The First View
Today was #THAB’s first ultrasound. I had been mentally distancing myself from my pregnancy for the past few days as my appointment came closer. I had nightmares about waking up soaked in blood or sitting on the exam room table learning that I actually just had a blighted ovum. Every time Minh mentioned the baby this past week, I would respond with “maybe,” because in my mind, that would make it easier to cope if we received bad news.
Minh held my hand this afternoon as we gawked up at the monitor across the room. I heard him gasp as our little baby come into focus. It was nothing more than a 9 mm blob, but its little heart flickered like crazy! The ultrasound technician confirmed that, as I predicted, I did ovulate a week later than what is “typical,” as baby measured 7 weeks exactly with a heartbeat of 144 bpm. That puts my due date at January 9, 2017. The doctor did inform us that my uterus is a little misshapen, which means that the baby might have a hard time turning when the time comes. All that means is that I have a higher risk of a breach presentation and a C-section may be in the cards. But the doctor said there’s nothing we could do about that and we’ll address it if it happens.
After receiving word from the doctor and the ultrasound technician that baby is developing normally thus far, I’m kind of going through the same emotions that I did when I saw the positive pregnancy test. Really excited and relieved that everything is okay, but also really nervous for what lies ahead. There are a lot of changes in store for us (especially me) over the next year. I’ve been watching Teen Mom lately to increase my confidence that I can easily tackle all those changes.
So far my pregnancy has been relatively uneventful, in the best of ways. Aside from some exhaustion (which is virtually indistinguishable from depression fatigue and is therefore no stranger to me), my only real symptoms have been sore boobs, increased thirst, and a heightened sense of smell. And an aversion to coffee and peanut butter cookies.
