We're having a baby, for real: the 8 week recap.

I'll spare you the romantic details, but we smiled while telling my doctor (Dr. Zino- best Dr. ever) that my "womb overhaul" last winter was well worth it and apparently restored my fertility to the teen mom level. We were lucky on the first try! Of course this was utilizing all advice from mom friends, mom cousins, and mom books, optimizing our chances to get this show on the road.  Doug sacrificed a rehearsal on an important day, so here we are at week 8 with our first absolute confirmation of a baby and a heartbeat....after 2 frustrating appointments unclear if this was a go or not. Back August... I had a suspicion from the very beginning. I woke up one morning with the strangest sensation. It reminded me of this incredible Dayquil buzz I had in sophomore year geometry, feeling like I was floating in my desk with every cell in me vibrating. It was incredibly pleasant and slightly outer body feeling. Well that was my waking state and I just felt a bit off all morning. Fast forward to a "test 5 days earlier" pregnancy test..negative. Fast forward 6 days to September 5th...positive!

Now, everything you read says schedule an appointment right away. Doug and I know now as long as you're not living under a rock and are able to google a few key lists of things not the eat or drink while pregnant and are taking some form of prenatal vitamins from your 25 choices, call in a little bit and enjoy your time in blissful ignorance.

Hitch #1: made my appointment, they gave me one the following week. The day of, the office manager called and said it was a new girl who took my appointment and there would be nothing to see for another week. It turns out, unlike in my mom's 1976 edition of "A Doctor Discusses Pregnancy," a pee test is not enough to congratulate you and give you the "You're Officially Expecting Manual." You get ultrasounds from the absolute beginning to make sure you qualify. So, when we had our actual appointment at 6 weeks and 2 days we didn't get to leave with the manual. We didn't cut the mustard and had 10 days to dwell on it until the next look to see if our gestational sac and yolk had transformed into what she was looking for. It turns out that, by "the book", at 6 weeks 2 day she was supposed to see an "embryonic pole" which she did not...though she emphasized she's seen plenty of things not by "the book." She sent me for blood work to see if my hormone levels were consistent with a viable pregnancy for the next appointment and told us not to let it ruin our weekend and not to google it all weekend and worry ourselves. I don't believe the 1976 manual mentioned a thing about the microscopic embryonic pole and which week it should be visible via the invasive version of ultrasound.

Hitch #2: 10 days later, October 1st we waited 30 minutes to be told the ultrasound was blown out by a power failure (I work in the same building and I lost lights about 3 times the previous day, too). Unbelievable, rescheduled for October 3rd but meanwhile said my blood work came back with great levels. Of course, then I asked is this a good sign that we have a baby? Because honestly I didn't realize it was an option to have a positive pregnancy and by the initial pictures have it be noted as just a yolk. I'm bloated and queasy while incubating an omelet, doesn't seem fair. she answered neutrally that I could have all the right hormones and it still may not turn into an embryo. Meanwhile, almost in protest to that first nothing ultrasound, I became queasy about 8 hours a day for a week and the most unexpected feeling of hiking in the Utah high altitude for about 6 miserable days. Then WHAM! last Wednesday= Baby, 4.5 cm head to rump and a heartbeat 160 beats per minute. I don't know about Doug, but Dr. Zino and I teared up a bit considering she knows what we went through to deal with the fibroids and until now I've always been the one with giant lumps on the monitor while listening to other heartbeats in the room next door. This was a good day. Oh, the big day is May 15th, but unless I want to kiss my uterus good-bye, I have to have an elective C-section which she says is done at 39 weeks (the week before). At 8 weeks, 2 days we're not in the worry-free zone yet, but we're hoping to stay on our lucky streak!