A Flutter of Excitement

Okay, so I didn’t start crying when we saw the baby during our first ultrasound today, but I did get choked up. Andy said he started tearing up when we first saw the image on the screen and then again when the tech pointed out the little flutter that was the heartbeat. Now THAT was amazing … I had seen girls on the message boards talking about hearing the heartbeat (which we didn’t) but I didn’t know we might be able to see it!

I was so happy and relieved afterward for a bunch of reasons. First, of course, that the baby was a) really in there and b) doing well with a strong heartbeat and c) not more than one baby! It was also good to know that the baby’s (okay, embryo) size measured just about where it should. Based on my last period, I should be at 6 weeks and 6 days, and they came up with 6 weeks and 3 days. They gave us a due date too – July 4th!!

After the ultrasound, Andy headed off to work (it was so great to have him there with me; I can’t imagine doing it alone) and I stayed for another hour for the rest of the nitty gritty: medical history, blood and pee tests, blood pressure, weigh in, pelvic exam and of course, what I’d really been waiting for: the chance to ask a few questions.

The most important thing was that Dr. Stone – who has three kids of her own and is super nice, just like every single other person I’ve ever encountered at this doctors’ office, which is fantastic – says that they encourage pregnant patients to call with any question. She said that they emphasize that there are no stupid questions, especially first timers, which is exacty what I wanted to hear.

In other good news, she said most OTC allery and cold meds are okay to take (I tend to get pretty sneezy on occasion so this is a big help) and that I could have deli meats without heating them within an inch of their life as long as they were from a reputable source (Jimmy John’s, I’m back!).

Driving back to work after the appointment, I was just bursting with excitement and dying to shout the news from the rooftops. But I didn’t. I did almost break into tears several times on during the ride, though, because I kept thinking of all the different ways I could tell my close friends and family when the time comes, and thinking about that stuff always makes me weepy.

I’m going to start signing off each entry with how far along I am and how much I weigh (to my knowledge, anyway. I’m not in the habit of weighing myself ever and don’t even have a scale, but I might get one).

Time of pregnancy: 6 weeks 6 days

Weight: 131 lbs.

Buy Buy Baby

So I’m going to a baby shower Saturday night (weird timing for a shower, isn’t it?) and as usual, I completely procrastinated about getting a gift.

The mom-to-be has already had two showers, so the pickings on the registry were especially slim. I found something in my price range that sounded like fun (some sort of contraption that you zip up around the baby’s carrier or carseat or something to keep him or her warm in cold weather) and headed out today at lunch to buy it since the place they registered at is near where I work.

Just walking into the place was daunting. It was almost like a baby goods warehouse, with boxes of strollers and cribs and all kinds of foreign-looking paraphernalia piled as high and as far as the eye could see. It made me feel a little nervous and overwhelmed just thinking about all the work we have ahead in getting ready for our own baby.

I loved registering for our wedding–all those fun kitchen implements and wine glasses and dishes and what not–but this baby stuff is another ballgame. I know all about the bjorns and the pack and plays and the diaper genies, but there’s about a zillion other things I know we’ll need that I have no clue about.  Fortunately, as Andy pointed out when I mentioned this during dinner tonight, we have lots of friends who have recently had babies who can give us all the advice we’ll need (and probably more).

It’ll be fun to go to the shower, though, and talk about all those baby-related things, even though I won’t be sharing my own news. I don’t know any of the other girls who will be there, so I have no idea how many of them have kids of their own, but I hope there won’t be too many horror stories to freak me out.

Speaking of being freaked out (kind of), we have our first ultrasound tomorrow! I’m more excited than worried, really, since I’ll finally be able to talk at length to my doctor and get her take on how I’m doing and where I’m at in the pregnancy. By the timing of my last period, tomorrow will be 7 weeks. Assuming (praying!) all goes well tomorrow, we’re planning to tell my parents the big news over brunch on Sunday.

I am SO excited at the prospect and still haven’t figured out a fun way to break the news. My parents have been egging me on to have kids since I was barely out of college (married or not!) so they will be absolutely over the moon, to say the least. These are two people who took the day off work today to take my cousin’s two little girls to see a play. Imagine what they’ll do with their own grandkids. Seriously, it’s actually kind of frightening.