What's up, Doc?

So here's what we've done with doctors so far -

I went in on June 10 for my 1 hour informational class. Yep, that's right, the Army assumes you are unfit to carry your fetus until you've sat through their super informative 1 hour "class". You can't even make a real doctor's appointment until you've had your class. So off I went like a good little wifey. It wasn't terrible, I got a really nice nurse who you can tell loves her job. She weighed me - unfortunately it was in front of another lady who was much further along than I am and she did not appreciate hearing my weight read out loud by Nurse Happy Pants. I did, though. HAHAHAH! I weighed less than I thought. She forgot to take my blood pressure and sat me in a room with just her and a teeny computer desk. There were pictures of fetal devlopment all over the place. Yes, I'm going to make you look at them.



EEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew.

It was surreal. I kept thinking, "WHAT in the world am I doing here?" I've only been to these things as support. Anyway we talked about my risk factors (zero, thank you very much!), having a midwife instead of an OBGYN, what to expect at my next visit, what I can keep doing vs what I need to stop, the fact that fetus has already swam in a sea of vodka (well, it was Memorial weekend and I took a test beforehand, but it lied to me!!!!), etc. Then she entered some dates into her computer and came up with date of conception - April 21. Well knowing that April 21 was Sam's graduation and we couldn't have conceived on that day I asked if it could have been the night before. She said "absolutely" and I almost fell out of my chair laughing. Nurse Happy Pants was confused so I explained to her that April 20th was the first time Sam and I were even in the same state since I went off BC. Soooooooooooooooooooooo VERY FUNNY, GOD! Apparently He saw his chance and commanded Tater Tot to hurry up before I changed my mind and went back on the pill. Histerical, right? After we finished she scheduled my 10 week heartbeat appt and sent me down to the lab to see if I had The Hiv or any other CrazyNasty that could hurt the tot (I don't).Nurse Large Needles promptly blew out my vein. Yay. The bruise just went away yesterday.




So 1st appt we learned I was 9 weeks, 1 day and my starting weight was 114.04

My goal is to keep it under 150 lbs but we'll see. I know people who gained 25 and people who gained 100. I have no idea what'll happen to me but I'm inclined to believe I'll balloon up like a beached whale.


~Doc Appt #2~

So at our 10 week appointment we got to hear the heartbeat. It was really brief and Midwife only found it twice, but we heard it. Sam said it sounded like hummingbird wings. I had to fight back tears (2 of which got away - the houdinis!) but Sam just sat there with a huge grin on his face. I was really surprised that I got all mooshy - I've only cried once so far and that was when Sam realized I was pregnant. Those tears weren't even for me - they were for him. It's the biggest thing in the world to tell your husband that his life will never be the same (especially when he REALLY wants a child and you know how happy the news is about to make him) so I leaked like a faucet.

After Midwife cleaned the goo off my belly we talked about setting up the ultrasound. It's supposed to be done between weeks 18 and 22. She said we get 1 shot (ONE!) to find out the sex of Tater Tot. If Tot's facing the wrong way and hiding his/her goodies from us then too bad, so sad, we'll find out in the delivery room. Ummm.............come again????!!!!!!!!???????!!!!!! You want me to put my trust in one 10 minute session with a soldier who couldn't care less if we get to find out what we're having or not and an outdated grainy black and white Xerox machine that'll spit out a "picture" of my Tater Tot that may as well be a Rorshach blot????? Bull bananas! Yeah I said bull bananas - I'm bringing a kid into this world, it's time to clean up the language (and you guys thought I was strict on profanity in my house before). So ffw to 2 weeks ago on our drive to church Sunday morning. I was looking out the window and saw a strorefront that said 4D Peek Ultrasounds. Well I googled it (http://www.4dpeek.com/ if you're interested), called the front desk, and viola! We find out at week 15 in 3d color! July 23! Yes, I've heard the skepticism about learning the sex that early. Yes I know that when some of you were pregnant it was impossible to know that early. It's not 1972 anymore - I say if the technology is there, why not use it? I asked the scheduler if we should wait til I was 16 or 17 weeks along and she assured me that they have over a 90% accuracy rate at 15 weeks but if for some reason they can't be sure, they'll reschedule me the next week for free. SIGN ME UP.

So at 10 weeks I weighed 104.2, bp 64, and we heard the heartbeat.

Next up:

July 23 - ultrasound


July 31 - 16 week appt

Sometime late August - army ultrasound


OK, so I think that brings us up to speed. I am now 12 weeks and a day. 6 more days to go and I'll be in the 2nd trimester. Everyone told me not to count on my morning sickness going away by the end of the 1st trimester but YOU WERE WROOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG! (if you didn't sing that last part in a schoolyard voice, go back and try again). Nausea only lasted 2 weeks! Now I'm not naive, I know it could come back with a vengence in the 3rd trimester but for now it's gone, gone, gone! Morning sickness and fatigue are the only symptoms I've had so far. No headaches, no worsening allergies, no ..... bathroom....issues, no mood swings (really! I can't believe it myself! - if anything, I'm more chill than usual), no uncontrollable crying bouts, no disorganization.... Yes, I know it may slap me in the face yet but 1st trimester was a breeze! Oh wait, I do have to pee about 72 times a day/night and I've had some wierd food cravings and aversions. So far I have found that meat is not my friend nor is ranch dressing. Both of those turn my stomach. I've only eaten 2 odd combinations so far: 1. a big ole spooful of butter in my pot roast 2. cream of mushroom soup with white rice.............scooped out of the bowl with Fritos like it was dip. I thought it was delicious.