September 11, 2006: 13 weeks 1 day

Your craving for emotional security is answered as your personal situation stabilizes. One troublesome conundrum after another gets settled in your favor. Just keep clear of unnecessary drama, and you'll be home free.

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I found my horoscope for today quite appropriate.

Thirteen weeks and a day as of today. I am starting to feel better off and on. I have good days (like Sunday) where I don’t even think about taking my magic make-me-not-puke pill. Then I have the other days. Like this morning when I stepped out of the shower and took two steps to the toilet despite the Zofran in my system.

I was really excited for my ob appointment this morning. We got up and got Leif to daycare then made the 40 minute drive (from daycare) to my ob’s office. We arrived just in time to be informed that they tried to call us to tell us that he was in an emergency c-section. But it shouldn’t be much longer and so if we would like to wait for the appointment, that’s fine. We agreed and each of us settled down with a magazine. About 45 minutes later the nurse comes in and tells us that the doctor just phoned and is still 45 minutes out. We can reschedule, continue to wait, or leave and come back. This appointment was already a reschedule, so we were a week behind on appointments and VERY eager to hear the heartbeat, and my morning schedule at work was clear, so we opted to leave and come back.

Since I had lost my breakfast much earlier, we opted to run out for a bagel and juice (or in AB’s case, lukewarm coffee). We arrived back and 15 minutes later the doctor walked in looking beat as hell.

We talked some about my dizzy spells. Dizziness, doesn’t leave when I lay down, continued nausea and vomiting… He tells us that dizziness and fainting is in no way “normal” for a pregnancy, despite what we see on movies, and should always be watched. It can be a sign of dehydration, or can be a precursor to things that may pop up in the future. Did I say that I love my doctor? I never feel stupid for bringing things up.

Based off of my symptoms he determines that I am mildly to moderately dehydrated and I need to resume drinking water around the clock. I admit it, I haven’t been great at drinking water lately. Partly because I am normally a big ice water fan, but ice water just tastes nasty to me. Yes, duh, I still need to drink water even if it doesn’t have ice. And I have, just not as much as I should.

All of the above was relayed to me in the car on the way home, because I really only got bits and pieces. You see while he was doing the talking about the dizziness, he was also searching for the heartbeat. And searching. Then he stopped, left the room to get a new Doppler and came back. Tried again, searching, and searching. Lots of palpating and then the questions come:

“Are you sure you are 13 weeks? Any chance you could be 4 weeks less?” (Yes I am sure, and no chance.)

“Any bleeding, even a little bit?” (None.)

I am very nearly to tears at this point. My ob is a pro at finding heartbeats. The first time around with Leif he found it without issue each time.

I can’t explain the feelings and the thoughts that were going through my mind as he palpated, pushed and we listened, and listened. I couldn’t even look over at AB, I knew if I did I would start crying.

So many times on discussion boards women post being upset that the doctor didn’t find the heartbeat and ask for advice. My response is usually a flippant, “it’s probably just too early, I am sure everything is fine”. But at 13 weeks, it isn’t too early and I knew it. I have a new respect for what those women are feeling.

My doctor announces that we are going to go ahead and do an ultrasound. About two seconds after the word “ultrasound” and he pauses. There it is. A very faint, but audible whoosh whoosh whoosh. Pure joy. My heart calms, but only a little. Even hours later I sit here feeling just a tad nervous still. But we got a heartrate.

AB jokes a little about that means a boy right? Doctor dispels it as purely an old wives tale and I agree. And actually, by the old wives tale… I think that would make it a girl. ;-)

So the official 13 week visit stats:

Heartrate: 150 bpm
My weight: -2 lbs from the 8 week appointment. (Surprise, I thought I would have returned to my 8 week weight given all the ice cream and chicken pot pies!)
Blood Pressure: 98/70