13 weeks

I know I am a bit late (no pregnancy pun intended) but I thought I would update everyone on how my 12 week doctor appointment went...

Mark and I met Dr Eastenson on Wednesday of last week for the normal 12 week visit. This was the first time that Mark came with me to one of these and we were looking forward to hearing the heartbeat.

I was excited to learn that I have LOST 4 pounds! This was a surprise since I have been super lucky and managed to avoid the whole morning-sickness ordeal. Since I am a "larger" woman this is a good thing. They tell me that I should only gain about 15 pounds compared to a "normal" woman's 25 pound goal.

From there we went to chat with the doctor for a while and then began the process of trying to hear the heartbeat. No luck! Naturally I was assuming the worst but the doctor said that this is very normal at this stage in our pregnancy. She told us that she was sending us to get an ultrasound done to check for the heart rate and such things.

During the car ride to the ultrasound site I wavered between chugging water, panicking that something was wrong with the baby and listening to Mark who was trying to calm me down. When we got there and they started the ultrasound I was near tears because the technician wasn't really saying anything to us and had yet to turn the screen so that we could see what was going on. After about 5 minutes of silent torture, I finally asked if everything was okay. The technician looked at me with surprise and said that everything was just fine. I don't think she realized the state of panic I was in.

After another couple of minutes she turned on a screen so that we could see the baby. And there really is a baby in there!!! We could see it really well and at one point we could even see it kicking it's legs around. The technician said something about us having a really active baby in there. You already probably guessed it but by know I could no longer stop the tears from flowing! That was MY baby in there moving around and kicking like a REAL baby! I am sure that most mothers go through a similar set of emotions at least once in their pregnancy but I am still mentally reeling from the way that it was kicking around!

The technician was kind enough to print out a few pictures for us. Mark thinks that the baby looks like a gummy bear in one of them so our "little Sesame seed" now has 2 more nicknames. Mark calls it "our little gummy bear" and we both call it " Our "little Wiggle worm." And yes, I am aware that we are both complete nerds! :)

The technician told us that the heartbeat is a strong 154 beats per minute and that according to the size, my due date is correct. So all of my panic was for nothing, although, if you know Mark you realize that he vastly enjoyed telling me that I should have listened to him and remained calm about the whole thing. So if my panic made Mark feel like a wise daddy, then I guess it was worth it!

Other than the doctors appointment I have another exciting development (I guess I can't help the pregnancy puns). I felt the baby move on Wednesday. Well, I am 90% sure that I did and Mark and my mother both agree with me. Very strange, yet exciting. It seems odd that I felt it so early but as Mark said, if I can feel myself ovulate it would make sense that I can feel the baby move a little earlier than some. I am not going to complain about it, that's for sure!

I have been feeling really good the last week or so. The tiredness is starting to lighten up a bit. My clothes are getting to be a bit uncomfortable so don't be surprised if I end up in maternity wear in the next week or so. I feel better about the clothing thing knowing that I have actually lost weight. That means that unless I have accidentally shrunk my clothes, this really is the baby taking up space. I am still craving the berries and now pudding, milk and bananas. Nothing too unhealthy or strange yet but I will keep you posted.

Lots of love to you all!
Jenny