8 weeks + 1st Ultrasound!

Yesterday we had the very much anticipated first ultrasound.  For the few days prior, I couldn't think about anything else.  By yesterday morning, I was so incredibly nervous my stomach was doing flip flops and I could barely eat breakfast or lunch.  Erik and I went together (he actually almost didn't make it due to our scooter not starting, luckily our next door neighbor was nice enough to give him a lift to the hospital!)  The ultrasound was performed by a physician (likely because it was done for the study) and she was so nice and sweet it made the whole experience that much better.  Right before she started, I was nearly shaking from nerves and felt like my heart would beat straight out my chest...  But as she began, before she even said she saw the heartbeat - I actually saw it.  I saw the little peanut and beating heart right there on the monitor.  (The night prior I spent some time online looking at videos of early ultrasounds so I would have an idea of what I was looking for.)  Next to our wedding day, it was one of the best moments of my life.  I immediately started crying tears of relief and happiness, and then was able to relax a little more as she took measurements and allowed us to hear the heartbeat.

Here are a few of the baby's stats we learned yesterday:

• There is in fact, only one - whew!  (not that I would mind having twins, but it would immediately make me ineligible to continue my prenatal care at the birthing center, so it was something I was a little worried about.)
• Baby is 18mm long (0.71 inches) about the size of a raspberry
• Heart rate is 176 BMP, completely normal for this gestational age
• According to the measurements, they estimated me at 8 weeks and 3 days.  Not too far off from the 8w 1d I had calculated!  (You might think this is a pretty standard calculation from the LMP, but my unusually long and somewhat irregular cycles makes it harder to figure out when ovulation might occur.  Plus the cycle we conceived I actually ovulated an entire week late due to me being sick.  So I was pretty happy that I was so close to determining our date of conception on my own.)

The physician said that everything looked great and the baby's measurements were excellent.  I asked her the chances of a miscarriage after hearing the heartbeat and she said only about 7%.  So much relief set in, and for the first time this entire pregnancy I really felt like this is really going to happen.  When we left the clinic I felt like I was floating on a cloud, I was so very happy!  Erik recorded the entire ultrasound on my ipod.  See below for clips of the best parts!


Erik took this video while I was in the bathroom.  The physician had explained a little about the procedure before she stepped out to let me get undressed.  Erik decided to provide to you his own explanation of the machine, hehe...  (Note, this was a transvaginal ultrasound, not the external abdominal kind...)

The very beginning of the ultrasound.  You can hear my shaky, crying voice as I realized there was a heartbeat.

Hearing the heartbeat for the first time.  Ticking along at 176 beats per minute.  Erik joked afterwards that the baby must be a natural cyclist as it already had a good time trial heart rate.  ha!

Now that we know everything is progressing okay, it is really hard not to call up our parents and tell them the great news.  (Side note:  if you are just starting to read this blog, at the time of writing this the settings were still set to private.  It did not go live until after we shared the news with everyone...)  We have decided to stick to the original plan though, and wait until my parents visit in 2 weeks.  We will tell Erik's parents around the same time.  We were sent home with a couple photos of the baby, and the plan is to let my parents "find them" in the nursery as we are giving them the new house tour.  We will do something similar with Erik's parents via Face Time on the iphones.  I hope we are able to capture their reactions this time around as well!

6 weeks

Well, 6 weeks plus a few days.  We finally had the Big Move last weekend and while it was extremely exhausting, it actually went pretty smoothly.  The day after the move though, I started feeling not quite right.  I felt even more exhausted than usual and started to feel a little queasy.  I thought it was due to the physically exhausting activity the past few days.  The next day (Monday) I felt even worse.  Fatigued and nauseated all day, I spent nearly the entire day on the couch.  Thankfully I had taken the day off from work since I knew I would want a few days off to get settled into the new house before returning to work.  I don't think I actually unpacked anything since I was feeling so ill!  The rest of the week I have spent feeling much the same, although not quite as bad as Monday.  For some reason I feel worse at home than I do when I am at work.  The new house has a lot of "smells" that never bothered me before we moved in.  The kitchen has a musty odor, the living room suddenly reeks of the wood burning fireplace (even though it has not been used in months) and now the new carpet upstairs is smelling worse than ever.  Ugh.  Erik claims he can't smell any of it, but I sure can!  Even the cardboard boxes from the move have a bad smell.  I didn't notice it while I was packing, but just being around them now makes my stomach turn.  I had Erik run out to CVS a few nights ago and pick me up some Sea Bands as I have heard these are quite successful with helping nausea.  I can't really tell much if they are helping or not.  The nausea is intermittent and seems to be triggered by a hungry stomach or an unpleasant smell.  Thankfully at the time of writing this, I have not yet actually thrown up.  I feel lucky that it has not gotten to that point.  I know a lot of women have it so much worse than I do. 

All that being said, even though I feel so exhausted and nauseated most of the time, I feel like since my symptoms are so much different this time around that perhaps this pregnancy will have a happier outcome, and that it may just be progressing as it should.  The other day while driving in the car together Erik said something like "I feel really bad that you are not feeling well, but at the same time I am like YES, you REALLY ARE pregnant!"  It was funny and sweet at the same time.

The ultrasound for the fertility study is in less than two weeks now, and I can't wait.  My parents will be visiting two weeks after that, and we plan to wait until they come to tell them the happy news so we can do it in person.  We will tell Eriks parents around the same time, but unfortunately have to do it over the phone again.  I have a little plan in my head of how we will share the news, and hopefully we can capture it on camera this time as well...

In other news, we are slowly adjusting to life at the new house.  Since I have not really been up to unpacking much, we are still living in quite the disorganized space!  Fortunately the cats and Lucy have adjusted quite well.  Lucy thinks it is great that the upstairs and downstairs both flow in a "circle" and she can run around without having to stop and turn around.  Last night we got her going and she did what I like to call "spaz dog," running through the guest room, guest bath, laundry area, and main upstairs hallway, around and around barking and acting all wild, ha!  She also loves our daily walks in the woods across the street where she is allowed off leash to try and catch squirrels.  She never even comes close as they are up a tree before she even gets within 10 feet of them, but that never stops her from trying...

Speaking of which, I think Lucy is ready for her daily dose of squirrel chasing, the washer just dinged at me, and I have a goal of unpacking a few boxes more today before Erik gets home from work.  I hope my next post brings news of a less nauseated tummy, but unfortunately I think this is just the beginning of what to expect in the first trimester...

4 and 5 weeks

Today I am 5 weeks along.  I have gone back and forth on doing the weekly updates starting this early, and decided to just check in every so often to document the progress.

I have been feeling pretty great and having few symptoms, up until yesterday and today.  Then wham, hit with such exhaustion that it's almost hard to function during the day.  I almost feel drugged, as if someone has been hiding benadryl in my food.  I am pretty sure it is related to the pregnancy, because it is not like me to feel quite this tired and "out of it" all day.  Although, we are in the last week of the house reno before the big move, and I have been putting in some serious hours there and trying to pack up the old house at the same time, so that might have something to do with it as well.  Other symptoms are pretty much the same as last time at this stage.  Breasts getting bigger by the day, getting up to pee a few times in the night, and my obsession with citrus fruits has returned!  I can't drink water without at least a half of a lemon squeezed into it, and grapefruit has become my regular evening snack.  Oh, and one more symptom I would like to blame on this pregnancy if I may... I am so forgetful lately it's getting out of control.  I am leaving things at home, forgetting to do things 5 minutes after I remember I need to do them, and don't give me any important tasks these days, cause they probably won't get done!  Can I blame this on the hormones??  It makes me feel less silly about being such a ditz lately!

My next post (whenever it may be) will be coming to you from the new house!!  Finally the time has come when we will get to live in the place we have worked our butts off renovating for the past seven months.  Saturday is the big move, and I have no idea how we are going to get it all together in time.  Both houses are a mess, boxes everywhere, and half of the old house isn't even packed.  Somehow, it's going to happen though.

And with all that, I am going to go do what I have been longing for all day - climb into bed and sleep like I mean it  :)