Heartbeats

Today Steve and I met with our midwife for the first time and are happy to report that she seems really great.  It's actually a practice of 9 nurse midwives, so we'll be meeting a handful of them (if not all).  But first impressions are important and so far, so good!  Nothing felt rushed, they answered all of our questions, laughed at all of Steve's jokes and smiled patiently at my notebook full of medication information, questions and referral requests :)

But the absolute fun part of the appointment was hearing the baby's heartbeat!  It took a minute or two (it felt like an hour, so I can't really be sure, maybe it was 30 seconds) to find, but then there it was.  Smack dab in the middle just chuggin' away at 160-some beats per minute.  It was an amazing thing to see on the screen a few weeks back, but there was something extra special about actually hearing the little "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

No more ultrasounds until the big gender scan in late February, but we'll get to hear that sweet little heartbeat at every monthly visit.  So that's okay by me!

The only other change happening this way is INSOMNIA.  Good.  Gawd.  As someone who has never had problems sleeping, this is quite the new phenomena.  Each night somewhere between 3 and 5 am I'm up for at least 1-2 hours at a time.  It would make more sense to me if I were awake worrying about impending parenthood, risks of pregnancy, psychological traumas we can unintentionally inflict on this child.  But no.  Here's a bit of mental commentary from last night:

"Man my nose is runny."
"Should I go eat those pierogies in the fridge?"
"Do I still remember the words from that song...(proceed to sing entire song in head)"
"Or maybe I'll go eat a bagel."
"Where is Bella?"
(sing song in head again)
"Those pierogies were really tasty."

Big, big stuff that's keeping me awake at night.  Though now looking at this I'm wondering if I should keep food next to my bed.  Maybe filling my belly would send me off to sleep faster. 

Stomach, I accept your challenge.

Merry Christmas!

Cozy.  Next year we'll branch out to outdoor lights!

7 Stockings hung with care...yes, 7.

Our first full size Christmas tree!

Some things never change.  But unlike last year the tree has not been knocked over (knock on wood) and we've only lost 3 4 5 ornaments to Bella pulling them off of the tree.  Christmas miracles do happen!

We officially kicked off Christmas with some beef and bacon chowder last night.  Today we'll be taking it over to Jodi and Stacey's while we do some cookie decorating with the kiddos!  We've got a lot going on between today and tomorrow and my goal is to try and stay awake for as much of it as possible :D

Merry Christmas everyone!

Pregnant!

Okay, not so new news for most of you, but it certainly deserves its own post!  I thought I'd post the two ultrasounds to see how quickly s/he is growing!

This is at 5 1/2 weeks.  If you look close there's a small circle towards the bottom of that dark spot labeled "Gest (gestational) sac".  Don't blink, you'll miss it.

And then BAM!  Just 2 weeks later at 8 weeks! 



It's finally sinking in for us that I'm really pregnant and this isn't just some trick our doctors are playing on us :)  This time next year we're going to be parents, and that is both wonderful and kind of crazy.  For now though, our lives aren't much different, but here's what's changing:

Food:  Over the course of 6 years on working with pregnant women, I've seen how bad the 1st trimester can be on a woman.  So I am very grateful to simply feel nauseous all day.  I'm grazing like a cow which helps, but it is a strange feeling.  I also will enjoy a food for a day or so and then never want to see it again.  Which recently lead to Steve coming home and proudly showing me all of the foods he bought for me that I'd been loving and me not being able to stomach them.  Or Emilie bringing juice all the way from Lawrence into Eureka, only for me to drink one cup. 

Sleep:  In pajamas by 6:30, early bedtimes, sleeping in and sometimes even lunchtime naps--I actually love this part of pregnancy.  It's the sedentary life I've always dreamed of living.

Sex: Not us you sicko!  The sex of the baby, sheesh.  Steve and I always planned on waiting to find out the sex until the baby's born, but as soon as this pregnancy was confirmed we seem to have changed our minds.  Partly because we have so many friends with kids and want dibs on their clothes and partly because we're both very instant gratification oriented that it would be hard to have that 20 week scan and not find out.  Plus we can't agree on a boys name, so if we found out it were a girl we could just shelf that conversation for a later date :)

Our next appointment is on December 28th when I'll be about 11-12 weeks.  We saw the heartbeat at 8 weeks, but we're hoping we get to hear it on the 28th.  Very excited!

Until then!