Doctor's Appointment and VEGAS!

Two pretty unrelated things, huh? Well, right now, they are the highlights of my week!

First the doctor's appointment. Yesterday was my first real prenatal appointment. I had been in for an u/s to date the pregnancy, but this was the big one. Everything went fine. I go to a really big practice - over 20 doctors - and I had the guy whose name is first in the title of the practice. The head honcho. Though they recommend rotating among a lot of the OBs, because you never know who you'll get on D-Day, even if I go to a different OB every visit, I could still end up with a stranger on the big day.

So anyways, the OB came in and said they were going to take blood, do a pap smear and then we'd chat for a little while about pregnancy. I asked, "are you going to check for a heartbeat?" He replied, "it's probably too early, I usually don't do that until after 10 weeks." Being exactly 10 weeks, I begged and pleaded. He said he would but made me promise not to freak out if he wasn't able to find it with the Doppler. Praise the Lord he found it in about 20 seconds! Yay! I just love hearing that little pitter patter. And with no pregnancy symptoms, it is a great confirmation that indeed the little cashew is alive and kicking.

The big topic of discussion was genetic testing. I'm interested to know others' thoughts about it. I think we are going to forgo all testing because, if they were to find something wrong, we are not going to do anything to the baby. So what's the point? And I really don't want to do any invasive testing...and the OB said that, often the only way to confirm the result of a noninvasive test is through an invasive one. So why should we have the invasive one in the first place? I know I'm going round and round but this all seems like such a big decision. Thoughts? Suggestions?

On to the next topic - VEGAS! We leave this Friday for a long weekend in Vegas with 3 of my best friends from college and their husbands. I've never been and I can't wait. Of course, I'm sure the Vegas experience is quite different sans alcohol, but I'm sure I'll have a great time anyways. And we haven't told our friends the big news yet, so that will be fun, too. My biggest fear is not being able to "hang" with the rest of the group given the late hours we'll surely be enjoying. But I'll put my big girl pants on and be extra tough! We are staying at the MGM Grand, but other than that, have no definite plans. Any suggestions on best things to see, do, and eat in Sin City?

So that's about it for us. I don't have another OB appointment for a full 4 weeks - 1 month - 30 days! Yikes! That's a huge change from the last 3 months where my car can almost drive itself to the doctor's office! What to do? What to do?

I'm Boring!

Hi all...yep, I'm boring. Nothing new to report.

But I do want to welcome any ICLW'ers to the site and hope you'll stick around. As you probably can tell, we had our first IVF cycle in June and were so blessed to have it to be successful. I'm just over 9 weeks pregnant with an estimated due date of March 22nd. Yay!

And I've been doubly blessed because, as of today, knock on wood, I haven't had even one ounce of sickness, extreme fatigue or the other fun stuff that one usually associates with pregnancy. Each day I keep thinking that will be the day it hits...but so far, so good.

Here's what I do have. I can't stop eating. I am hungry all the time! I was telling my hubby today that I can't remember the last time I felt full. The upside is, since I've been feeling good, I can still run every day so hopefully that is counteracting all the extra calories I'm consuming. I think I'm up to about 7 meals/snacks a day!

My first full prenatal appointment with the OB is on Tuesday, Aug. 25th. It doesn't include an u/s...does anyone know if they check the heartbeat with a dopplar? I just wonder how they will even know that all is well in there?

Anyways, told you I'm boring. I'll post after my appointment on Tuesday. Bye bye for now and thanks for stopping by!

Eight Week Ultrasound

Today was our first visit to the normal person doctor, otherwise known as the OB. Well, actually we just saw the ultrasound technician but, boy, was it a nice change.

I'm not sure why I needed another ultrasound to date the pregnancy after having two at the RE, but I'm not going to complain (due date is still March 22). The baby is now 15.6mm (pretty cool because they gave me the measurement in centimeters to start with, which feels like an upgrade from its smaller sister the mm).

But the coolest part was we heard the heartbeat! Which, of course, stopped my heart. 156 beautiful beats per minute. Thank you, God!

I return in 2 weeks for my routine prenatal work-up. I think I'll continue to hold my breath throughout this entire pregnancy, always apprehensive about accepting it as reality knowing how hard it was to come by and how quickly it could be taken away. Right now we are just so grateful for our little 8 week blessing.

A Cashew on Wheaties!?!?

As many of you know, we had our last appointment with the RE this week and were thrilled to find out that our little cashew grew almost 500% in the past week (from 1.87mm at 5wk 6 days to 10.66mm at 7wks). Wow! Guess I should cut back on the Wheaties.



And...on top of that...we saw an unbelievably beautiful heartbeat. What a relief! It is truly amazing...there is this blob on the u/s machine and then this little pulsating thingy in the middle of the blob. Wow.

As far as heart rate, my RE doesn't calculate it saying that it doesn't matter at this point - all that matters is that there is one - and that it is only important later on. Being the compulsive researcher that I am, though, I wanted, no make that I needed, that number so I could spend countless hours on Google comparing it to everyone else's. Alas, all I know is that there is a heart beat!

The RE said everything looked perfect and that the baby seems to be even a few days ahead growthwise.

So I've officially graduated to the OB! I don't know what is normal, but my OB sees everyone initially just for an u/s to date the pregnancy and then not again until 12 weeks. Is that unusual? So we go in this upcoming Tuesday for yet another u/s. I'll be exactly 8 weeks!

We head home this weekend to finally tell the family...only my mom knows. So we'll tell my hubby's family as well as my grandmother and my two brothers' families. We aren't telling anyone else until we're out of the first trimester.

Thanks for all your support and prayers...we continue to pray fervently that God keep his hand on this little baby. Life just seems so terribly fragile.

Waterproof Mascara?

Each day of our IVF cycle, I've found myself asking one important question every morning - is this a waterproof mascara day?

What do I mean?

Well, each morning I have assessed, and continue to assess, everything that the day may hold - what news was I expecting from the RE that day and what tests were being done - and then determined the probability of me crying. Then I selected my mascara accordingly.

Now, I hate waterproof mascara because it is so darn difficult to get off in the evening. But it is better than looking like a raccoon that day.

So my next waterproof or not decision will be this Wednesday when we have what should be our last ultrasound at the RE. I am so scared that a heartbeat won't be detected or the baby won't be growing or....all those other terrible possibilities.

My fear is only compounded because I absolutely, positively do not feel pregnant. No nausea. No exhaustion. Nothing. Boobs are a little sore, but that can also be attributed to the 3-a-day-suppository habit I have. I have a twinge or two, but nothing else. I've Googled it 100 times and found about a million other people freaking out about not having symptoms, so at least I know I'm in good company.

So, anyways, I'm thinking Wednesday will be a waterproof mascara kind of day.