There's really a baby in there!

Okay, I'll get to the doctor's appointment in a minute, but first, I have to pat my own back on something I just did. We recently got a new computer and Ryan installed our printer/scanner/copier on it, but when I tried to scan my sonogram picture nothing happened. So I single-handedly uninstalled the printer and reinstalled everything (which included downloading a driver from the Lexmark website) and now it works!! Yay me!! :)

Now, on to the doctor's appointment. Let me start out by saying, I have been excited about this appointment for 3 weeks, when I first made the appointment. When I made the appointment, I was told that for the sonogram, I needed to drink at least 32 ounces of water. So I did that this morning as I was getting ready. Needless to say, by the time my appointment came around, I really needed to go to the bathroom!! :) So I got to the doctor's office a few minutes early to give time to fill out all the paperwork (and FYI...Ryan did come with me today). And I'm sitting there waiting on the little couch, just thinking, HURRY!! :) And it doesn't take long for them to call my name, thank goodness. I had heard different things from different people prior to this appointment. Some said that this first sonogram would be internal (does NOT sound fun!) and some said they've never had an internal sonogram. So I wasn't really sure what to be prepared for. Thankfully, this was an EXTERNAL sonogram! Yay!! Imagine this: you really need to go to the bathroom and instead of getting to relieve your bladder, a person uses a wand and presses really hard on your bladder. Yeah, thank goodness I'm a "big girl" who can hold it. :) (Side story, and this is true: when Ryan and I were on the plane coming back from our honeymoon, our plane had to sit outside of the terminal waiting to get a spot to "park." I really needed to go to the bathroom but the seat belt sign was on. I saw other people getting up to go to the bathroom so I decided it was okay. I get up and go to the front of the plane and a crabby flight attendant tells me to go sit down. I tell her I'm waiting for the bathroom. She says (and I quote), "Well, you're just going to have to hold it like a big girl." I swear, that really happened! I was 21 years old!! Okay, so now you know why I said the "big girl" thing earlier.)

On to the sonogram: The first part of it is just measuring my uterus and ovaries (which were very clear for her to see, thanks to me following directions and drinking all that water!). But then she shows us where the baby is!! It looks like a grain of rice in the picture (there's a little white hand pointing to it, just in case you're having trouble spotting it). And she showed us where the heart was beating...it was so fast!! I had to hold my breath while she calculated how many beats per minute the baby had. FYI...150 beats per minute. The only downfall of the sonogram is that I'm not as far along as I thought. Based on the date of my last period, I'll be 9 weeks tomorrow with a due date of July 18. Based on this sonogram, I'm 7 weeks, 4 days with a due date of July 27. I'm so confused!! :) The only reason I care so much is because I really want to get past this first trimester because that's when all the crazy stuff happens and there are so many restrictions.

The other part of the visit was meeting with my doctor's nurse, answering questions, and getting a big bag of free stuff. :) Who doesn't love that? Then I was sent to the lab to do a urine sample and have blood taken. Let me just say, I do not think guys understand how not fun urine samples are. I hate them!! It's such a potential mess!! But when I went to have the blood taken, there on the table, the lab technician has like 5 test tubes sitting there!! So she just attaches a needle with a tube on it into my arm and keeps switching out tubes. FYI...I don't enjoy blood being taken out all that much. :)

My next appointment is December 31. We're supposed to be able to hear the heartbeat at this visit, plus I'll actually see my doctor that time. :) Hope you enjoyed reading all this!

Frequently Asked Questions

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to my blog! :) This is my first time to do this, so we'll see how it goes. But I figured that since we have lots of friends and family who want to be updated as this pregnancy continues, this is probably the best way to make sure everyone gets the same information and I don't neglect to tell anyone anything. So check back often!! Okay, so since this pregnancy is such a surprise to everyone, I'm using this first post to give you all the backstory.

Important Question #1: Were you guys trying?
Answer: No!! :) Surprise!! :)

Question 2: When is your first doctor's appointment?
Answer: This Thursday, December 13. I will be having a sonogram, so I'm so excited!!

Question 3: When is your due date?
Answer: This isn't official from the doctor, but from everything I've read about how to calculate your due date: July 19.

Question 4: How are you feeling?
Answer: I'm really feeling fine. No morning sickness. The only thing I'm really dealing with is slight nausea every once in a while and food aversions, where some things I usually eat don't sound appealing in the least.

Fun story about how we found out:
Two nights before Thanksgiving I googled the only symptom I was having: menstrual cramps. My problem was that I'd been having the cramps for a good week, but hadn't started yet. (If you're a guy and you're reading this, I promise I won't get any more graphic than that. :) Pregnancy was the last thing I thought I would find, but it's what I found. I found a message board that people had had the same thing going on and were told by their doctors that it was their uterus growing. So the next morning (after only being able to sleep for about 6 hours), I got up and took a pregnancy test (without telling Ryan...I didn't want to freak him out unnecessarily!). Well, it came out with irregular results. Later, after Ryan went to work, I went to Walmart and bought a package of pregnancy tests with three in the box!! I was prepared to take them all! I went home and took the first one. Three minutes later, I checked the results and found what looked like a plus sign. I definitely wanted to be 100% sure of what was going on, so I went to Target and bought a digital pregnancy test (I didn't want to go back to Walmart in case someone saw me there twice!!). I went home and read the directions, which said that you would know the test was working because there would be an hourglass in the display window and your results would appear within three minutes. It said that the results could appear in as little as a minute. WELL...approximately one minute later, up pops the word "Pregnant." There's no mistaking that...I know how to read!! So I called the doctor's office and they were able to get me in that day for the blood test. They were also able to call me that afternoon with the results: "Well, your results are positive." :) So we were able to tell all of our family on Thanksgiving Day, which was so exciting!! Perhaps I'll tell the story about that another time. Thanks for reading...stay tuned for when I report on this Thursday's doctor's appointment. :)