Baby Highlights So Far

Since I'm starting this blog after some of the big first events in the Smith Baby Saga have occurred, I'll do a little re-cap.

The Test(s)-- O Jeromy of Little Faith

The first test I took was apparently too early; it was negative.  But, as I still had my hopes/suspicions, I took another test three days later and saw the Holy Grail of the those Trying to Conceive--or "TTC" as some of the books and websites annoyingly put it--the double pink lines.  Unfortunately, you have to take the tests first thing in the morning, when Jeromy is not at his most cheerful or lucid (to be fair, I'm the same way, but the pee stick adrenaline had me WIDE awake this time).  I showed Jeromy the test as he stumbled out of bed to get ready for work.  He took one look at the very faint second line and said, "well, that doesn't look very convincing," which burst my bubble just a bit.  After I explained to him that, according to all of my obsessive reading, ANY second line, even a very faint one, is a good sign, he became cautiously excited.  He still found it very hard to believe that a piece of plastic purchased from Target could make any kind of medical diagnosis, which IS kind of amazing if you think about it.  I took two more tests over the next four days, which helped Jeromy become convinced that a bun was, in fact, in the oven. 

*NOTE: When I sent my immediate family an e-mail with the big announcement, I did actually attach a picture of the three positive tests, but as my darling brother (see previous post) squeamishly declared the picture to be "T.M.I." (Too Much Information) I have refrained from posting the picture here.

The Waiting--Rebecca's O.C.D. Fit

When I jubilantly dialed up the doctor's office the day after taking the third test, I was shocked to hear that they weren't even going to have me come in for another three weeks.  THREE WEEKS?!  I stomped around for a while muttering about cruelty towards pregnant women, especially ones like me who are a little bit O.C.D.  I mean, sure, I had immediately run out and bought What to Expect When You're Expecting and had been doing my homework, but they didn't know that, did they?  How did they know that I wasn't sitting around eating sushi and deli meats with unpasteurized cheese and washing it down with tequila?  I calmed down a little bit after reading online that it was pretty standard to wait that long, but I still think it's kind of crazy.

The First Appointment--Jeromy's Initiation into the Mysteries of the OBGYN Office

The big day FINALLY arrived, and we were off to the doctor.  Jeromy was able to take some time off from work, so he accompanied me, we won't say excitedly, but willingly, into one of the scary inner sanctums of the female world, the OBGYN office.  We had to sit in the waiting room for a while, and while I tried to think non-nauseous thoughts, Jeromy went to his happy place by playing solitaire on his phone.  Every few minutes he would look up and warily eye the several super-pregnant women in the room to make sure they weren't going to give birth on the spot.  After he used the restroom, I had to explain to Jeromy why there was a little metal door on the wall in there.  It was pretty funny to try to look at the whole situation through his eyes.

When we finally got to go back to the exam room, I realized that they really couldn't have made it any less husband-friendly.  We're talking anatomy posters and 3-D plastic models, not to mention the fact that the only chair in the room besides the doctor's stool was placed directly across from the exam table.  Think about it.  I almost sent poor Jeromy back out to the waiting room. 

The nurse went through a bunch of the boring medical history stuff with me, and then said that they were going to do an ultrasound---bingo!!!  I didn't think that they would do one so early.  So we got to go to another room, where, luckily, the guest chair was back behind my head.  The ultrasound was really reassuring and neat to see.  The doctor confirmed how far along I was by measuring the size of the baby (somehow), and we could even see the heartbeat!  Very exciting.  They printed a few pictures for us, gave me a tote bag of pregnancy magazines and brochures, and sent us on our way! 

The upshot of the appointment is that my due date is May 21st, everything looks fine so far, and we go back on November 2nd, when we should be able to actually hear the heartbeat.  Yay!