Monday August 22, 2011 - 9 Weeks

We had our first appointment with our new ObGyn, Dr. Julie Castilla today. Rich and I both really liked her and are happy with our decision to have her as our Ob. She was very nice, caring and compassionate. She seemed genuinely interested in helping me have the best, most healthy and happy pregnancy as possible. Our visit went really well and we had an ultrasound too so she could see how the baby is doing. The baby measured perfectly for the age and the heartbeat was great too. We actually got to hear the heart beat for the first time today. It was so wonderful to hear! The baby was also moving around the feet and hand buds. It was so cute! We were so excited to see all the movement today!

I will now have to check in with Dr. Castilla every month from here forward until I get toward the end then I will go every couple of weeks, and then weekly. Next month I will also go to a specialist to get a Nuchal Translucency ultrasound and blood work to check for birth defects. The NT test checks for thickness in the baby's neck and for the nasal bone to determine if the baby could possibly have down syndrome. The blood work checks for other abnormalities. It is pretty scary to have these tests done but because of my age, it is pretty standard. The doctor also told us about an Amniocentesis and CVS test. Both of these tests check for more abnormalities if the initial tests come back questionable. There is a risk of miscarriage with both of these tests so we have decided that we will not have either one of them done. We will see how the initial tests come back and pray that everything will be just perfect. We don't have a family history of any birth defects in either of our families so we are not terribly worried about it. It is in God's hands at this point and we won't terminate the pregnancy if there is something wrong so we feel it's not worth the risk to test any further.

Since going off of the progesterone, I have been feeling a little better every day. I still have some digestive issues and I'm still pretty exhausted every day but overall I feel much better. I can't wait to make it through the first trimester and start feeling more energized and better all-around!

Tuesday August 16, 2011 - 8 Weeks

I have been so sick with nausea the past week. The last 4 days or so have been the worst. I'm pretty much nauseous all day long now, off and on. I still haven't had to throw up yet but have come very, very close. I try and meditate through it and so far, it has worked. I'm also still pretty bloated and have stomach aches off and on also. It usually happens after I eat. I just hope all of this goes away very soon. I know most of this goes away after the first trimester for most people so I am praying that it will for me! I'm trying to just get through each day as it comes. I'm trying to give my baby the best nutrition that I possibly can but unfortunately, vegetables are generally making me sick, as is chicken, etc. I mostly feel okay when I eat breads, potatoes, etc. I just hope I can eat better food soon!

We have been looking at baby furniture for the nursery. I'm getting so excited! I have a long way to go but it's been fun looking at how we might decorate the nursery. I've also picked up a couple of cute onesies and a cute onesie for Halloween next year. The baby will be 7 month's by then! My friend Margaret gave us a book for the baby called, Love You Forever. It's her favorite children's book. Rich and I read it the night she gave it to us and we cried at how sweet it is. It's a really precious story and it was just so sweet of Margaret to share it with us! I also picked up another book that I saw called, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very bad Day. It's a really cute story too. I can't wait to read to my baby!

Monday August 8, 2011 - 7 Weeks

We had our second ultrasound today and saw our baby's heartbeat!! It was beating at 120 beats per minute so it's right on schedule! It was so exciting to see the little flicker on the screen! I have been praying everyday that we would get to see the heartbeat and I feel so blessed that we actually did! It was so beautiful! I can't believe we could see it already. This became so much more real to us today. We are just so thrilled!

This was our last appointment with Dr. Patel and we have now officially graduated to a regular ObGyn. We have our first appointment with Dr. Julie Castilla in 2 weeks. Although I'm sad to leave Dr. Patel's office, I'm excited to embark on my new journey of pregnancy with my new doctor. Dr. Patel was completely wonderful to us and did everything in his power to get me pregnant and it actually worked! I will miss him but I am very fortunate that I get to leave his practice because that means it was successful! The nurses asked us to bring the baby by and send a picture after he/she comes. I thought that was so sweet! We are now off to our new doctor and the baby's official due date is 3/29/12. Now that we have seen the heartbeat, the chances of a miscarriage has now dropped to 5% so I'm feeling a lot better. I just want to get past the first trimester so I can relax a little more. I'm excited for our first appointment with Dr. Castilla in 2 weeks. We will get to have another ultrasound at that appointment too. I cannot wait!