First Pregnancy Checkup and Ultrasound

August 9, 2012

I had my very first pregnancy checkup on August 8, 2012. I thought that day was never going to come, because I found out I was pregnant on July 11, 2012. So, I had to wait almost a whole month to go to my first appointment. It wasn't because I was too early or they couldn't fit me in the schedule. My doctor was scheduled to go to Brazil to help treat people. How awesome is that?! Well it was good and bad, good because she is helping people, but bad because I had to wait so long.

Because of what happened in January, I couldn't help but think that something was going to happen to my baby. But my long list of symptoms were there to remind me otherwise every time I had one of those negative thoughts. I went to Adam's work to pick him up so we could ride together to the appointment and on the way to the doctor's office, I got so, so nervous!! I started giggling and my heart started racing, and I got butterflies in my tummy, and then I got really scared. I just started talking about random stuff to keep my mind occupied on something else, and then I would get nervous/excited/scared again. This process repeated a good number of times until I actually got to go to the ultrasound room.

I finally got called back and one of the nurses weighed me, took my vitals and did my initial evaluation. She did say that she wants me to gain between 25-35 lbs. I was in shock, but at least I can be guilt free for the next 7 months! My doctor came in to talk to me and did my exam. She sent me over to get my blood drawn and this was the worst part of the whole visit. Anybody that knows me, knows that I absolutely despise getting shots/drawing blood. I hate needles, and I am scared to death of them. But the lady that does it at my doctor's office is incredible. Usually I can't look and I hold my breath while she is taking my blood. But I couldn't do that this time. I was watching her get all of her supplies together and I shouldn't have did that for a couple of reasons: 1 - she labeled 5 VILES with my name on them (2 larger and 3 smaller) and 2 - I saw the size of that sword she was about to stick me with. OH MY GOD. I thought I was going to faint. But I knew this was only the beginning of a long road ahead of needles so I just went with it. I looked away for the initial stick and the first few vials she had taken from me. But I got courageous and actually looked at my arm with the needle in it and the vial filling up with blood. But it wasn't like a long stare, just long enough to prove to myself that everything is going to be ok. The worst part was when she pulled the needle out, that hurt so bad. The ultrasound tech was actually waiting on me and I got to go straight into the room.

This part actually was a lot quicker than what I expected. But  I guess it was because they had gotten super busy. I went in and laid down, unbuttoned my pants and she put the jelly on my tummy. And I looked over at Adam and told him I couldn't look. At this point I was so scared she wasn't going to see anything and I was going to be devastated. The tech immediately started playing with the machine and measuring my uterus. She was quiet most of the time. She was finding the baby and measuring how long it was and she wasn't talking during this, but I knew that was it!! I was so excited words can't even explain. After she was measuring she told us that was the baby and I immediately started crying (all happy tears of course!) She said our baby was measuring 1.74 cm long and that put us at 8 weeks and 1 day. Then she started working on getting the heartbeat and we got to hear it!! I even got to see the heart flickering on the screen. Baby Dowden's heart was beating 169 bpm! She said that was really awesome and everything looked really good. It was the sweetest thing I had ever seen.

I got a goody bag when I left filled with prenatal vitamins, nursing pads, coupons, pamplets, a newborn diaper and an information packet that I need to read over.  I was so completely humbled by this experience that I have no words to describe how happy I am for this new chapter ahead of us. It's crazy to me how much love I have for someone that I haven't even met yet.

I dropped Adam back off at work so he could finish his last hour and I went to get my prescription filled and to request off at work for my next doctor's appointment. Adam and I went to Applebee's to celebrate and the service was horrible. But I was in too good of a mood to really care. Thank goodness, because I really could have put all of these raging hormones to good use. ;) I would have taken a picture of us, but my phone was about to die, and I was more worried about the food anyways.

Here is a picture of our baby at 8 weeks 1 Day:

I know it doesn't look like much right now and I can't look at it for an extended amount of time because it kind of freaks me out that it doesn't look much like a human being, but it's still cute nonetheless.