Now we can listen to it anytime!

We rented a doppler on babybeat.com and can now listen to the baby's heartbeat anytime mommy has a full bladder! We tried it out tonight and after several unsuccessful attempts, we finally got it. It's so exciting to hear! It's beating at 170 BPM. There's an old wive's tale that a fast heartbeat means it's a girl, but it may be too early to tell.

Here is a little clip ~ you have to listen hard to hear it. It fades in and out because I am not a pro at using the doppler yet. A huge thanks to soon-to-be Uncle Mike for helping me get the clip posted! (You have to turn the volume on your computer all the way up to hear it.) Enjoy!

Click here to Listen

Strong, healthy heartbeat!!!

It took about 3 minutes to find it, during which I was pretty much holding my breath. But once we heard it ~ ga-gong, ga-gong, ga-gong ~ I breathed a sigh of relief. Actually, I started laughing. My doc said, "Yup, there's a baby in there!", and I couldn't help but laugh. She said it was a strong, healthy heartbeat. We go back in a month for a check-up, and then 4 weeks after that we can find out the sex! My guess is a girl; Ben's hoping for a boy. It will be mid-April and we'll update everyone on whether it'll be team Pink or team Blue.

9w1d belly pic ~ it's getting BIGGER!

None of my old pants fit me anymore, so I've purchased a few pairs two sizes up to be prepared. :) Plus, I have the bella band to use with my old pants ~ you zip them up but leave them unbuttoned and then put the bella band around it (it's like a huge rubber band, but not super tight). It works, but I still feel weird walking around with my pants unbuttoned!!

Ben cooked me dinner for Valentine's Day. We had: shrimp scampi, cheese fondue with bread and apples for dipping, lobster tail, rice with mushrooms and garlic, and broccoli. It was a feast and he was a wonderful cook. Oh, and dessert! It was an enormous chocolate souffle with chocolate sauce. A glass of milk was the pefect accompanyment.

My mom and Grandma fly up from FL today so I am meeting them in Hershey. I'm having lunch with one of my highschool friends and am going to fill her in on my growing waistline. Then my mom is coming back here with me on Sunday and she'll accompany Ben and I to our 2nd OB appt where we'll hopefully hear the heartbeat! Keep your fingers crossed for us! I'll update the blog Monday night.

Morning sickness = All day sickness ~ YUCK!

UGH. For the past 3 weeks I have been dealing with all day sickness. I haven't actually puked yet, but am very scared that I could at any moment. My friend Kel who just had a baby a few months ago said that she had it from week 7 to week 15. I told Ben this morning that we're going to adopt our next kid. He's getting very used to hearing me whine "I don't feel good!" all the time and has been such a good husband fetching me apple juice, tea, and my many other demands. I just can't wait to get to week 13 when hopefully this awful feeling will be a thing of the past.

7 week belly pic

My waistline seems to be expanding by the minute! I will need to buy some new pants soon, as all but three pairs are starting to feel tight. I know what your thinking: she better slow down or else she'll gain 50 lbs! I'll have you know that I am trying to eat healthy, and am walking on the treadmill 3 times a week for 45 minutes at a time. So hopefully I won't gain too quickly.

Today was a good day in terms of morning sickness. I was queasy this morning, but it went away after a couple of hours. Hopefully tomorrow will be just as easy. :)

It's over, thank goodness!

After many hours of studying I am pleased to announce that today I PASSED THE PHR EXAM!!! YAY! I have no idea how I did it, but I did. Now that the exam is behind me, I can focus some energy on getting the house ready to go back on the market and baby planning. Now if I could only get rid of this queasiness.....

Houston, we have a heartbeat!

Ben and I went to see my doctor today. I was extremely nervous, and I think he was too. We first saw the yok sak, and I had to hold my breath until she found the little white bean. Then...there it was! And right away I saw it blinking ~ the heartbeat was there, it was so amazing to see it. I can't wait to see this little bean grow into a baby. She said the heartrate was 115 and it was measuring the way it should for 6 weeks. We go back on Feb. 18th to hopefully hear the heartbeat. Here are some pics of the ultrasound, even though it just looks like a little blob right now. Please keep us in your prayers!

The day we found out...

October 16th, 2007: I was only 5.5 weeks, but we were very excited and surprised ~ we had conceived on the very first try! I had a blood test to confirm and YUP - we had done it!

Two days later my doctor had me repeat the blood test to make sure the pregnancy was progressing the way it should. Well, it wasn't. We had a miscarriage in late October 2007. It was very early, but that didn't make it easy. But we had the support of our families some close friends who we told, so although it was very tough, we slowly moved on.

I guess it was more quickly than slowly.....We tried again and got our 2nd positive pregnancy test on January 8th! (Well, let's be honest, I had more than 1 positive test. It was more like 5! The picture here is a snapshot of 2 of them.) A doctor's appointment on January 11th confirmed it, and a second blood test assured us that things are progressing much better this time. "Looks excellent," my doctor said when she gave me the news of my second blood result. We were very relieved.

Now we're just praying to see the little bean and (hopefully!) a heartbeat at our first ultrasound on January 24th. It will be early to see a heartbeat, but we're optimistic. Keep us in your prayers!