Week 11 - First Doctors Visit

Reuben and I went to my first prenatal appointment today and met my new OB doctor. Her name is Dr. Holly Nath. Since I made the appointment I thought it was a good sign that her last name is the same as Reuben's middle name!

Everything went really well! Dr. Nath was very nice. She explained the practice to us and went over our medical history. Looking at all the dates, she set my due date at 11/11/09. Next she did a couple quick tests and then on to the ultrasound! We saw the baby, heard the heartbeat and watched him/her move around a lot. I can't wait until I can feel all of those movements! Here are the ultrasound pictures:

Here is the measurement from head (left) to bottom (right). The baby measures 4.06 cm (1.6 in). This measurement also estimates my due date, which came out to 11/10. She's still keeping the due date of 11/11 and said that this is a very good sign that the baby size is equal to the due date.

At 11 weeks, some of the bones are starting to harden. In this picture you can see some of the mandible in the face. The head is still on the left with the face looking upwards. The mandible is the whitest part.

This picture shows the umbilical cord. It is the faint line running vertical to the top. At some point during the ultrasound we saw the elbow...I think the white streak in the picture may be part of it??

Here we got to see and hear the heartbeat. This picture also shows an arm and hand up by the face.

That's all for now. More to come soon!

Easter

Easter was almost here and I had an idea how to tell my family! I went and bought 18 plastic eggs and some candy. I made 18 little notes with the announcement and stuffed them and candy into the eggs. Here is the front and back of the note:

When the time came, all of our cousins waited very impatiently inside the house while all the Easter bunnies hid their eggs.

The kids can never wait to open their eggs and find their candy treasures so I knew they would find the announcement right away.

My cousin Lauren (left) was the first to find one of my 18 eggs with a message. My aunt Denise (right) was the first person to take it from her and read it. It quickly got passed around and everyone was very excited by the surprise!

Week 9

Everything is going great so far! I've had some typical symptoms, but everything has come and gone pretty easily...knock on wood! I was extremely tired after I found out, but that only lasted a few weeks. No morning sickness, food aversions or cravings yet. However, I do get super hungry and I've been taking a lot of snacks to work to get me through. The only thing that seems to bother me lately are headaches that I get a couple times a week.

Easter is coming up this weekend. My extended family doesn't know yet but Reuben and I would like to tell them while were all together for the holiday. We're a little nervous since my first OB appointment isn't for 2 more weeks and we have yet to have an ultrasound to see the baby or hear its heartbeat. However, while at work today one of the ultrasound techs offered to take a peak! I had to wait most of the afternoon with my bladder full but it was all worth it when I could clearly see the baby and the flicker of its heartbeat. The baby measures 8 weeks, 4 days and has a fetal heart rate of 170/beats per minute. So far, so good! It was a big relief to see that. Now to figure out how to tell the family the good news!

Here's a picture of our perfect little peanut from the ultrasound. It's a profile shot with the head on the right.