We Heard Peanut's Heartbeat!!!

Even though the doctor didn't hear a heartbeat with his fancy doppler on Thursday, i'm nothing if not persistent. I decided to check again today. Dr. Webb had shown me whereabouts to listen and i also now know that ocean sounds are really Peanut sounds. Still, i searched for half an hour and didn't hear any baby beats, just my own. I was about to give up for the day and made one last pass.....and i heard Peanut! It was the most amazing sound!! I screamed for Jake to come listen but by the time he got there i had lost it. I had only heard it for maybe 5 seconds, so i didn't think i'd be able to find it again. Yet less than a minute later i found it again!! We were able to listen to it for several minutes and we both counted the beats and timed it. By our estimates the heartbeat is 160-175! (My doppler has a screen that tells you how many beats per minute but it wasn't loud enough for it to register it correctly) I'm so so happy. Now that i've heard the heartbeat and it's nice and strong i'm not so freaked out by my lack of symptoms. No morning sickness is ok by me!

P.S. I just discovered how to set up my blog to send an email whenever i create a new entry. If you're interested in getting an email every time i post, just let me know what email address to send it to! You can email me at wildkittn3@aol.com

First OB Appointment

Today was my first OB appointment with the new doctor. It was (hopefully) the longest appointment i'll have...i was there almost 2 hours! They asked me all kinds of questions about us and our family medical history and things. Then i had to pee in a cup. I'm not really sure why, but i'm sure they had their reasons. That part was easy since i have to pee all the time anyway.

Next they ushered me into an exam room. This is the part where i get to wear a paper gown like it's in style. Jake said it looked like i was wearing a roll of paper towels. Unlike my GYN's office, at least this gown reached my knees so i wasn't walking around mooning everyone. They told Jake he could just stay in the room with me, which was slightly awkward, but he was sitting by my head so he didn't get to see any of the good stuff. The doctor did a quick exam and said everything looked good and that my uterus is properly enlarged. So that's my new excuse for why i've got a pudgy belly already...it's my uterus' fault. (I need to save the Peanut excuse for later.) Anyway, he decided to try the fetal doppler even though he said it'd really be a miracle if we heard anything this early. It looked almost identical to mine! It was definitely a little more powerful, i could hear the ocean a lot clearer. Dr. Webb said that the ocean i keep hearing is actually the baby moving. So we didn't hear a heartbeat but he said he heard baby-moving sounds, and that's something at least.

After the exam i got to put on real clothes again and we went to the doctor's office to talk. I wasn't exactly forthright in describing the ultrasound i had at my GYN's office. I told him we didn't hear a heartbeat, but i might have left off the part where we *saw* it beginning to flicker. So he scheduled me for an ultrasound on February 15th! With this one they should be able to take Peanut's measurements and determine exactly how far along i am and when my due date is. PLUS i'll finally get to hear a heartbeat! Jake and i were going to go out of town for Valentine's day but i guess we'll just have to come home late Sunday night or something.

When we finished talking to Dr. Webb he sent me for blood work. I suspect there might be vampires on his staff because they took about half my blood. They're testing my blood type, Rh type, complete blood count, to make sure i don't have HIV, HepB, or syphilis, and to make sure i'm immune to Rubella. I should get these results Monday or Tuesday. I wish i had asked them to go ahead and check my HepB immunity. I'm at-risk to get it because my Grandmom has it and we didn't know about it for awhile and therefore weren't being extra careful about cuts and stuff, but i did get the vaccine before starting pharmacy school so hopefully i have immunity anyway. I think the only HepB test they're doing in this batch is just whether or not i'm infected.

I received a lot of pamphlets and information. I discovered i'm not allowed to eat deli meat, and i had to get my steak *well* done when we went out for Jenn's birthday dinner. It also says i'm not allowed to have "mexican-style" cheese, but i had Amanda call the mexican restaurant and confirm that the cheese they use is pasteurized. Whew! That would have been bad news if i couldn't have mexican for 9 months. I really like the new doctor's office so far. Everyone was very nice and helpful. I liked Dr. Webb a lot but since this is a group practice i'll be rotating between the four doctors on staff so i won't get to see him every time.

7 Weeks

Baby's now the size of a blueberry! 

Baby's brain -- both hemispheres! -- is growing fast, generating about one hundred new cells every minute. Arms and legs are emerging as joints start to form, and a permanent set of kidneys (baby's third!) is now in place.

How far along? 7 weeks 2 days(ish)
Pregnancy Symptoms: sore boobs, exhaustion, stuffy nose, extreme thirst, occasional heartburn and nausea.... and now i come in extra bitchy mode too (only when i'm hungry or tired, which is all the time.) Still no real morning sickness, which has me worried.
Sleep: What's that?
Best moment this week: finding out my co-worker is pregnant too! Now i don't have to get fat by myself
Worst moment this week: my work pants are already too tight and i'm already gaining weight and getting a belly
Movement: i'm too lazy to do anything except lay on the couch and i think Peanut feels the same way
Food cravings: none, but some foods are becoming less appealing...no gagging though
Gender: according to the wedding-ring-over-the-belly test it's a girl when i do it and no response when jake does it
What I miss: seeing Peanut on an ultrasound or hearing a heartbeat....do you think Tom Cruise would lend me his ultrasound machine??
What I am looking forward to: i changed my appointment to next Thursday the 4th because Jake will be on a ski trip the following week and i want him to come with me
My best kept secret this week: None! I finally told everyone at work....only to find out that *every* person already knew. I didn't get to surprise anybody :(

How to Tell Your Co-Workers You're Pregnant

Jake made me a cute way to tell everyone at work i'm pregnant. I'm going to post it today since everyone pretty much already figured it out. :)

Fetal Doppler Take Two

I think there's either an ocean or an alien in my belly. It most certainly wasn't a Peanut heartbeat. The sounds made me giggle and the doppler picked it up and my giggles sounded so funny in electronic version that i started laughing hysterically. So until i can hear Peanut i at least can use it for my own amusement. I've been really curious how well i could hear Dala's heartbeat on it....i haven't tried it yet cuz i don't think she'd like the goo i'd have to squirt on her. She's pretty tolerant of us bugging her all the time, so i'm trying to decide if she'd be still long enough for me to slime her and listen to her heart.

*UPDATE* I tried it without any goo. She just looked at me like i was crazy and then tried to bite the wand. Without goo i didn't hear any kitty heartbeats :(

I'm Already an Awful Mother!

I threw Peanut's first ultrasound pictures away!! It was an accident, of course, but i feel awful. Amanda was over Monday to watch the Bachelor. We were enjoying some pizza and garlic knots and after the show Amanda asked to see the ultrasound pictures. As i was searching through my purse i had a sudden realization...they had been "protected" inside one of the receipts from my doctors office....and that afternoon i had just thrown a bunch of uneeded receipts and junk paper away! I rushed to the trashcan and luckily the ultrasounds were fine. If Amanda hadn't been there and asked to see them i would have lost them forever!!

I received the fetal doppler in the mail! I decided to mess around with it and see if it was working. I put in the batteries and it turned on fine. As expected, there were no sounds whatsoever on my belly. In fact, it kept turning off every 60 seconds because nothing was happening. So i decided i'd listen to my own heartbeat to see how the doppler worked. Only apparently i don't have a heartbeat either? I tried one last place....the carotid artery on my neck (this is actually a common place that doctors use a doppler). Still nothing! I finally got the bright idea to unplug the wand and plug it back in, which fixed it! I can't hear any Peanut heartbeats, but i could hear mine just fine. I can already tell this is going to be addicting when i can finally hear baby!

6 Weeks

Baby's now the size of a sweet pea!
Growing like crazy, baby is starting to sprout eyes, ears, nose, cheeks, and chin. Those little hands and feet -- still webbed like paddles -- might wiggle by week's end, the heart is beating (almost twice as fast as yours!), and blood is starting to circulate.

How far along? 6 weeks 1 day (or 6w4d, it's up for discussion)
Pregnancy Symptoms: sore boobs, bone-crushing exhaustion, stuffy nose, occasional heartburn and nausea
Sleep: About the same....i actually go to bed a lot earlier now but still wake up multiple times a night and nap throughout the day if i'm not working. I've been having some crazy dreams!
Best moment this week: my first ultrasound!
Movement: we saw the beginning flickers of a heartbeat on the ultrasound
Food cravings: nothing special this week....i seem to *not* be craving sweets as much, which is an absolute first
Gender: it still feels like a girl
What I miss: normalcy
What I am looking forward to: getting my fetal doppler next week. I know it's way too early to hear a heartbeat, but of course i'll try anyway. You know, just to make sure it works. :P My first appointment with the new doctor is Feb 8th....so far away!
My best kept secret this week: I'm more excited now that i had the ultrasound but it's starting to sink in. I'm secretly terrified and have that "Oh shit, what have i done?" feeling. I don't know if i'm ready for this!!