What a Difference a Week Makes

Dear Baby,

Time is flying by. I have so many things that I want to write about and tell you, but my level of energy can’t quite keep pace with my racing mind at the moment. In a previous post, I mentioned how I’ve had very few pregnancy symptoms. By this I meant that I haven’t felt nauseous and I haven’t vomited. As far as other symptoms go, they are difficult to quantify. Sure, I am tired. I go to bed at 8PM every night. This may be attributed to you wearing me out, but to be honest, I really like going to bed early. Always have. So I can’t quite tell if this is truly a symptom or if I am just using pregnancy as an excuse to do what I have always wanted: to go to bed at a time that is otherwise socially unacceptable. In any case, I think this is more of a win for me than it is a symptom of you being there. Or maybe I’m just naturally good at being pregnant.

I have been to the doctor’s office three times now. The first time was the first time I was able to leave the driveway after the snow storm. It was totally unnecessary as I was roughly five weeks pregnant and almost everything I read said that no doctor would want to see me until at least eight weeks. But I needed stronger affirmation of your existence than a plastic device purchased at CVS. All that appointment amounted to was a blood test. My doctor went out of town the following week so I had to interpret the results of the blood test using google. Well, confirmed. I’m pregnant.

The second doctor’s appointment was much more exciting. It was the first time your father and I saw you—our first ultrasound. It was a Saturday. 2/20/2016. I had been trying to distract myself in every way possible prior to this appointment because I was so impatient for it to come, but that morning I got a wave of nerves, and I think your father was in the same boat. As we sat waiting he kept making inappropriate gynecology related jokes and making me laugh. I told him that I would kill him if he made me laugh during our appointment.

It all dissipated when we were in the room with the doctor, because it was too amazing to laugh. The doctor took his device, and then there you were, up on the TV screen. We could see a little flicker that the doctor told us was your heart beat. You looked like a tiny little bean. It was so bizarre to see that this little being growing inside of me actually existed. It was a very surreal moment for me and your father.

And the next thing the doctor said?

“Let me just look around and make sure it’s not twins…”

Well, I can assure you; you do not have a twin, but your father almost had a heart attack right there and then. He was just coming to terms with you, two of you would have been another story all together. We had a good laugh about it later.

Finally, the third doctor’s appointment—and the most recent—was a week after this one, on 2/26. It was with a new doctor, and I will spare you the details of my intense doctor search, but I basically chose this practice because I wanted to deliver at Inova. The crème de la crème of birthing hospitals. I want to welcome you into this world in only the best. And also, with the private birthing suites, it can’t hurt that your mother is comfortable as well (well, as comfortable as one can be given the circumstances). 

Anyway, your father did not come to this appointment. I went solo, thinking it would be much like the first. However, when I saw you for the second time, it was crazy! You looked so much more baby-like! In just one week! You had a head, and tiny little arms, and the doctor somehow “woke you up,” and you started moving around. I didn’t even know that you could sleep and wake up at this point! It was very cool; I was humbled. I already love you, and all you had to do was wiggle around on a TV screen for me. I can’t imagine what it will do when you say your first word, “Mama,” (obviously) for the first time.

This post is getting sappy. In short, technology is amazing, and ultrasounds are one of the coolest parts about being pregnant. No matter how not-sick I have been, I can now rest assured… you are in there, and you are growing.

Love,

Mom

The frame above is on 2/20 and the frame below is on 2/26.
My tiny little bean has become a tiny little baby!
You are about an inch in the bottom picture.
Uncle Eli likes to compare you to a lego person rather than a piece of produce.

PS. I'd like to give a nod to my previous doctor. I have been with him for a while now, and he is a great man and physician. But alas, he is retiring, and even if he wasn't he does not do OB. So, onward and upward we go.