The First Appointment

I took an at home pregnancy test on Friday, November 21.  I talked about that on my Announcement post.  On Monday, November 24 I decided to call the OBGYN to set up appointment.  I didn't have a particular doctor I had seen before, and I knew that no matter where we ended up moving after Robert graduated I most likely would only see a doctor in NC one or two times, so I primarily based my decision for a doctor on two factors: insurance and location.  I found a clinic through Wake Med that's only about 15 minutes away from us, so that was good.  I called and probably sounded so uninformed.  Since this is my first pregnancy, obviously I'm no expert.  I thought I needed to go in to have a blood test or something to confirm pregnancy, but the secretary said that since I'd had three positives at home that it was safe to say I'm pregnant, so she scheduled an appointment for approximately eight weeks which would be December 10.

On December 3 I had a phone appointment with one of the nurses to go ahead and get family medical history so that my initial appointment wouldn't last forever.  I thought that was nice.  Then my actual first appointment was on Wednesday, December 10, at 1:30.  I took a half day from work, and Robert was able to go with me.  I met with a female midwife, and she was very nice and reassuring.  She was able to do an ultrasound and determine baby's "age" to the day based on size.  It was pretty incredible.  She dropped pin points on the screen at baby's head and rump, and the computer calculate exact age to be 6w3d which was "younger" than we had thought, but she said this method is accurate within a day, plus or minus which would mean 6w2d - 6w4d, so it seems quite accurate with less than a 3% deviation rate.

The little cocoon is baby

It was incredible to hear the heart beat for the first time.  It was 141 bpm.  I may have gotten a little lump in my throat.  It was awesome!  We went home with four adorable pictures of our little blobby, perfect babe.  After the ultrasound we went into another room to ask questions and get information packets.  I also received a flu shot since I hadn't had one yet and am more at risk now.  Lastly, we went downstairs to get my blood work done.  Per usual, it was a traumatic experience, and I'm praying that when it's time for labor and delivery the IV goes okay.

Baby's due date is August 2, 2015.  That's a special date because that was my great grandmother Sweetie's birthday.  I know the odds of baby arriving on that day are slim, but it sure would be cool!