Playing Catchup - First Trimester (with an abundance of US pics)

We are SO excited that our secret is finally out in the open.  The first 13 weeks have been some of the best of our lives as well as some of the most challenging. 

I found out I was pregnant one day after my missed period.  Hubs was out of town for work and I had gone to bed the night before knowing I was now officially "late" but still thinking there was no way.  I was shocked when I took a test in the morning and the second line showed up immediately.  My first thought was how I was going to surprise Mike when he got home the next night.  My second was oh my gosh I'm facetiming him and waking him up right now to tell him.  Secrets aren't really my thing...  I called the doctor immediately and went in that afternoon for bloodwork to confirm everything looked right.

"Morning" sickness began right around week 5.  By week 6, I realized it was not really morning sickness so much as 24 hour stomach flu sickness.  I've never been so sick in my life and eating (and generally staying awake) became a constant struggle.  It was hard to come to terms with feeling that terrible and knowing that I was only a few weeks into what would surely last at least another 6-8 weeks.  More than a few nights were met with breakdowns and tears but luckily I have the world's greatest husband who stepped up and took over all responsibilities and focused entirely on keeping me sane. 

Our eight week doctors appointment FINALLY arrived and we were completely terrified.  Last July we excitedly went to an 8 week appointment only to find out that our first baby had stopped growing and had no heartbeat.  We sadly knew all to well what the worst case scenario felt like.  The first 8 weeks of this pregnancy were filled with the classic first trimester symptoms (which was a good sign), but we'd also dealt with a couple bouts of bleeding that had completely shaken us.  Our doctor was amazing and cut right to the chase.  She said we could skip right to the ultrasound and check things out.  The relief at seeing that heartbeat for the first time was the best feeling of my entire life.  She let us watch our little bean with a flashing heart for awhile and assured us things looked perfect this time.  Baby had a strong heart rate of 178 and measured exactly where she should for 8 weeks. 

After having gone through a completely symptomless loss this summer, my comfort in the doctor's good news lasted about a day.  I found a local ultrasound place where we could go do checkups of the babe and help keep my fear at ease.  We got to see the baby at 9 and a half weeks and again at 11 weeks.  Each time was absolutely incredible.  The place has a giant movie screen and  advanced equipment so you can watch the baby jumping around on the screen and listen to the heartbeat.

 

It was amazing to see how quickly the baby had changed in such short times.  By eleven weeks you could make out her full face and arms/hands.  

 

Of course, we were still nervous when our 12 week appointments arrived.  We were scheduled first at the High Risk Pregnancy center (not because we were high risk- that's just where they do the high def ultrasound testing).  Our tech was amazing and spent a long time showing us all her parts and explaining that we showed no red flags for downs syndrome or any other chromosomal abnormalities.  Such good news!  We were also given the news that baby was "80% likely" to be a girl based on the gender nub theory.  M and I were both completely convinced this baby was a girl already so we were not too shocked by this prediction. 

Hi Mom and Dad!