Baby's Heartbeat!

We had our first pre-natal appointment today! I was very excited, but not so much at the same time. I hate needles! And I knew I would have to get blood drawn and I was hoping (or not...) to get a flu shot & H1N1 shot. But what we heard before 5 vials of blood and an H1N1 shot, was totally worth it!

I was hoping that we would have an ultrasound done, as I had heard from several people that they had had one done at about 12 weeks. We didn't. But our nurse midwife, Carrie, did bring in a fetal Doppler to listen to the baby's heartbeat. Carrie found our baby's heartbeat right away. It was so fast! Then she moved it around and found my heartbeat. My heartbeat was about 70 beats per minute (bpm) and baby's was about 150 bpm. More than twice as fast! It was such an amazing sound to hear!

I was convinced that our baby is boy, but after I read some folklore on the sex of the baby, I'm not so sure. The site I found said that if the baby's heartbeat is over 140 bpm, then it's a girl. That doesn't totally convince me either though, because the same site also said that if you don't have morning sickness, then it's a boy (and I haven't really been sick at all). So at this point I'm not convinced either way. I will be happy either way, but Adam still is leaning more towards a boy.

Carrie also recommended that we have a level II ultrasound done, because we have some genetic defects that run in the family. From what I could find, a level II ultrasound is a very detailed ultrasound that shows your baby a lot more clearly.

Our due date was calculated to be June 1 (I calculated June 2, we must be pretty close) and our next appointment will be at about 16 weeks.

Organic Midwives

We had our first "class" for baby this week. It gave us a little information about nurse midwives and about how I should be taking care of myself & baby.

I still like the idea of going with a nurse midwife to deliver our baby, but we both agreed that nurse midwives seem to be a little over the top with somethings. For example, I am all about trying to eat healthy, but the nurse midwife giving the class (who is also the nurse midwife for our first pre-natal appointment next week) was all into buying everything organic. I guess it would be nice, if everyone could afford it, but there's no way. She also said not to drink anything out of plastic. I understand wanting to avoid the BPA, but there's no way we can purchase everything in metal containers or paper cartons. I will stick with my BPA-free Nalagene and keep buying the products I am buying.

She also wanted us to throw out all our cleaning chemicals and use nothing but vinegar & citrus oils (or something). Now, I will stay away from them (Adam cleans the bathrooms anyway, plus I really do hate the smell), but I'm not about to throw them all out and have my house smell like we were dying Easter eggs all the time.

I'm not trying to rag on nurse midwives. After all, we are still going with nurse midwives for this pregnancy (and probably any others we have in the future). They want mother and baby to be as healthy as they can be, but they also understand that we can't make all these changes to our life (and quite frankly, many people can't afford some of them). They're all good suggestions, I guess, but put them all together, and it's a little over the top for me.

The Cat's Escaping from the Bag...

I am a little frustrated & upset. Shortly after we found out we were pregnant, we told our parents, asking them not to say anything to anyone until the second trimester. Adam actually told his oldest brother, Jon, right away when they were hunting, and soon after called his sister, Jacque, in California to tell them. He was waiting to tell his other brothers, Charles & Ben, until he saw them though. He saw Charles when they went to get the cabin ready for deer hunting and told him, and when he saw Ben at the gun show, he was going to tell him, but he already knew.

I guess Adam's mom had told all their friends at the bar, one of which lives below Ben. So of course Ben found out from this fellow, and Adam wasn't able to tell his brother that we are expecting our first child. I feel bad that Adam lost that chance, and that Ben had to find out from someone who isn't even family that his own brother is going to have a baby.

Adam wasn't surprised, as I guess it's hard for his mom to keep a secret. I know it's exciting news (trust me, it really is for us!), but we would like to wait until we are out of the first trimester for the rest of the world to know. The rate of miscarriage is pretty high in the first trimester and if that happens to us, it will be a lot harder on us if more people know. Which is why we've picked & chosen who we've wanted to know.

I was disappointed also to find out that his mom had started to tell someone else, when my sister-in-law nudged her to tell her that some people (her kids... our nieces & nephews) don't know yet. And she told the lady to "just keep it between them." But one of our nieces found out. Of course she is really excited, but it's hard for a 7-year-old to keep a secret from all her brothers & sister.

At Thanksgiving, we had planned on telling everyone, since it would be close to the end of the first trimester & all the family would be together anyway. But from the sound of it, a lot of the extended family already knows. I'm disappointed that we've had our exciting announcement of our first child stolen from us. But we've learned our lesson from next time.

Week 7 Growth Spurt = Not Fun for Mommy

At the end of week 6 and through most of week 7 I was feeling pretty great. My stomach didn't hurt, I was eating well, my back would hurt sometimes, and of course I am always tired, but it was pretty easy to deal with. But the last couple days of week 7 I started to get my stomach ache back. I remember reading that during week 7 your baby grows a lot, and the brain cells are developing very quickly. I'm wondering if the baby is stealing all the food in my stomach for the energy to grow and leaving me with a stomach ache & hunger pains!

Adam agrees with me now, that I do look like I'm just a very little bit pregnant. You can't tell through my clothes, but if I lift up my shirt, and you know what my belly looked like before... well, it doesn't look like that so much any more.

Excitement!

I think the nerves are calming down a little now, and we're getting more used to the idea of being parents. It's starting to get exciting!

We have told my parents and brother, and his parents, and some of his siblings. My mom is so excited to be a grandma! She found some Winnie the Pooh fabric to make a crib quilt for the baby, and we're talking about how to decorate the nursery. My brother is super excited to be an uncle! Adam's mom was talking about finding stuff at the thrift store when she went last week.

We are starting to look at names. I already know that if it is a girl, I would like to name her after my grandmother who died a few months before our wedding. We're not sure if we'll use her name, or a variation or nickname, because Adam's not totally sold on the whole name. For a boy I always like Michael & Jonathon, but those names are already in Adam's family (his dad & his brother). But, we have a short list of boy's names picked out, though I think I know which one I like best already!

Almost Real...

I think for Adam and I, its becoming more and more real each day that we, with the help of God, have created a child together, and about 8 months from now, are going to welcome him/her into this world.

For Adam, I think what made it more real this week was having the doctor confirm the pregnancy. The nurse that confirmed with us, sat down to give us a few details of what we needed to do next. I need to make an appointment for when I'm 8-10 weeks along. I was hoping that I could stay with our doctor's office, since I have been there for quite a while. But, I found out that if I work with either of the doctors there, that neither of them will actually deliver our baby. So I'll have to do some research to find someone who will be with us throughout the whole pregnancy.

For me, its how this tiny person (that's about the size of a sesame seed right now) growing inside me is totally affecting my stomach! I can't eat as much at each meal, because my stomach will hurt. I can't go long without eating, because my stomach will hurt. I can't bend over, because my stomach will hurt. I wake up, and my stomach hurts. (You get the picture...) Luckily, so far I haven't thrown up (thank God... P.S. If you're reading this God, please keep it that way!).

4 Weeks + 1 Day

5 Weeks + 2 Days

Finding Out & Telling the New Daddy

I was on the senior retreat with my students, figuring my "friend" would meet me there. (She was supposed to show up Sunday, and we were gone from Wednesday through Thursday.) Thursday while I was there, I decided to talk to one of my co-workers who had a baby recently to find out how she found out she was pregnant. She was tracking, as I have been, and so knew her cycle pretty well. She said when she didn't start her new cycle on the day she was supposed to, she took a pregnancy test, and it was positive.

In my tracking, I have found that I do not have a very consistent lutel phase (which is always supposed to be exactly the same for a woman). That has made it difficult to figure out if I have missed my period or if I have a longer lutel phase this month. Four days after I was supposed to start a new cycle, I was on my way home from the retreat, and decided to stop by the store and pick up a pregnancy test (even though at this point, I was 99% positive I was pregnant) and something gender-neutral that said "I love Daddy" on it, as a way to tell Adam.

My plan was to get up in the morning after he left for work, take the test, then put the bib and the positive pregnancy test on his sink. But on my way home, I got a phone call asking if he could leave for hunting that night. I told him we'd talk about it when I got home. Well, I thought, that kinda spoils my plan, but then I thought I could just take it over the weekend and have the surprise waiting for him when he got home.

When I got home, he asked me about my "friend" and if she showed up. I wouldn't give him a direct answer, I just smiled and would ask what he thought. He was pretty sure that my "friend" was still hanging out with me. So we moved on to talking about him going hunting, and I was reluctant to say yes, as I wanted him around. I wanted to be able to talk to him about our new adventure. I just wanted him there. He really wanted to go, since it was the first time his nephew would get to hunt, and as I didn't have a good reason for him to stay, I said he could go. Then I thought, well, maybe if he knows that we're pregnant, he'll want to stay home with me. So while he was starting to pack and put things together, I set the "I love Daddy" bib on top of his pants on the bed. I hadn't taken the test, so I couldn't show him any proof just yet.

When he walked back into the room he saw it and in a shocked voice with a nervous smile on his face, asked what it was and why I put it there. I asked him why I would put it there, and he said, "But you said that you got it!" I reminded him that I didn't say anything, but rather he said I did. He asked if I had gotten a positive test, and I told him I hadn't, and I didn't have to pee. So he didn't entirely believe me yet. So he kept packing and ran to the store for some last minute items for the trip.

After he got back, we had dinner (which he made!... frozen pizza of course...), and a short while later I had to pee. So I took the test and we counted down the 3 minutes. While we waited, I informed Adam that he probably had much better aim that I did, so he should take the next one. After 3 minutes, I was 100% sure we were pregnant, and Adam believed me. Of course he still went hunting though... but told me he would be with me the rest of the pregnancy... except when he goes deer hunting in November.