It's a baby!

We went to my first prenatal appointment yesterday morning, and it was wonderful! The very first thing we did was an ultrasound, which was a huge relief for me as soon as that little bean showed up on the screen with its flickering hearbeat. I have been wracked with anxiety about the baby - was there really one in there?! Was everything okay??? But I felt SO much better right after the ultrasound. Baby is measuring perfectly - between 9 weeks 1 day and 9 weeks 2 days - which the nurse said was perfect, since that's exactly how far along I am. The heart rate was 160, which she also said was perfect.

After lots more questions and exams and talking to the doctor, we were done. Everything was extremely positive and my doctor said that, from this point on, my chance of miscarriage is less than 1% - another extremely comforting point. And yes, there is only ONE in there!!!

Today I went and had my blood work done that my doctor ordered - I couldn't believe how many vials of blood they took from me, I swear it was about 7. But it wasn't a bad experience. Hopefully all the results of those tests come back with good news.

I go back to the doctor every 4 weeks until I'm 7 months; then every 2 weeks, until the last month, when I go every week. I have my anatamy scan ultrasound at 20 weeks (first or second week of December) to find out if it's a boy or a girl, which we're excited about; and they offer a 4D ultrasound at 28 weeks, which I think we're going to do as well (it's not covered by insurance but only costs about $150). He or she is the size of a big grape this week. We love getting the weekly emails from babycenter.com that tell us how big the bean is compared to food, and what new things are developing for the week. Nathan was really excited to hear that the embryonic tail is completely gone now, haha.

I am just so relieved that everything looks good so far and that, YES, there is REALLY a baby in there! It's real now...nevermind the nausea, weird appetite, mood swings, headaches, acne and other fun symptoms I've been having for weeks. :) The nausea's not too bad anymore, although I do still have to run to the bathroom sometimes at random smells or things like that. I get to feeling very sick when I get hungry, which is often. I get hungry very easily, but then I can't eat a whole lot at one time, and I can only make myself eat what sounds really good, right then. Like I said....weird appetite. But I'm managing. :)

Yay baby! Keep growing and stay healthy!