As a former history major, I wanted to keep track of all the little milestones and important dates for this pregnancy. And as a former history major himself, David is willing to humor me, his pregnant wife. :) So we thought we'd lay out some of the milestones we've already hit, but couldn't blog about until we'd made the announcement. And answer some of the most common questions we've been asked so far at the same time -- look, we're already learning how to be super efficient! :)
We found out we were pregnant on May 16. I took a home pregnancy test first thing that bright Saturday morning. I'd had a suspicion all that week that I might be pregnant, but then again, I'd had a similar suspicion every month for a while now... So you can imagine my surprise when that second line appeared on the test!
I called out for David, trying to control the excitement in my voice, but he immediately knew something was up. We then basically spent the rest of the day trying to take in this news, and being so incredibly excited together. :) We took another home pregnancy test the next morning -- just to be sure. And yup, still positive! So we called our parents that day to share the exciting news!
That day was Elaine and Ed's wedding. We saw a ton of old friends, and most of my college roommates -- I was dying to tell them all our news. But it was way early, and at that point, we had decided we wanted to wait until the end of the first trimester to make a public announcement, so I managed to keep it together. Just wanted to let you girls know now, though -- I really, really wanted to tell you all that day!
My first doctor's appointment was on May 28. Surprisingly, they only took my height, weight and blood pressure, and then we had a Q&A session with my doctor. Apparently, home pregnancy tests are accurate enough these days such that OBs don't generally take a blood test to confirm the pregnancy. I sort of wanted some independent confirmation -- the home tests are great and all, but wouldn't you want something more than the $6 test from Target to confirm such life-changing news?
We did get to schedule an early ultrasound, though. At my doctor's practice, they usually only do a couple ultrasounds throughout the entire pregnancy, the first of which is a screening test at about 12 weeks. But because we weren't entirely sure of the dating of this pregnancy, we got an ultrasound scheduled for June 4, in order to provide the estimated due date.
That ultrasound was the most incredible experience ever. At just 6 weeks, 3 days, we could see the flicker of the baby's heartbeat on the monitor! It's amazing, actually getting to see the little life growing in my womb. We were so thankful that everything looked good at the ultrasound -- and statistically speaking, the miscarriage rate drops to about 5% after you see a heartbeat! This, by the way, was the sonogram we posted in our pregnancy announcement.
That was already almost four weeks ago! We have our second doctor's appointment tomorrow morning. Because the bloodwork and ultrasounds are done at different locations, I don't anticipate having anything big come up tomorrow. But we'll go in for the first trimester screening on July 14, and hopefully have more sonograms to share then!
So today, we're 10 weeks, 1 day pregnant. (And yes, we're pregnant -- David is just as much in this as I am!) I'm not exactly far enough along to be showing just yet, but I do have a healthy pregnancy bloat going on... David commented yesterday that this is the first time I wanted him to tell me I looked "fatter." :)
The biggest question we've gotten so far is whether we know if the baby is a boy or a girl. We won't actually find out about that until about 20 weeks, at the anatomy screening ultrasound -- so not until sometime in early September. But you better believe we'll be finding out the gender then! And we'll keep you all in the loop as well!
So again, thank you so much for being excited with and for us! We're so thankful for the wonderful family and friends we have, and for the community that this little one will be born into. It's so much fun to share this pregnancy with all of you!
