11 weeks

This post is coming a little late....I am now nearing 13 weeks, but our 11 week visit was incredible! The visit was going to be "the heartbeat visit." At my OB's practice, they don't routinely do ultrasounds until 20 weeks unless necessary sooner, but of course we just wanted to see a picture of our little baby before then! As I was walking into my appointment, a close friend who is expecting texted me a picture of her ultrasound (she is due 2 weeks after me) which made me want my ultrasound even more!! I knew that just hearing the heartbeat would be wonderful, but then Dr. Pare had a little trouble finding it through the doppler (the machine they put on my stomach to pick up baby's heartbeat). Of course I got a little nervous, but he was so calm and said we'd check an ultrasound just to be sure everything was OK. He assumed he had trouble because of the position of my uterus and was very reassuring. I was going to get my ultrasound after all, but at this point I was nervous and excited at the same time. Brett, my mom, and his mom were all at the visit to hear the heartbeat, but only 1 person could come in the ultrasound with me. Daddy-to-be came in, and seeing our baby on the big screen on the wall was more amazing than words can describe :) As soon as I saw baby, I begged the tech to "just show me the heartbeat," and there it was, fluttering away, and then I lost it...the tears flowed! She spent several more minutes just letting us look at our baby (and checking to be sure there "weren't any siblings hiding." There weren't, we are just having one!) Baby was moving arms and legs, rubbing his/her face, and even did a little flip. I've seen lots of ultrasound pics, but had no idea that there was already that much movement! After she finished getting the measurements and heartbeat for Dr. Pare, she let both of our moms come in to watch the big screen :) I'll never forget those amazing 20 minutes....Here is one of the pictures of our little blessing. (Head on the left, hands by the face, body to the right with knees bent up...)

Next appointment is February 8, maybe I'll have another picture of Baby Bladergroen!