First Trimester Recap

This post may not be for everyone! If you are a boy or get easily grossed out, then you probably will want to exit the blog now! :) For everyone else, sorry this is so long, but a lot happens in 13 weeks!

=============================================

Tuesday, February 16, 2010: Thanks to a great, free iphone app (P Tracker Lite), I know the exact date of my last period. Thank you Apple!

Thursday, March 4, 2010: Brad's boss paid for Brad to get his Tarot cards read during their work conference in New Orleans. Brad pulled a card with a pregnant lady on it and the Tarot Card reader told him that his woman was pregnant. Brad laughed it off and said absolutely not! The reader told him that he may want to confirm that once he got home. Looking back, guess she had the last laugh!

Saturday, March 20, 2010: My last sip of alcohol-2 glasses of red wine at Melissa and Steven's couples shower. If I had known this was going to be my last drink for the foreseeable future, I'm not sure I would have ended with red wine. I would have gone with a Lemon Drop Martini, Cosmo, and finished with a Lemon Drop. Okay, now I'm salivating. This is the hardest part!

Monday, March 22, 2010: Felt weird all weekend and especially icky at work. Thought I had picked up a stomach virus on Friday from lunch w/Wybenga. Just had a weird feeling so I decided to stop by Walgreens to pick up some pregnancy tests. Not a stomach bug! Took 2 tests, both positive. This was my last day of drinking coffee and diet coke. Bye bye old friends.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010: Called doctor's office, made appointment for Tuesday, March 30. Ironic because the reason I was off my meds in the first place was because my prescription had expired and I couldn't get in until the first week of April. Funny how your "status" with the doctor changes once you have a positive preggo test! But I do love my Doctor!!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010: After coming home from dinner for Melissa's birthday, I finally broke the news to Brad. I gave him a copy of Where the Wild Things Are since this was his favorite book that his dad read to him as a little boy and told him he needed to practice. Two hours later, I believe it was slowly starting to sink in.

Thursday, March 25, 2010: Took a 3rd test and showed it to Brad and we cheered together (we decided to have an encore performance where both parties knew their lines because they had read the script beforehand). This time the test registered positive within 10-15 seconds.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010: First doctor's appointment. Confirmed pregnancy via 4th urine test. Had first ultrasound. Brad said that watching Knocked Up helped prepare him for this appointment; however, I still felt unprepared. I HATE going to the doctor, but for once I wasn't the most uncomfortable person in the room (that award would go to Brad)! Got my prescription for chewable vitamins and was quite excited that they didn't have to take blood this visit!

First ultrasound

LMP 6 weeks 0 days

No baby yet, just the gestational sac and a cyst (which is the big black blob on the left).

Tuesday, April 13, 2010: Second doctor's appointment. We had to go back after two weeks since they didn't see the baby during the first ultrasound. Thankfully, we saw the baby and breathed a sigh of relief, at this point we were already used to the idea that there was a baby on board. Brad pointed out the flickering heart beat on the screen. We actually got to hear the heartbeat at this visit (128 bpm); Brad and I just looked at each other and uttered one word: weird! Since the baby was measuring 8 days behind (based on my LMP), the doctor set the due date based on the baby's measurements. Due to the date discrepancy, the doctor told us that if we had been trying that we probably wouldn't have been successful that month due how off my dates were. They took four vials of blood and I did not faint or get sick, just teared up a little bit. I was quite proud of myself!

Second ultrasound

LMP 8 weeks 0 days

Baby measuring 6 weeks 6 days

Est due date 12/1/2010 (based on the baby's measurements)

You can see the baby is feeding on its yolk sac (the tiny blob on the left)

Tuesday, May 11, 2010: Third doctor's appointment. We had our third ultrasound! I'm sure my insurance company just loves me! Three appointments and three ultrasounds! This ultrasound was schedule to view my cyst (which had grown to 5 cm by my second appointment). As an added bonus we got to see the baby! We could see baby's head, spine, arms, legs, and heartbeat! This time Baby Byrne's heartbeat was 162 bpm. It sounded so much stronger than the first visit! At this visit, Baby Byrne measured 5 cm and quoting my doctor, my cyst "is virtually non-existent."

Third ultrasound

LMP 12 weeks 0 days

10 weeks and 6 days pregnant

Baby measuring 11 weeks 5 days

Monday, May 17, 2010: Our 2nd Wedding Anniversary! I threw up for the first time (and so far only time, knock on wood) this morning. Thank you for the anniversary wishes Baby!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010: First Trimester Combined Screening. We met with the high risk specialist at Brookwood Hospital. This appointment consisted of a detailed ultrasound and a finger prick (in my case two finger pricks). We hadn't seen the baby move yet, so I thought a Real Ginger Ale would help perk up baby! I had my first ultrasound on my stomach so that was a nice change of pace. We were able to see Baby and Baby was jumping all over the place! Baby was actually annoying the ultrasound tech by dodging her! We were able to see and hear the heartbeat (162 again) and it was really cool to see that the baby was so active! We saw the baby suck its thumb and the doctor counted four fingers and a thumb on one hand! This screening ruled out 2/3rds of all heart defeats, 80% of spinal problems and our baby's chances for Down Syndrome or Trisomy 13 or 18 are 1 in 10,000. The nurse said that the company that they use only measures to 10,000, so we were thankful that the baby looks so healthy!!

Doctor came in to look at the Baby and at the end he froze the screen, looked at the ultrasound tech and said there's your money shot. He asked her what she thought the baby was and she said um, a boy? He responded NO!! It's a girl!! He did add a 95% disclaimer that Baby Byrne is a SHE after I looked at Brad with a big smile on my face and said that I could finally go shopping!

Fourth ultrasound

LMP 13 weeks 1 day

12 weeks pregnant

Baby measuring 12 weeks and 4 days

Baby looks a little "out of this world" in these, but I had to post!