Ultrasound #1 - 7 weeks, 5 days

Wow.
For the past 4 weeks, we've been holding our breath.

I didn't want to get too far in the planning, too attached to the idea of a little growing inside, but today...wow. Today was a turning point and now I'm really allowing myself to believe that this baby is real!

We had our first ultrasound today! At first, it was terrifying. S was scared, I was scared. Leading up to this day, I have been frightened of receiving bad news. I've imagined looking a blank screen and being told "sorry", and all sorts of sad outcomes. I really tried not to think about these things, but I couldn't help it.

This morning, I got up, drank my 2 bottles of water, and we headed to the clinic. After a short wait, the technician called us in and directed me onto the table. Thankfully, it was a transabdominal (yay, no probing!). As I lay there, I saw a black circle on the screen, then a couple of little fuzzy blobs in the circle. The techician didn't say anything and continued to click and zoom and measure. Since she was measuring, I assumed that she was measuring something good! S was going crazy with wonder as well.

She said that my right side was gassy (!) and that it was difficult to see the ovary on that side. She had found the baby on the left and was looking for a baby on the right! Since it was so hard to see, she didn't find anything on the right side. I hope that we'll conclusively know if there is or isn't something there during our next ultrasound. Note to self: No gassy foods the day before the next u/s.

Our little bean looks healthy and is dated at 7 weeks 5 days with a estimated due date of June 3, 2009. All that reading and researching - and I got the date right! Woot! The technician pointed out the yolk sac, the baby, and the heartbeat! It was so amazing to see that little heartbeat. It looked like two little wings fluttering - and fluttering strong! We were relieved and delighted. S did a little dance behind the technician and I got all teary-eyed. It's alive! Alive!



We were still stunned when we walked out of the clinic, but ecstatic. We called our moms to update them on the healthy report and of course, they are both extremely happy! It's a wonderful day! Yay!

Our next ultrasound is November 21st for the 12 week ultrasound, Integrated Prenatal Screening (IPS) and an appointment with Dr. V. We received a schedule of the anticipated appointments for the next 7 months:

Nov 21st - 12 wk u/s, IPS, Dr appt
Dec 18th - 16 wk IPS - just bloodwork
Jan 8th - 18 wk Level II u/s, Dr appt
Feb 4th - 22 wk Dr appt
Feb 25th - 26 wk Dr appt, 1 hr sugar test
Mar 25th - 30 wk Dr. appt
Apr 8th - 32 wk Dr. appt
Apr 22nd - 34 wk Dr. appt
May 6th - 36 wk Dr. appt
May 13th - 37 wk Dr. appt
May 20th - 38 wk Dr. appt
May 27th - 39 wk Dr. appt
Jun 3rd - Due date!

Queasiness and the dreaded morning sickness

While planning our trip to Iceland, I hadn't given much thought to pregnancy symptoms and scheduling. I hadn't anticipated that I would be queasy for most of the trip and that I would long to sleep all the time. Thankfully, we were going on a relaxing vacation, where most of the fun and games would take place at night. This left the morning and afternoon free for sleep! And sleep I did.

During the later half of our week in Iceland, I felt really queasy. On those days, S and I would wake around 9 am to catch the hotel breakfast buffet, then head back to our room for a nap until 1-1:30 pm. We'd get up, go for a walk to find lunch, do some shopping and sight-seeing, then return to the hotel around 6ish for a nap. Around 8-9ish, we'd be up again, go find dinner, attend some music festival concerts, and head back to the hotel around 12-1 am. Relaxing and fun! At the end of our trip, however, I was finding it very hard to get out of bed, but the longer I stayed cooped up, the worse I felt. Once we managed to get out in the fresh air, I felt a hundred times better. The flight back was a bit rough as there was no fresh air for the 6 hour flight.

All this time, I've been feeling really queasy and have gagged a LOT and thrown up a little. Most of the time, it's gagging and dry heaves. This morning however, on the way back from our ultrasound appointment (yay!), I congratulated myself for stocking my purse and car with plastic bags as I sat in the driver seat and yakked up about a cup of fruity-flavoured water. Ew!

I guess this is really the start of this phase of the pregnancy. I've been able to handle nibbling on very dry crackers, but have been afraid to take a sip of water. I hate drinking water, but know I must do it to get the vitamins down and to keep hydrated. I had tried the Nestea flavour crystals, but I still gag when trying to down it. There must be a solution.

No-no's for a Chinese Mommy-to-be

I'm starting to build up a list of things that can not be done while pregnant. Between Mom, MIL, and FIL, these are the things I am not to do while preggers:

- Don't hammer nails into the wall
- Don't move furniture about
- Don't move anything by kicking or pushing with my legs
- Don't knit
- Don't watch unpleasant shows or movies
- Don't lift anything heavy, or little kids (this makes sense)

That's all I can remember for now. I'll add to this as more come up - or when I remember.