12 Week Baby Appointment

Last week Thursday was my 12 week appointment with my obstetrician. Everything was checking out fine; weight gain, only 1 pound (amazingly!!), blood results came back good, no relief for the constant fatigue until probably week 18 etc. Then it was time to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. Ryan was with me for what we hoped would be a momentous occasion. Unfortunately, despite the doctor trying for more than 10 minutes, up, down, sideways, high, low, he could not find a heartbeat. He started going over different scenarios: (1) my due date is wrong; (2) my uterus is titled, or (3) there is a sac but no baby. Of course #3 scared me enough to ask what we could do. The doctor recommended an urgent ultrasound and thought I might be able to get in the next day already. Taking his advice, I was in for an ultrasound the next day. Unfortunately Ryan could not get out of work with such late notice and my mom offered to come along with me to the hospital the next day.

So we started the ultrasound (without my mom in the room) and right away the technician said "oh there's the heartbeat" and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. She took a few more measurements and I got to see my baby on the screen for the first time. The technician brought my mom in too so she could take a look and see her grandbaby.

So everything seems to be on track, and there doesn't seem to be any concerns after all. Huge relief. We even got our first baby picture (good thing she labelled the head or it might be hard to tell at this point). If anything, the technician said the baby is measuring a little small (well, that's ALL we heard throughout my entire pregnancy with Kaitlyn and I think these medical professionals keep forgetting how short this child's parents are!).

So here's our first baby pic: