Week 8 - First Doctor's visit & ultrasound

Today we had our first Dr. appointment and all is well! Yay! A professional has verified that those home pregnancy tests really were telling the truth and we are going to be parents! My OBGYN was super happy for us and even gave me a big hug when she first came in the room. I had seen her in April for a pre-pregnancy exam and discussed with her that we were going off birth control and were going to start trying, so she was happy to see me again so soon! It was really sweet that she seemed so genuinely excited for us. Sean said he really liked her too.

She did an ultrasound and we could see (but not hear) a little peanut shaped blob (the baby) on the screen that was inside a larger blob (the amniotic sac). It was a 2D ultrasound, so just black and white, but you could see that the baby had a little tiny thing fluttering - the heartbeat! Sean said his heart skipped a beat when she pointed out the baby and the heartbeat to him. I love that he is so excited and wanting to be involved in my Doctor visits. Seeing the heartbeat was pretty awesome, but I also felt a huge feeling of relief that I really am pregnant and the baby is doing well. I’ve had such minor pregnancy symptoms up to this point that it has made me wonder if everything is okay in there. She measured the baby from crown to rump and said that my conception date was right on and I am exactly 8 weeks. So the baby's due date should be somewhere around April 24, 2011. We'll see if he or she decides to debut that day or not.

We also had a chance to ask our Dr. a lot of questions. One of the first things we asked was “What is the likelihood of her delivering our baby?” She was very honest and told us that she is not doing births anymore because she injured her hand. However she said that we could choose a different doctor if we wanted or a Certified Nurse Midwife if we felt more comfortable with seeing someone else. She also told us that even if we chose someone else that since it’s Kaiser we would really just end up with whoever was on call (unless we scheduled to be induced or had a scheduled c-section). So, since I would like to try to have a natural birth and let the baby come when it wants to come, I really won’t know who the Doctor or Midwife will be to deliver the baby until that day. Since we I really like this OBGYN and would like to continue seeing her, but we also want to increase our likelihood of meeting the person who will deliver our baby ahead of time, Sean and I decided that we will just see as many of the Doctors and Midwives as possible during our routine appointments and hopefully one of them will be the one that we end up with in the delivery room. Additionally, this seemed like a good time to discuss hiring a doula. Since we are guaranteed to have some unknowns in the delivery room and since this is our first baby, we are going to research doulas in our area and find one that is a good match for us.

My next appointment is Oct. 26th. I don't think I get another ultrasound at that one though. I think we will have to wait to get the next ultrasound at or around 20 weeks (approx. December 5th) before we find out if we are having a boy or a girl.