I had been feeling "different" for about a week. I won't go into all the details about my symptoms because some of it may be too much information for my readers haha... but for the most part I was feeling extremely tired to the point where I was going to bed at 8:00 pm almost every night. I was a little late for my period but kept thinking it would eventually come. Since I had been feeling different I decided to take a test and it came up POSITIVE! I couldn't believe it. Brandon was outside gardening at the time, so I ran out of the bathroom holding the pee-stick like a trophy and showed Brandon. He was SOOOO excited. Thinking back, I would have liked to surprise Brandon in a fun creative way, but I'm horrible with secrets when it comes to something I'm really excited about. I couldn't stop smiling all day!
Brandon was gardening at the time I told him and he thought our lemon tree would make a nice background, so we took the picture outside. hahaWe had our first doctors appointment on Oct. 13th to get blood work done to confirm the pregnancy and make sure everything was running smoothly (I was around 5 weeks at the time). Everything went well. They figured out my due date would be June 14, 2012. I downloaded an app on my phone called 'Baby Bump' and 'What to expect when you are expecting'. Each week it would give me an update on how big the baby was. It started off the size of an apple seed and by the time we had our first ultrasound it was the size of a blueberry. We decided to call our baby Bean because we were tired of referring to our child as an it. Plus Bean just seemed to fit. Our first ultrasound was on October 31st, Halloween! At first I was worried this would be bad luck, but apparently only Friday the 13th brings bad luck... because we got to see a very healthy, very small baby. And it even looked like a Bean (see the name fit). We got to see Bean's heartbeat. At the time it was beating at 157 beats per minute. On the ultrasound screen it looked like a little flicker. We were so excited to see that there actually was a baby in there and that things were running smoothly.
Our first appointment with our OBGYN was on November 29th (I was 11 weeks 5 days at the time). We selected our doctor based off of a referral one of our other ex pat friends had made. I was really nervous for our first appointment. I woke up with butterflies in my stomach and was praying so hard that the everything would go okay. I had already become so attached to my little Bean. Anyway the appointment went great! The doctor did a scan in her office (which was a nice surprise) and we got to see Bean. Bean was jumping up and down and doing flips... almost as if to see "See mom I'm okay, don't worry." It made me so happy to see that our little Mexian Jumping Bean was growing strong. It was so crazy to see the transformation over 4 weeks. Bean no longer looked like a Bean but looked like an actual baby!That day they sent me off to do more blood work (ugh I hate getting my blood drawn) for the down syndrome screen that is done inbetween 12-14 weeks. They use your blood test results with your ultrasound to determine if you are at high or low risk for having a child with down syndrome. We didn't care either way if our baby had down syndrome, but decided to do the test just to see if everything was going okay.
Today (December 9th) we had the ultrasound! I was really excited to get to see Bean again, and was hoping that s/he would be jumping around again so that I could get a picture. I had to go in with a full bladder (they need a full bladder for the scan) so Bean was slightly restricted and couldn't do his/her usual acrobatics, but we did see him/her hiccup and stretch his/her legs.
The results came back that we are at extremely low risk of having a baby with downsyndrome (1:8197). They said Bean looks healthy and is growing right on track. We find out on January 16th what gender Bean is. Most people are guessing it's a boy. Time to make your guess!For the most part I have been feeling good. I've had a few dizzy spells and still feel sick off and on at night. At the beginning of the pregnancy I had major food aversions to meat... I still can't eat a hamburger, but chicken is okay. The fatigue isn't as bad now that I'm almost in my second trimester. Cravings include, chocolate milk, milk and fruit... Which is strange because I never was a big milk drinker and use to prefer soymilk. I am starting to get a little baby bump and most of my pants no longer will button. At first I was thinking it was more bloat then baby... but the ultrasound tech said that the placenta is attached right at the front (some women carry further back... meaning they don't show as much).
Well that is all the updates for now. I just love my little Bean so much and can't wait to be a mother. I can't stop smiling every time I think of Bean. What a wonderful blessing! I can't wait to meet my little one in 6 months.
