Nice To Meet You

In my early months of pregnancy I had a very hard time believing I was pregnant. I was lucky enough to not have many symptoms other than tiredness and I am so lazy to begin with acting like a sloth seemed like a bonus rather than a hindrance. I love naps. I wish I could nap all the time. Sleep and bed are lovely. Oh, got off track here...

So our first OB appointment was an exciting adventure. We would be hearing our baby for the first time! It was also the day before we planned to tell the parents so there would be photographic evidence! Proof I was infested with baby! But as our luck would have it, the doctor had to schedule the sonogram for a few weeks later (Silly us thinking it would just happen right away like in the movies) and only wanted to discuss boring things such as how I was feeling, what I could and could not eat and what I could expect in the up coming months. Blah, blah, blah. Give me that heart beat already! And now I had only my word that we were pregnant rather than black and white pictures no one could decipher when we told our parents. Good thing they believed us when we told them.

Due to the 4th of July holiday we had to wait two more weeks to meet our bambino. But the time the appointment had rolled around I had convinced myself I really wasn't pregnant. No way did I have a baby in there. I was sure this was all going to be some big cosmic joke and I was going to be at the middle of it.

We arrived at the doctor's office and after the customary hour and a half wait (love how appointment times seem to just be suggestions to doctors' offices, but God forbid you're late and then it's fine time!) we met our technician J. J was a bubbly young girl, younger than me, and a very happy person. And why not. She got to see most women on the best day of their lives, not a bad gig when you think about it. We were informed she was going to try a topical sonogram first and then if she couldn't pick up anything she would do an internal. Joy. Up on the table I went, pants and shirt split apart at indecent amounts and warm goo on the belly made me ready to go.

Five seconds into looking J found my uterus and the baby. Ten seconds later we heard the fast whup whup whup of the heart beat and I was so shocked I jack-knifed off the table. This proved to be problematic since J had to start all over to find the little critter again. While I held my breath for the remainder of the test, afraid to move and lose sight of that amazing picture again, Charming and I marveled at our little gummy bear (that is what it looked like to us and that's how the name stuck. J thought it was delightful) as it flipped and rolled and waved it's little arms at the indignity of having something pressed down on top of it for the sake of first pictures. We got measurements (all where they should be), heart rate (perfectly normal) and even a view of a tiny baby spine and fingers that made us both speechless. I wish I could say I didn't do the typical girly thing of crying when I first saw what Charming and I created, but I did. I'm even crying now thinking back to how it felt to see our baby for the first time and the reassurance I felt knowing that so far I was doing okay because everything was fine. It was one of the most beautiful moments in my life and I am so lucky to share it with Charming who was just as awed as I was.

We cooed and ahhed over the multitude of pictures we received for hours, debating on which ones looked the best or gave the best view of our gummy bear. And even though some people said they couldn't really see what was what in the pictures, I can totally make out the tiny features we saw that day. And darn it, our kid is going to be adorable.

*I know this is a repeat picture from the last post, but I never get tired of seeing our little gummy bear. And next week I should have even better pictures to share after our more advanced ultrasound to come! In the meantime, look at the little toes!!