Saturday, April 24, 2010

Maybe Baby?

With all the crazy storm warnings in Memphis last night, Scott and I left work early and decided we were not going to head back out into the weather.  We had chinese food delivered and settled in to watch the movie Crazy Heart, which we had heard great things about.

After dinner, we laid on the couch and turned on the movie.  As we got about an hour and a half into it, I had the strangest feeling in my belly.  I was really focused on the movie so I didn't pay much attention to it at first, but it went on for several seconds.  When it stopped, I decided to tell Scott "I just got the weirdest flutters in my belly."  But as soon as that thought formed in my brain a lightbulb went off and I was like, wait a second, that is what they say a BABY feels like!!  Flutters was the first word to come to my head, but when I was explaining it to Scott I told him it also felt a bit like a hamster wheel spinning in my stomach.  I think I have read that the first feeling of the baby moving is sometimes called "quickening," which also seems like an accurate description for what I felt, as it seemed like something was moving quickly in my belly.

In the warm light of this spring day (thankfully the storms have stopped and the sun has come out), I am starting to question whether I felt what I thought I felt as I have an anterior placenta, and from what I've read that can delay feeling the baby, but I know I felt SOMETHING!  Now I'm just dying to feel it again :)  

P.S. I am 17 weeks pregnant today!  Yay!!  Only 10 days til we hopefully find out what this little one is!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Big scare. Big baby.

Soooo . . . Scott and I had a bit of a scare at our doctor's appointment today.

First, a little background: at our last appointment I was 10 weeks 6 days and although we had a good wait before being called back to the room and being seen by the doctor, it was all worth it when our wonderful OB, Dr. Long, came into the room and found the baby's heartbeat (best sound in the world!) within about 2 seconds of trying with the doppler.

Today, everything was going even better than usual, as we were quickly called back to the room and Dr. Long had knocked on the door before we had even sat down.  As she began to check the fetal heart rate with the doppler, however, things quickly went awry.  I am 14 weeks 4 days and most sources say at this point it should be fairly easy to hear the baby's heartbeat on the doppler.  Unlike last time, however, Dr. Long did not find it within the first 2 seconds of trying . . . or in the next 10 seconds . . . or in the next several minutes of trying and trying some more.  I was desperately trying not to panic and tried to think of a not scary reason for her not finding it, and stuttered out that I had not drank as much water before this appointment, which helps to amplify the sound.   Dr. Long seemed completely unfazed as she gave up and said she would just send us to get an ultrasound.  By this time the panic had most definitely caught up with me, and I think Scott and I were both silently freaking out as she scheduled us for our next appointment, the "big" ultrasound where we can find out the baby's gender, and asked if we had any questions.  Of course, neither of us could think of a single question and just stood there dumbly.   Still completely calm, Dr. Long scheduled us for the big ultrasound on May 5, led us back to the waiting room, and spoke with the front desk clerk about getting us in for an ultrasound to hear the heartbeat we couldn't hear on the doppler.

Unfortunately, for this second go 'round, we were not so lucky to get a short wait, and we sat for a terrifying 40 minutes trying not to think the worst as we waited for the ultrasound tech to call our name.  We were finally called into the ultrasound room and our baby's image quickly flashed onto the screen.  The ultrasound tech's first words after she looked around a bit were to tell me that I could breathe, which was a huge relief as I am pretty sure I had not done that since the doctor told us she was giving up trying to find the heartbeat on the doppler.  She then explained that I had an anterior placenta, meaning my placenta had grown in the front of my uterus and was in front of the baby underneath my belly which created a bit of an extra cushion that the doppler signal had to get through and that the baby had not been in a cooperative position, making it even more difficult, but that everything was ok.   I don't think Scott and I heard much of the explanation, as we were just so relieved to hear everything was good and our little one was ok!  The ultrasound tech then looked around very thoroughly and said everything looked perfect.  She couldn't tell us the sex yet (we definitely asked) but said that our baby looked great and was a very healthy 4 oz, which is definitely large for this week (almost double).

Sorry for the super long ramble but Scott and I have been breathing easier today and are thrilled to have a happy little one, even if it is a little chunky right now (that is just more to love . . . right?)

We are now just counting the days until we are able to find out what it is!

Our 1st Sonogram!!!


6 weeks 6 days