Seeing is Believing

After about 3 weeks of wondering if anything was really going on in there, we have confirmation that those two little lines were not lying. I started getting familiar, reassuring signs about a week ago. Enter nausea. Much different this time in that I cannot just rest on a whim, or come home from work and take a nap. Funny how a 2 year old doesn't seem to care when you tell her that you don't feel good :). On Friday, I dropped Jillian off at a friend's house and headed down for blood work and the required nurse appt. The nurse asked me how I was feeling, and I told her about the nausea. I also told her that I had been experiencing some left sided abdominal pain from time to time. She decided I should have a viability scan right away to make sure we weren't dealing with an ectopic pregnancy. I had no time to page Matt, so he wasn't there when I got the first glimpse of the life inside me. A tiny, flickering heart and yolk sac, implanted appropriately in the uterus.

They took some measurements and discovered that the baby measured 6 days behind my estimated due date that was based on my period. The sonographer told me that if it's more than 5 days, they change the due date. So, just like that, he erased June 25th and entered July 1st. How bold of him. I didn't appreciate that at all. Any woman who has ever been pregnant will understand that having someone rewind your pregnancy clock by nearly an entire week is not music to your ears! So, suddenly, I had a 7 week old embryo instead of an 8 week one. Matt finds it hilarious that this even matters to me. All frustrations aside, that beating heart was a beautiful sight.

Today, I returned to the OB office for my first visit with the OB. When I scheduled my appt, I learned that my previous OB was switching to straight GYN, and would not be able to see me. I had a few choices, but in the end, chose the OB who had the soonest opening. Dr. J has been practicing a long time at Mayo, and I happen to know that he takes care of a lot of the radiology residents/spouses. Additionally, Matt and his son were in the same residency class. I always said I'd never want a male OB, but now that I've had a baby I don't really care. I know that in the end there are many people involved in one's care, so just didn't seem like a big deal to me. After meeting with Dr. J, I feel very thankful to have him overseeing my care. He is smart, laid back, and very thorough. A non-alarmist OB is just what this girl needs. We chatted for a bit about my previous pregnancy, reviewed blood work (all fine), and talked a bit about Factor V Leiden management. He is in agreement with the past plan that I stick with a baby aspirin and can choose to take post partum heparin injections as before. We also discussed my broken tailbone, and whether or not that could occur again. Over 2 years later, I still have a bit of trouble with it at times. He could not feel an upturned tailbone during my exam, but said it would certainly get bumped and would probably be painful again (though nothing like it was the first time). He threw out the option of an elective C-section this time, but I am not at this point inclined to choose that. I'm sure we'll revisit that later in the game. Dr. J. offered to do another ultrasound to peek at the babe and I of course obliged. The big bummer of the appt was that Matt didn't get my page when he was about to do the ultrasound so that he could walk upstairs to join me--technology failed and we didn't connect until after the appt. Dr J, said not to worry, he'd gladly do another at my next appt. Baby looks good! (Good at 8ish weeks means looks like a swamp creature with a beating heart)