Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

I am exactly 8 weeks pregnant today. I have no fear in sharing this as I went to see my Perinatologist for the first time this morning.

They performed a trans-vaginal ultrasound ... lo and behold! A baby with a heartbeat of 164 beats per minute was clearly visible!!

This was entirely a surprise and completely unplanned - in fact, Dave and I have been working in the OPPOSITE direction as I was on Coumadin (which crosses the placenta - no good) and according to my Hematologist he wanted me to wait until this summer to go back on the Lovenox (safe for baby, pregnancy good).

Luckily, although I went into the doc about 4 weeks ago because I thought I had a urinary tract infection and they diagnosed me as pregnant, I haven't had any issues. Praise the Gods. No bleeding, no cramping; just nausea and the occasional minor headache..... and FOOD CRAVINGS that have been driving Dave nuts. *L*

Seriously? I was craving chilli and ate a whole can for lunch yesterday. It was SO GOOD. And I paid for it by feeling stuffed for 7 hours until I ... well...let's just say the juice helped me out with getting rid of that bloated and miserable feeling. *L*

According to my Perinatologist, Dr. Fairbanks (a lovely, well-organized physician, very caring and astute) even though I'm considered to be high risk due to previous pre-eclampsia with Alli, and my blood disorder issues, she was reassuring when I asked her what my chances of full term birth were and she looked me in the eye and said "I would say you have a 98% likelihood of having a happy, healthy baby." I then asked if it was okay to tell people and she said "I don't see why not! A heartbeat is a wonderful thing." It put my mind at ease and put me on guard for taking care of myself - which between Dave and myself, we've been doing quite a good job. :)

He loves me so much...he's been making dinner for the last month - letting me ly down on the couch and catch a 15 minute snooze while he preps dinner, and then runs to pick up Alli from the bus. When he and Alli return, he then completes dinner prep and has been taking care of the kitchen for the most part. My HERO! :)

We finally told Alli tonight and she is ecstatic about being a big sister. My best friend Kathleen, and my other friends Beckah, Jenn, Sheila, etc.... they were all told and are excited for us as well.

It's funny when you think about it though. I'm due October 7th. Dave's birthday is October 9th. Even if they decide to schedule me for an early c-section, my sister's birthday was September 21st.... which made me pause. :) And then we are still getting married November 1st. Oy! So MUCH to do this year - and I haven't even gotten into how my little brother, Alex, who's 19 this November is going to moving in with us this summer and staying for the length of Le Cordon Bleu cooking program...or longer.

I'm looking forward to the challenges this year is going to be bringing. Aren't you? *L*

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