all you Mommies that had hard pregnancy's swearing my name now!! :-) I have been very lucky and I do realize that although I'm not out of the woods yet I don't think! In just a few short days I'll be 12 weeks and going into my 2nd trimester next week. It seems like it's been going slow but I honestly can't believe that soon I'll be in my 2nd trimester!!

I had my first appointment last Wednesday the 2nd but that was a pretty uneventful appointment so I didn't bother to write about it. All that happened at that appointment is that I met with the nurse for a bunch of questions about myself and both our medical histories, weighed in (fun!) and they took a bunch of blood from me to run some tests on.

Today's appointment was the exciting appointment!! Ryan went with me since we were going to be attempting to hear the heartbeat. I picked up Ryan at home for our 2:00PM appointment and by 2:05 we were in the exam room. Well, actually first stop was the dreaded scale!! Turns out since last weeks morning appointment I'm down 3 pounds....weird! The nurse took my blood pressure and I came in at a very healthy 112/70 so that is great and then shortly after we met Dr. O'Hare and she went through some of my test results and it turns out that I have a bladder infection and I didn't even know it so I'm going on an antibiotic to clear that up. Also, I guess I am B- and every woman that is B- is required to get a Rho-gam shot around 28 weeks and then again after birth. Standard stuff I guess so there are no worries there. Actually, Dr. O'Hare said that I was quite boring because I had nothing that would shake things up at all......perfect health other than the bladder infection which is my first ever and pretty common in pregnant women. Then Ryan witnessed his first pap smear (as you can imagine he was very excited about that!). After all that fun stuff was done we got to the good part.....attempting to hear the heartbeat!! She searched and she searched and she searched for about 5 minutes and I was starting to get nervous that we weren't going to be successful then there it was.....the whoosh-whoosh-whoosh of my little baby's teeny heart....170 bpm. It was the most amazing thing I've ever heard and to think it was coming from my belly! Oh, and for all of you (and there are many!) who have been telling me I'm having twins.....there was only one heartbeat...thank God! However, she did say that if there we twins in there the chances of being able to locate both heartbeats are slim and that we were very lucky to find the one before the 12 week mark. There is a better chance that I would have twins since my Grandmother on my Dad's side was a fraternal twin and in the land of twins fraternal are the ones that run in the family. The sound of that fast beating heart I will never forget!! The Dr. has put my due date at November 27th but by my investigation (due date calculators) I'm due Nov. 24th but it will be somewhere in there and at my 20 week ultrasound that should get narrowed down a little better. My next appointment is June 1st so I'll be updating again after that appointment for sure and before then if anything interesting pops up. Oh, and after that appointment we met with our realtor to discuss a piece of land in Saco that already has a contractor that's building on it. We're going to be doing lots of homework starting now to figure out if we can afford the house, how much we can get for our duplex, pricing out things like kitchen cabinets/counter tops/bath fixtures to see if we can stay within the contractors allowances or if we need to figure in more money. If all works out the builder said the house can be ready in 45 days.....yippee!! Plenty of time before the baby comes to settle in!! Stay tuned for updates :-)