OB appt

Todd and I had our 2nd OB appt this past Tuesday. We went over all of our lab results and our last u/s with our OB, and everything is looking really good. Then she had me lay down on the table, pulled out a doppler, and smeared a bunch of goo on my tummy. After a minute or so, she found the right place, and we heard our baby's heartbeat for the first time! It was so amazing! It was fast, maybe 160-170 beats per minute, and sounded great! Todd does a really good impression of how it sounded. :)

We talked a little about the next appt--which is the big one! We get to have our anatomy ultrasound before our appt, and that's where we should be able to find out the sex of our baby! (assuming our babe is not too camera shy!) I made our appt for the morning of April 11th. You can be sure I'll post the results here as soon as we find out!

It's nice not to have real frequent appts right now, especially after making so many trips to the doctor when we were trying to get pregnant! We've been working on the house, or more accurately, Todd's been working on the house. He tore down our scary, steep old staircase, and is making a new, safer staircase. It will make it much more safe to go down to the basement to do laundry as I get bigger, and then have a babe with me!

I've been feeling much less tired now too. They say in your second trimester, pg women often get this burst of energy..I think I'm starting to feel that! I've gotten more done in the past week than I did in the past 10 weeks! It's a nice change.

Thanks for checking in,
I know there's fewer updates now, but I'll do my best to update when something new comes up!

Love,
Julie

Hi there

Hey friends,
Not much more to report at this point, but I thought I'd say a quick hello! We got our official test results back from our ultrasound last week, and everything looks good! :) Things have been going well...I'm starting to show a bit--mostly it's just my uterus pushing my little pudge out, but it looks like a belly and I'm gonna show it off! haha My lovely mom took me shopping this week and we found some really cute and, more importantly, COMFORTABLE clothes--thank goodness for elastic! It's so much better than squeezing into tight jeans.

I did have a day of bleeding again over the weekend. I had to go in for another u/s just to make sure everything was ok, (thankfully it was) and the bleeding has stopped since. Our little babe was bouncing around, sitting kind of cross-legged, & looking particularly darling too!

Anyhow, I've had a fun week of telling folks that I'm pregnant--especially with some of my friends at work who knew about our IF struggles. And even though there were times during all of this that I regretted being so open with my IF, overall it's been a good thing--I feel so loved by all of you and have been so amazed with the generosity of people. Thank you!

Here's a question for you fellow ex-IF'ers: when you were telling people you were pg, did you ever feel like you wanted to disclaim your "previous" IF? Like, no really, it's really exciting for us...or " it took us a while" or something else to say that it wasn't just any easily achieved pregnancy? Just wondering...I sometimes want to add that disclaimer, and I wonder how common it is among IF'ers? (not to say that any pregnancy isn't exciting, but I think you know what I mean...)

Have a great week everyone. And btw, we've got our 2nd OB appt next Tuesday.

Love,
Julie

Yup, we're pregnant!

We had a great ultrasound today! Our baby looks beautiful, and was really active! It was jumping around, waving it's little arms and legs; overall looking quite darling. His/her heartbeat was 179 beats per minute and measured about 50mm (about 2 inches) which is right on track! It was amazing, really amazing. I felt so happy and calm and reassured that everything was ok. It's strange though--even as I'm writing this, part of my brain is worried, afraid that something isn't right--despite this calmness & reassuredness (is that a word?) that I felt just a few hours ago! Oh the agony of the mind...
We'll get our official test results back early next week...

I just have to keep looking at these pictures and remembering how active our little babe was today. Todd and I were so excited to see him/her--and it's really looking like a little baby now. I'm going to put up our pictures this evening--they really don't do justice to how beautiful our babe is though.

And, by the way, we've decided to officially announce this pregnancy. It kind of makes me nervous, but mostly excited. Thanks again for your support and kind words of encouragement. You'll never know how much I've appreciated it.


Love,
Julie

Quick hello

Hi there friends,

Sorry I've been so bad about blogging lately! It's nice to not have any news to report--since everything has been going so well.

Todd and I are on vacation right now, but I wanted to put up a quick post saying hello.

I continue to feel pretty good--just on the tired side. My pants this week have been a little snug--Todd's had a good laugh with all the unbuttoning of them that I've done!

We'll get back home next week and have our first screening ultrasound & bloodwork on Thursday. I'm anxious to see our little bean! It will have been about 3 weeks since the last ultrasound, and I'm excited to see how much it's grown! Of course, there's a part of me that's nervous...but I have to believe that everything will be ok.

Thanks for checking in, and I'll try to do a better job with updates!

Love,
Julie

Ultrasound pic

Here are a couple pictures of our little bean! The first one is has all the measurements on it, but you can see the little arm and leg buds better with the second one!



It's amazing that it's grown 3 times it's size in just 2 weeks! It's definitely more than a gray blob now!



Think I'm falling in love...

Have a great day,
Love Julie

btw, I am feeling better today although I'm staying home from work to recoup! Thanks for your kind words yesterday.

Week 8 update

Hi friends,

Our ultrasound today was great! We could see our little bean again--he or she is so much bigger! Heartbeat was a strong 176 and we could see the beginnings of little arms and little legs. Phew! What a relief this ultrasound was. I had started bleeding again today at work, and was so anxious to make sure that everything was ok. It was a good thing I had this appointment scheduled already, or I would've been even more anxious! They could still see that little pool of blood in the bottom of my uterus, but it looked like it was resolving nicely--thank goodness!

The other good news is that my RE feels comfortable with how I'm doing and is turning me over to my OB. So now I get to be a "regular" pg patient. I think it will be very strange going to the OB's for the first time...I still don't feel like I'm really part of that club. But I'm glad to be and am looking forward to my OB appointment which is this Friday.

The only bummer of the day is that I seem to have some GI bug. We won't get into the details here, but I'll say that I've spent far too much time in the bathroom today (and it wasn't morning sickness either!). I've got a fever, which worries me a bit--so I've been taking some Tylenol to keep it low grade. Higher fevers during pregnancy can be dangerous to the embryo, particulally in the 1st trimester. I may even set my alarm to take my tylenol regularly tonight. At least Todd is home to help take care of me this time!

I'll get home to scan the picture of our bean and get it posted as soon as I can.

Thanks for all your kind words and encouragements. I don't know what I'd do without you!

Love,
Julie

Almost 8 Weeks!

I can't believe I'll be 8 weeks pg tomorrow! This is going to be a busy week with appointments. Tuesday afternoon I have my 8 week u/s with my RE to make sure the little bean is growing as he (that's my default pronoun) should be. I think I'll start to be able to breathe more easily after I know that everything is still on track and looking good. Right now, I still feel like I'm holding my breath--afraid for the worst..The pain of IF is still so fresh in my heart...So I'm glad that Tuesday is almost here and we'll get some reassurance!

Then on Friday we have our first OB appointment! That will for sure be a strange, yet exciting appointment! I'm writing down all my questions, & I'm a bit afraid that I've turned into a worry-wart patient, but I guess that's just the way it goes! It will be nice to meet our OB and see what their practice is like. It's gotten good reviews from 2 of my friends who were recently pg.

Not much else is going on here. Just waiting. I haven't had any more bleeding (hurray!), although I'm still spotting practically every day. I've been trying to take it easy, and not push it. Last night I slept a delightful 12 hours! (well, yes, I did have to get up to use the bathroom twice!--but other than that, it was great sleep!)

Thanks for checking in on us. I really have so much gratitude for all of you who have supported me and Todd during this journey. It has not been easy, but having your support really helps us get through it. And now, it's wonderful to be able to share our joyous new journey with you .

Much love,
Julie