Wednesday, March 2, 2011

See - Not an amoeba

Perhaps yesterday when I talked about being able to actually tell that the baby was a baby in my stomach I should have included a picture.  Crazy idea, I know.  The little baby growing in my ever expanding waistline has sort of an alien like large head but hello.  I could at least pick out the head and arms. I can also pick out a single leg but I haven't determined if the other thing is the cord or a leg.  Brooks likes to pretend it is a private part.  I pointed out that the baby doesn't have any external male or female parts at this point and he was a bit disappointed.  And those two floaty things on the left near the foot, um... I don't know. Maybe that is just from where the baby was moving around?


So I also just had the shocker realization that my weight should be increasing by a pound a week after next week. HOLY CRAP. It is kind of crazy to watch my weight willingly go up. Right now I am up about three pounds which is not scary since I am still in a normal weight range but I can't imagine how I will feel when I am up near the 150s or so since I have not been that weight in quite a while.  I know that it is healthy and normal but it is still hard to let go.  

That being said, I hope that once August hits and the local ice cream place goes into full swing I am able to reel myself in from eating too many treats.  Heck I like ice cream when I'm not pregnant and chubby.  Let's just ponder this.  I'll be eight months pregnant in August. That should be fun.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Making it real

Being pregnant is one of those things that just doesn't seem real until a certain point. I am not sure what that point is, but I would imagine feeling the baby move for the first time and getting a nursery ready are some of those moments. I had my first prenatal visit today and while the information that they asked about and gave was nothing more than what most books will tell you about, it was still a big deal.  Having your husband see you have your annual exam done is an interesting experience.  After all the question asking and exams, the doctor broke out the doppler to hear the baby's heartbeat. After about five minutes of some strong pushing around on my stomach and upper pubic area, we still hadn't heard anything.  She told me that it wasn't a big deal but that they were going to send me down to have an ultrasound and that I didn't need to be worried.  I don't think I realized that it was kind of a big deal. 

We were taken back to the ultrasound room where she did an external ultrasound and quickly said that there was no reason to be worried because that little baby had a strong heart beat. She showed us on the screen and when I looked I'll be honest I figured it would be some sort of amoeba like blob that I would have to lie and say I saw the whatever it was that she was pointing to.  But immediately, I could pick out the head and some flailing limbs.  Then she pointed out the healthy strong beating heart and I felt the tears begin to slide down my cheek as I grabbed Brooks' hand.  There was no way I could take my eyes from the screen to even look and see what Brooks was experiencing. I didn't realize how much it would have meant and devastated me until that moment when I saw that strong flickering of our baby's heart.

She then proceeded to do an internal ultrasound, which I'll be honest just looked like a big ummm, pleasure device that I had to insert.  Hey, no one told me about that business. She did a variety of measurements and captured a bunch of images for the ObGyn office upstairs and then proceeded to talk to us about what measurement she was taking and how fast the heartbeat was.  Then she offered us a three dimensional picture which was not at all the amoeba I expected. Yes, the baby at this point looks semi alien like with it's big head and fat torso, but there are moving arms and legs.

Right now, the photo tucked away at home has made it real. Those 167 beats per minute make it real. September 19, 2011 makes it real.