So here he/she is...
Good looking kid, huh? (That sonogram was taken on 12/20/2010.) I am now 16 weeks pregnant and everything is going well! I've been secretly documenting the beginning of my pregnancy and am going to post it now...mainly because I will forget one day and we will want to look back on this time. So its pretty verbose but feel free to read on if you have lots of spare time. :)
11/3/2010 - I went to the doctor who said I had bronchitis and gave me a Z-pack to take. Something told me to take a pregnancy test before I had my Z-pack prescription filled. I had been more tired than normal and my stomach hadn't been quite right in a week or so. I took the test without thinking anything of it. Then I looked. Two lines. I sat quietly for a few minutes and stared at the test expecting it to change to just one line. Then I picked up my phone and called Kevin and told him. He was at work and I didn't bother to wait until he got home.
11/5/2010 - After looking on our insurance's website for an ob/gyn, we had an appointment on 11/5/2010, our 5th anniversary. The sonogram revealed I was 6 weeks and 1 day pregnant. The baby is .3 cm long and had a heartbeat of 116, low for the age. When we saw the baby on the sonogram and the heart was beating like crazy. It seemed like the heart was about a third of its total body size. Its hard to believe that something that small can make me feel so sick.
11/15/2010 - We had to go back to the doctor because on 11/5 the baby's heartbeat was only 116 and it needed to be above 120 at this stage of development. Today's sonogram revealed the baby had quadrupled in size to 1.3 cm and the heartbeat was 145 - perfect! In this sonogram we saw the spine that was beginning to form. The technician also showed us the brain mass that in the next week will divide in half to make the two halves of the brain. It made me think I should try to eat something other than (and healthier than) Cheerios to aid in the development of a healthy brain. Today was the first time we heard the baby's heartbeat. Its amazing that something so small is so well-developed and that we have the technology available to see it so clearly.
11/16/2010 - Prince William proposed to Kate Middleton. This is significant only because I am not feeling well and spend a lot of time laying on the couch watching the Today Show. I'm so excited about their engagement and am enjoying the news coverage. Its the little things right now.
11/30/2010 - We had our third appointment today and the nurse was pleasantly surprised to find out she could hear the baby's heartbeat on the Doppler machine they put on my stomach. Apparently its very rare to be able to hear the baby's heartbeat like that so early on. The heartbeat was 160 bpm - perfect!
12/5/2010 - We let Caroline open an early Christmas present last night - it was a "Big Sister" shirt. It was our way of telling her the big news. We thought she'd be over the moon to find out that I'm pregnant. We videoed the whole ordeal. Caroline's response? "I am already a big sister." Yep, she has a pretend 2 year old sister named Caroline. We tried to explain that I'm pregnant with a real baby...to which she responded that her sister Caroline is real too. So it didn't go how we had planned but I think its slowly sinking in and she's adjusting to the news in her own way and on her time. She talked to my belly before she went to bed last night and said "Hi baby, this is your big sister. I love you." If its a boy she would like to name the baby Jack. If its a girl she wants to name the baby Molly. Both interesting names considering she doesn't know anyone with either of those names. But I like both names.
12/6/2010 - This morning she wanted to look at my belly to see if the baby had grown overnight. When I picked Caroline up from school this morning the first thing she said is "what are we going to name the baby?" Then she informed me she has changed her girl name to Olivia.
1/2/2011 - I haven't been very good with keeping up my little journal and I am going to shamelessly blame it on being tired, morning sickness, and the holidays. Thankfully, I am feeling much better and I'm hoping to stop taking Zofran and Phenergan (both nausea medicines) very soon. I have an insane craving for Hot Tamales, Sour Patch Kids, and Twizzlers. Rest assured, if I get gestational diabetes I will blame it on the makers of those candies because they are just too good not to eat right now. (Kalli - Today I had a brief craving for Taco Bell and thought of you...although I was not craving a bean burrito. :) ) Caroline tells everybody she sees (lots of random people included) that there is a baby in my belly and that she's going to be a big sister. At least I'm starting to show a little now so people don't think she's delusional. The other day at Target she was wearing her big sister shirt and we had a baby doll (Ella, of course) riding in the front of the buggy and she told passer-byers that Ella is her little sister. I'm sure people thought it was odd that she would wear a big sister shirt when her "little sister" is a doll. But I honestly wouldn't put that past Caroline. Most days she asks how many more days until the baby comes. She sets aside toys that she feels too old for so that baby can play with them. Naturally she wants a little sister and says she will share all of her princess shoes and princess dresses with her. I think Caroline is going to be shocked when the baby can't play with her as soon as its born.
1/10/2010 - We had our second appointment at the Maternal-Fetal medicine doctor today for more birth defect screening. It was just blood work this time so we didn't get to see the baby. In other news, I have decided to switch ob/gyns and will see my new one for the first time on January 31st - lets hope we like her better than the first one! We should find out the gender on the 31st as well. Caroline has been telling me that it is "taking forever" for the baby to come out of my tummy. I told her it will go by fast but she said I already told her that and it is not going by fast. She's also told us that she will not be able to help out with the baby because she has to take care of Ella. She informed my friend Jorja (who was babysitting her during one of my doctor's appointments last week) that "mommy and daddy are going to have to do teamwork when the baby comes because I have to stay with Ella all the time". So she's excited but is setting realistic expectations. One a side note - so far all the ob/gyns and specialists I've seen in San Antonio don't allow children in the office. That's highly inconvenient for those of us who don't have our kids in school and who don't know many people around here. I've never heard of anything like that before. However, the new ob/gyn allows kids so Caroline will be really excited to come with me to the doctor!
1 comment:
I loved reading about your journaling--especially the royal engagement and Taco Bell. Caroline is so cute, (and practical). And I have NEVER heard of kids not being able to come to the doctor's office. Seriously, those ones don't sound like they are worth paying. How is your new one?
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