Doctor's Appointment!

Im feeling great! Extra hungry, but that's ok.

My doctor's appointment went so well! I'm SO EXCITED! [:D]

Today I weighed 128 lbs - up about one pound from last month. My bp was normal (it usually is), but because I had severe pre-eclampsia when I was pregnant with Hannah, and it's likely it could happen again, they're watching me very closely. I have to do the 24-hr urine test tomorrow. (Otherwise known as Pee-into-a-bottle-all-day-and-all-night-long. Oh what fun.)

I was majorly impressed that the ob/midwife practice already had all of my records in order, and was very relieved that I didn't have to explain my entire medical history all over again. They already knew my LMP, my last pap smear, my EDD, all my past pregnancies, everything! They even had all of Hannah's medical records too, because her pediatrician works for the same practice!

We listened for a heartbeat with the handheld Doppler, and heard all kinds of swooshing noises (digestion, bloodflow, maybe my own heartbeat?) but couldn't get a clear sound.

So, just to be sure, they pulled out the ultrasound machine.
I had no idea what to expect. I've only ever gotten to have ONE ultrasound before, when Hannah was about 24 weeks.
But today I got to SEE my baby, and see it's tiny heartbeat! It was so surreal. I was shocked. I wasn't expecting to really see anything at all! I mean, not that there's a whole lot to look at, when youre less than an inch long.... Yeah, I could tell there was a head and a body, but that was about it.
Baby was swimming around like CRAZY! Such a tiny thing, but already so active.
It was so funny-looking, I almost cried!

The midwife said "Hey, I thought you'd be more excited about this", but I think I was mostly just shocked. I had to let it sink in: A baby, there really is a live baby in there! THANK YOU GOD!

Baby is measuring exactly nine weeks, which is a couple days bigger than my estimated 8wks, 5 days - but hey, nothing wrong with that!
The due date is still Christmas Eve.

The only bad part happened when they tried to get 6 vials of blood out of me. I know I have awful veins, but the nurse didn't do such a wonderful job. It took her 3 tries just to hit a vein! Oh well, maybe I'll get someone else next time.

I've decided to go with this practice, UNC's midwife program, instead of using the freestanding birthing center. Before today, I wasn't sure, but now I am convinced. I just feel that delivering at the hospital is a safer choice for me if there are complications later in the pregnancy, or with delivery.... or if I have to be induced again.
And the fact that they have a portable ultrasound machine that we can use whenever we need to, without actually going to the hospital - well, that's a nice bonus!
So, I'll visit them every four weeks, for now.

I am so thankful. I cried on the way home, just so glad that this pregnancy is going well, and that I've made it to two months. Here's hoping for seven more!

A funny Hannah moment: I got home, and walked in the door holding a printout of 3 ultrasound pictures. I showed Mike, and he said something semi-approving, like "oh look, there's a baby blob in there". Then of course Hannah yelled "I wanna see, I wanna see!" So he handed the pictures to Hannah.... and she promptly dropped it onto the floor! Completely uninterested in a fuzzy-looking gray, black-and-white thing (can you blame her, really?!).
We asked her "What is that?" and she honestly, matter-of-factly replied "I don't know." Poor girl, she's still pretty clueless.

I'm going to sign us up to take the hospital maternity tour, probably in late September or October, which also includes a sibling class. They give the kids a tour of the hospital, the labor & delivery rooms, and the baby nursery, so that she can get a better idea of what will happen. Maybe it will help make it more real for her. Right now she has a really hard time grasping concepts that are not concrete.

Wow, I feel like I've written a whole book chapter tonight.
Have a good night, and a happy tomorrow! :)