Not looking pregnant, just looking fat

An interesting thing is happening to my body... I'm getting fat. I definitely do not look pregnant and should not at this point, but my lower abdomen/stomach is distended/bloated. I've been reading about it on a lot of message boards and found that it's actually not very unusual. Apparently this happens to women who are on the small side to begin with, but I'm only 8 weeks pregnant and already my jeans and most of my pants will not button.

It's a good thing that I'm no longer working because I have no idea what I would wear every day if I had to go to work and look "normal". Instead, I get to wear cotton workout shorts daily (and let me tell you how attractive I feel).

The reason: My uterus is between the size of a tennis ball and a softball right now and the baby is 5/8 of an inch long already (or the size of a kidney bean). Next week starts month #3 and the last month of the first trimester.

So, a few other "fun" things are starting to happen too.

1. I'm happy to report that I'm less moody (maybe Will has a different opinion).
   
2. I need to take a 1/2 hour nap between 3 and 5 almost every day
   
3. I also have to eat a snack between 3 and 5 every day because I do feel slightly queasy, but I hear it could be a lot worse.
   
4. Frequently I wake up to remember some incredibly bizarre dreams. Last night I was dreaming that a very large black spider was crawling up the wall in our bedroom. I was spraying it will Windex and 409, but it wouldn't even slow down. It was so large it turned out to be a small cat which looked a lot like Nikki Paus with a strange looking brown cotton ball tail. We caught it by throwing a towel over it and carrying it down into the kitchen to let it go outside, but by that point it had turned into a tater tot smothered in ketchup. WEIRD, huh?
   

That's all for now.

A single heartbeat

This morning we got to see the baby's heart beating (yes, there was only one heartbeat, but it was beating like crazy!). 122 beats per minute. The technician told us anything over 100 bpm is good right now.

The baby measures 4 millimeters or about the size of a grain of rice. That measurement confirms that I am in the 6th week and that our due date is May 9th.



















We got 2 ultrasound pictures from the technician, but you can't really see anything so I'm only sharing "the better one". The dark black spot in the middle is the palcenta. The heartbeat appeared to the left of the black spot. There acutally is a white arrow pointing to it, but it's impossible to see due to the exposure.

The next ultrasound will be at 20 weeks and that's when we'll be able to really see something. We'll need to decide by then if we want to know the sex of the baby. At this point, Will does and I would rather be surprised.

Now I will start visiting the doctor once a month for regular checkups. Other than starting to have pregnancy symptoms (which I haven't yet) there shouldn't be anything too exciting to report on for a while.

6 weeks today

Well, I'm six weeks pregnant today and so far I've managed to steer clear of morning sickness and extreme fatique. However, the mood swing fairy has definitely sprinkled me with a bit of her dust. Will has been extremely patient with me. :)

All in all, being pregnant is a piece of cake so far. Here's the "benchmark" profile photo that Will took this morning. We'll have to see how much of the empty blue space I will fill in the next few weeks and months.

Bahamas (1st anniverary) 

1st doctor visit

Will and I had our first visit with the OB yesterday. The OB, Dr. Waterbury, gave us a very clean bill of health (thanks to our outstanding family genes). We are not a high risk pregnancy and I have clearance to continue working out on a regular basis. (yea!!)

Dr. Waterbury is one of 4 OBs that could deliver the baby. We will meet with all four thoughout the course of the pregnancy and the doctor on call the weekend I'm ready to deliver will be the lucky one. :)

We're scheduled to go back next Friday for the first ultrasound appointment where we will be able to see the baby's heartbeat. It's amazing to me how fast this "little ball of cells" is growing and maturing into a tiny baby. This week he/she is the size of a raisin. Crazy!

I will be visiting the OB once every 4 weeks for now. In a few months I will start visiting the OB every other week.

So, for now, we just wait and wait and wait. I can't wait until we can tell the rest of the family. I doubt I'll be able to wait until week 12.... We'll see!

Photo from Corey's wedding

The journey begins...

Tomorrow we will meet with our obstetrician at 1:30. Hopefully we'll have a connection with him and feel comfortable with his personality and birthing style. If not, we'll keep searching.

So far, I'm obsessing about being pregnant (in a good way). I'm reading everything I can get my hands on and have at least 6 websites bookmarked to check 'daily'. It's so fun!

Our doctor should be able to confirm that our due date is 05/09/06. More to follow tomorrow.