The sweetest sight and sound

I had my first prenatal appointment this morning, and it turned out to be more than I'd ever hoped. I expected to talk with the doctor, have a pelvic exam, and give blood and urine samples. When talking with the doctor, he said that he doesn't expect to hear the heartbeat on the doppler for another two weeks or so, but that he might try to listen for it anyway. I promised to not get upset if we didn't hear it. So I went back for my exam and he said he felt a mass that he wanted to have checked out further on ultrasound to rule out a polyp or cyst (even though he thought it was probably just stool). He used the doppler without success but didn't try very long since he'd already decided to send me for the ultrasound anyway.

















So I went to have the ultrasound performed. Every ultrasound I've had done in the past weren't nice occasions (ovarian cysts, miscarriage), so I was pretty nervous. The tech inserted the wand and pretty soon I saw what looked to be a tiny baby (well, an alien baby), but since I have trouble seeing specifics on ultrasounds, I couldn't immediately tell if there was a heartbeat. I asked the tech, and she showed it to me, this little pulse just pumping away. She turned on the sound and then I could hear it--oh, what a great sound! I started tearing up a little, for a couple reasons. One, it's such a relief to see and hear after having a miscarriage and being worried about that happening again. Two, it's also sort of a relief to know that all of this nausea and vomiting isn't for nothing, you know? There's a perfectly good 174-beats-per-minute reason. (The heartbeat was on the higher side, which the old wives tale says it means a girl, but I won't find out about that for another couple months.) Oh, and the baby was measuring at 10w1d (I'm 9w6d), so that's good news, as well.
















I met with the doctor again, who said the ultrasound showed nothing unusual in the way of polyps or cysts, so he thinks it was just stool. He said everything looked good so far, that I'm measuring right on track. My chances of miscarriage now are down around 1% to 3% or so after detecting the heartbeat. I just wish I felt complete relief at that, but I'm not quite there yet.

I go back to the doctor in two weeks, where he'll try to hear the heartbeat on doppler again.

In other doctor's visit news:

*I mentioned the issues with my gall bladder, and he was appropriately concerned. He ordered a blood panel (in addition to what I was already have done), and I have to go back next Monday for an ultrasound. He said he'd prefer to wait to take out the gall bladder until after the pregnancy unless it's a major issue with recurrent attacks, but he wants to know what's going on in there so we know what to expect.

*He wasn't too concerned with the nausea and vomiting at this point, despite losing about 11 to 12 pounds. He said the baby will be able to get what nutrition it needs, even if I'm eating very little, but his bigger concern is with dehydration. I've been trying to make sure I drink as much as possible in an effort to avoid ending up in the hospital with an IV.

*The girl who took my blood today did a good job. She got me on the first try and it just stung a little. I'm not sure how many vials they took because I was afraid to look and didn't want to ask afterwards, but it seemed to take a while. I felt her change vials at least four times, so that'd be at least 5 vials, which sounds pretty normal.