My Growing Gummy Bear

Growing a baby is exhausting! Here I am making fingers and toes, eyes and nose, lungs and heart, and all I want to do is sleep, sleep, sleep! My energy level is definitely low. I take more naps than I used to and they tend to last quite a bit longer too.

Of course, my activity level has gone down as well and usually I have more energy the more active I am. I've been too nervous to go to the gym and have terribly missed my boot camp and cycling classes. So I may be more tired because of the low activity level and my carefree diet too. Sugar tends to knock you out and I've said yes much more than no lately.

But I still say this baby has something to do with it!

That being the only symptom, however, makes me feel pretty darn lucky. I keep waiting for the nausea to rear its ugly head but it still hasn't happened. I have had a few brief waves here and there. And I mean very brief, like seconds or minutes. Maybe I haven't eaten for a long time or I got up too fast or I ate too much. I'll think, "Oh there it is," but then it passes and I kind of laugh like, "What was that even?" Since I'm coming up on nine weeks, I'm guessing I may be really lucky with this baby and only have my tiny little waves. (Knock on wood) And that's alright with me!

We had our eight week ultrasound last week, on November 11th. That's Veterans Day and my husband's birthday too so it works out pretty well since he always has his birthday off. I thought it'd be a good day for an ultrasound since he'd already be off work.

I've been feeling so calm about this pregnancy and I felt that calm when going to the ultrasound. I wish I could trust that a little bit more but experience has taught me that feelings can fool you. So I tried to keep my hope in check as we went in to our appointment, just in case. I was just praying for a good experience so we didn't have to ruin the day and make a bad memory.

But we didn't ruin it. It was actually quite a fun addition to my husband's special day!

The image came up on the screen and the first thing I see is a wiry cord. When you're expecting to see a jellybean in there and see a snake instead, it can be a little confusing and worrisome. Was that the baby and it had fallen apart? Thankfully, the doctor quickly cleared things up and was quite amazed at how well we could see my umbilical cord! Oh. That makes sense. Phew!

I don't know that I'd ever seen an umbilical cord so clearly before. We took a good look at it and he pointed out the blood flowing inside of the cord. Wow! I had no idea you'd be able to see that! It was such a neat thing to actually see the life flowing between us. It still feels completely unreal but it was a very cool image and a cool thought anyway.

So the cord is all fine and well, but where's the baby?

Ah, there it is. We finally got a decent look at our little one, who is about the size of a cinnamon bear, and could see the heartbeat too. Makes sense since we saw the blood flowing through the cord! And the baby was measuring right on target, to the day. This is the most cooperative and easy-going baby ever, and I bet this baby will be like that growing up too. Hey, I can dream, right?

The doctor had said that at this stage, the baby should look like a little skateboard with wheels. You look down at the top of the skateboard (the body) and see the wheels poking out of the sides (the arms and legs). I thought that was a funny analogy and very cute. We searched for the little wheels and eventually found them, my little baby nubbins. Click here for the full ultrasound video.

I was curious about the heartbeat, to see if it would be the same as before at 119. But it had shot up to 178! That seemed kind of fast to me but I did some reading on it and that's right on target. The beat tends to start out slower, then get faster around this time, and then level out closer to 120 - 140 once you reach a certain point. That put my mind at ease. Once again, baby is doing everything right.

It was definitely a good day for us. Having served in the military, Nick can access free stuff on Veteran's Day and that sure works out well for his birthday. He had a free pancake breakfast at IHOP, we spent our afternoon at the aquarium for free, then we ended with a free pizza at California Pizza Kitchen.

All the while, I was feeling so blessed and amazed at how this has worked out for us. I'm still reeling from the fact that we were successful on our first try. I had all my riot gear on and was ready to walk through that battlefield, whatever it took. Instead of a battle, I've just been having a lovely stroll. Never saw that coming!

We have our next ultrasound on December 2nd when I'm 11 weeks along. I still feel like we're not quite out of the clear yet and I suppose you never are until you hold that baby in your arms. I'm on that lovely stroll but I've still got a lot of walking to do til I reach my destination! Your first trimester presents the biggest hill in your journey though and I think I'll be a lot more excited when I reach the top of that hill.

It's going to be an exciting Christmas for us.