The Blob

The Peanut is due to be born some time around January 14, 2013. I've gotten two other due date estimates based on measurements taken during sonograms, and those were January 12 and January 10. But my midwives are sticking with the January 14 due date, so I am too.

Weeks 4-7.5 of my pregnancy weren't especially pleasant. I was nauseated all the time, and for 2 of those 3.5 weeks I couldn't keep much food down at all. I was warned that if I didn't get more fluids into my system, I would need to go to the hospital for IV fluids. But one day I woke up and wasn't feeling bad at all (except for the ridiculous exhaustion that has been a pretty constant part of my first trimester). In fact, I was able to eat just fine all day, and I even had a bit of an appetite. I continued to feel better in the following days as well. While feeling better was a relief and a blessing, over the next few days I became concerned that something had surely gone wrong. Considering how suddenly I had gone from feeling miserable to feeling pretty normal, I figured something had to be wrong.

I had an appointment for an ultrasound scheduled on June 1st, when I was 8 weeks along. I was so concerned about the baby that I steeled myself for the possibility that the sonogram tech would shake her head and say, "I'm sorry, there's no heartbeat." But when we went in for the ultrasound, we were able to see the baby, watch its heartbeat, and also listen to its heart beating at a strong 168 beats per minute. The relief was overwhelming. It was also the first opportunity to share photos of Peanut with our families. Here's the little (beautiful) blob we saw:

Peanut's first photo!

I know it doesn't look like much, but the baby was there and alive, and that was an incredible thing. Matt and I were so relieved that things were ok and that we got to see the baby and watch his/her little heart beat.