Movin’ right along

     We had our first appointment today where we could hear the heartbeat. Can I just say what a HUGE relief it is to know that there is indeed a growing baby in there?! We had tried to hear it at 8 weeks, but it was too early. It’s really rare to hear anything at all through normal doppler before 10 weeks, but one always hopes to be the exception to the rule, right? 
     The first trimester is just so anxiety-ridden. All you know is that a pregnancy test told you that you’re pregnant, but other than that you can’t feel it move or anything else that makes you really be certain you are indeed pregnant. I haven’t had any nausea at all, so aside from being super tired from 8-11 weeks, I’ve been my normal self. My tummy has been huge, but in my weak moments, I’ve just feared I became fat and oddly-proportioned overnight (though I desperately hoped that’s not the case).
     It’s just so hard when you know that the miscarriage rate is 20% during the first tri. Now that I have Addie and I know what there is to lose, I worried a lot more this time. How could I be so lucky to have 2 great pregnancies in a row? It’s just really hard to not second guess your worthiness when such wonderful blessings come your way. 
     So we went in today (Sam and Addie came too) and it took about 7 minutes and 3 different dopplers before we could hear an actual heartbeat. The midwife said she was hearing tons of fetal movement for sure, but the baby was moving too much to get any clear HB reading. Once she did find it though, I was instantly at ease. I will now officially put my fears on the back burner and do my best to just enjoy the rest of the pregnancy. All of the fun stuff is right around the corner now!
     I’ll be 13 weeks on Sunday, which puts me officially in the 2nd trimester and out of the danger zone. For a general idea of what the baby's been up to, it's grown from the size of a grape to the size of a large lemon in just 3 weeks. My uterus is the size of a big grapefruit now- so really my whole tummy is just one big fruit salad. I’m just SO excited for the baby to move on up in my tummy and to start feeling movement and all of that fun stuff. Our big ultrasound should be in the middle of March, so that is what I’m looking forward to next. Fun times should be had, my friends, fun times!

     Because all posts are more fun with pics, here’s one of Addie when she was 3 weeks old: