I figured out how to import old blog posts! The following three posts are a bit of light background reading. Enjoy.
Pooky and I had our first OB appointment and ultrasound when I was 6w3d pregnant—kind of early, all things considered, but since we found out we’re expecting when I was only 3w2d along, it felt like forever. I’d had a couple of spotting scares in those early weeks, and while my beta draws (742 hCG at 18 DPO and 1800 hCG at 20 DPO) were reassuring, I was really craving some visual proof that this whole pregnancy thing wasn’t just a figment of my imagination.
I was holding my breath (and my bladder—32 oz. of water is a lot to consume and retain for over an hour) while the ultrasound technician moved the wand around on my belly, but still had room in my lungs to gasp when she pointed out the amniotic and yolk sacs and inside, Sprout’s impossibly small, flickering heartbeat. Neither Pook nor I were prepared for the incredible rush of that moment, and we’ve pretty much been playing catch-up with our emotions ever since. Our OB came in shortly after the tech took the necessary measurements (which were right on track) and took the wand himself, unknowingly christening our tiny babe when he proclaimed, “Looks like you’ve got a little sprout in there.”
Sprout as a grain of rice at 6w3d:
Our next peek inside was at our 10w4d appointment, during which we not only saw a few bouncing movements (by far Pooky’s favorite baby-related occurrence up to that point), but were also able to hear Sprout’s heartbeat on the Doppler—that whoosh whoosh whoosh sound still thrills me every time.
Sprout as a gummy bear at 10w4d:
We declined any sort of pre-natal screening (no quad screen or NT scan for us), so our next appointment at 14w4d was fairly uneventful, though we did get the chance to hear Sprout’s cute little heartbeat again. Our next ultrasound was the anatomy scan at 18w3d, a.k.a. the BIG ultrasound, as so many couples choose to find out the sex of their little ones. Pooky and I, to the dismay of pretty much everyone we know, took the road less traveled and opted to wait for the delivery room to find out what color we’ll be painting Sprout’s nursery. The time the tech spent on this ultrasound was about three times the amount she’d spent on the first, and Pook and I took in every second with a mixture of awe and pride—we saw Sprout’s feet, arms crossed at the wrists, slightly startling face, strong spine, and my favorite, the sweetest profile ever (it seems like Sprout kind of resembles me, though that might just be wishful thinking on my part). We also discovered that I have an anterior placenta, so while Sprout was moving here and there during the ultrasound, I still wasn’t feeling anything that I could definitely say was baby.
Sprout looking like Mama at 18w3d:
Now at 24w3d, I’m feeling Sprout off and on all day long—always low on the left and high on the right, and sometimes in both places at once. I think I can pinpoint the 17w mark as the week I first felt flutters, though I didn’t realize I was actually feeling baby movements until a couple weeks later. Pooky got his first kick to the palm at 20w2d (it was the first time I could feel Sprout from the outside as well), and we saw visual movement just last week at 23w2d. Our little one is growing stronger every day, and we’re so lucky to be along for the ride of our lives.
