Heartbeat, It's A Lovebeat

Once upon a time, about 11 weeks ago, I hated when expectant mothers would show me pictures of their ultrasounds. I mean, how the heck am I supposed to see anything in that? It just kinda looks like a big white blob!!

Well, folks, times have changed! Introducing my blob:

I tried to label some things so you could kind of understand. The big kinda faded circle thing is my uterus (gross), the darker mass is the water sac that the baby is in (really gross), and the white blob is the baby (not really gross at all!). The head is at the bottom, and the body is kind of curled up to the right. We actually got to see the heart fluttering on the screen.

It was so cool, and it became even more real to me today. I got to hear (as well as see, as mentioned above) the heartbeat, and it was just the greatest thing. Beforehand, the nurse told me not to freak out if we couldn't hear anything, but I was still really nervous when it took her awhile to find it. It was really really fast (which she said was normal), and I was so happy when I finally got to hear it. My mom was there with me, so that was cool that she got to share that experience with me.

There is a family history of twins on my mom's side, so the doc wanted to go ahead and do the ultrasound today. He only saw one baby, but he did tell me that he has missed the other one this early before. So, chances are there is only one, but there is a chance that I'm carrying twins. (I think there's just one, by the way!)

My blood pressure was good, and I've gained 6 pounds in four weeks. The doc wasn't concerned about the weight gain at all, and actually told me that since I had lost so much weight recently I would probably put on weight faster. Something about my fat cells.

I had to go have some blood work done (they filled up five vials!) to check my blood type, to see whether I'm anemic, HIV, etc. In my next visit or two he said we would talk about the test I need to have to determine any genetic problems (specifically Downs Syndrome).

The thing about Downs is that once you hit 35 years of age, you're odds of having a baby with Downs Syndrome dramatically increase. When you turn 35 the odds go from 1 in 20,000 to something like 1 in 365. Each year, those odds are more dangerous. However, the doc told me to think of it this way: He would have to line up 365 pregnant, 36 year old women, and one of those would have a baby with Downs. I'm not too worried about it. Whatever happens happens.

I go back in February (Valentines Day, actually!), and then when I go in March we should be able to determine the sex. I'm VERY excited about that.

So, I think that's about it!

PS...The title of this post is the name of a song I liked when I was really young...by the DeFranco Family...Anyone remember this one with me?