2nd prenatal checkup

we had our second prenatal visit with dr. reynolds- who is awesome. it turns out that the surly nurse from last time was right- dr. reynolds did in fact check for the heartbeat with a fetal doppler and couldn't detect it. however, we did hear mine and were all relieved to learn that i'm alive. ha ha.

it's likely that at our next visit, which will be at 12 weeks, we'll get to hear the baby's heartbeat and we can't wait!

also, my bloodwork came back and i'm rh negative! this means that if my baby is rh positive, there's a chance that my body may respond as if it were allergic to the baby and attack my baby's blood. yikes! how horrible. luckily, this can be prevented with a rh immune-globulin shot later in the pregnancy and again at delivery.

another goofy photo:

baby's first bike the drive

this morning we rode "bike the drive", chicago's annual happy bike event: lake shore drive is closed to cars and people of all ages ride their bikes from 6am-10am. we almost didn't make it there in time because i overslept; they don't let you start after 9:00. when we got there, we were guided onto the lakefront bike path at first and i was bummed. but shortly thereafter, we saw a ramp leading onto the highway. there was a police car blocking it but no cop in sight so we kind of snuck back on to LSD with a bunch of other people and made it all the way to montrose before the ride ended and they had to guide people off the road. it was so great! i think the baby enjoyed it as much as we did.

here are some (dorky) post-ride shots:

check it out:

bike the drive

first prenatal visit

we were really looking forward to our first prenatal checkup. we took the day off work. greg called home the night before and gathered his family's medical history and was all prepared. but it wasn't quite what we expected. essentially, the nurse practitioner just asked me a lot of questions and had none at all for greg! 

we had been secretly hoping that they might try to listen for the baby's heartbeat at this visit. even though it's very early, we saw a doctor detecting the heartbeat of a baby at 8 weeks in Pregnancy for Dummies- the dvd. but when we asked the nurse about it, she said that it was too early. not only that, but we were scheduled to come back in 1-2 weeks to meet with the doctor and she said the she "guaranteed" that the doctor would try but wouldn't find the heartbeat at the next visit as well!

oh well. we'll just have to be patient.

i love information

my friend jenny was in chicago and brought me many pregnancy books! they have complimented the ones i already have and have proven extremely helpful already.

it's especially nice to have The Expectant Father. it is disappointing how little is published for dads-to-be. so far, greg and i have discovered that most of what's available attempts to be humorous but ends up being lame. so far, he is really enjoying this book though.

queasy life lessons

at first i thought i was going to be among the lucky few who don't experience morning sickness. the first week or so was great! i felt totally normal. but then it hit. morning sickness is an awful thing. it is really strange because you have these two opposing feelings: being hungry on the one hand and finding the idea of eating completely unappealing on the other.

i'm starting to recognize that pregnancy is a very sensitizing experience. the things you go through make you more sympathetic to others. for example, i now can relate to people who like to eat bland (boring) food. as a passionate cook & eater, i really could not understand this before and felt that they were missing out. but i've had the experience several times now of wanting only the most mundane foods (pancakes, toast) and finding anything with flavor utterly unappetizing.

i can see how pregnancy totally prepares you for becoming someone's mom. from the start, it really isn't just about you anymore.

it's really true

when planning a pregnancy, you begin to learn about all the factors affecting fertility and how to optimize your chances of conceiving. and then the books caution you about miscarriage and complications and so by the time you're pregnant, you don't know if it's ok to be excited. it's strange. you feel very happy- it's what you've been wanting. but there's this ominous voice persistently lurking around warning, "it's still early".

luckily for me, that passed quickly. it helped to speak to jen & mom on the phone. they assured me that this was it: i was pregnant. it was validating to hear from women who have had children that i was authorized to feel excited and i lost my uncertainty. by the time the doctor confirmed it a few days later, i didn't even need to hear it from a professional. i felt that i was pregnant.

we're pregnant!

greg and i took a pregnancy test and it was positive! we are amazed. we had read that couples try for about a year on average to conceive so we thought we'd begin trying posthaste. and it worked. we weren't so sure if this one test was enough evidence; we were optimistic but wanted to be sure that it was real so we took another test two days later and it's true: we're going to have a baby!