The end of the first trimester both felt like an eternity and a blink of the eye. We're both been very busy with our normal activities. Eric started playing soccer again. I can't (of course). He's also golfing and we're trying to get the house ready for a new baby. I've been hitting many garage sales on the weekends hoping to catch some good deals on baby stuff and fighting off the all-day morning sickness. I also went through a period of feeling hungry constantly. Despite the fact that I felt nauseous constantly I would eat and eat, but nothing would satisfy my hunger. Fortunately I've grown out of that feeling now too as I can now sit down to dinner and feel full after eating a normal amount of food.
At the end of our first trimester (11 and 1/2 weeks), we had our first ultrasound and were able to see our little peanut for the first time. Previously, I posted our ultrasound pictures but I didn't have much time to give the update on the experience. I won't do it justice now, but will try to describe the experience as much as possible. Going into the ultrasound, I had so many worries... was there really a baby in there? Were there two? Would the tests come back normal? And though Eric doesn't like to admit it as much, I know he was thinking some of the same things. We arrived to the clinic about 15 minutes early, but they took us right back for the ultrasound. We saw our little peanut right away. The little one wasn't moving around very much, except for flipping over when I laughed and what looked like a little wave to mommy and daddy once in a while. As you can see from the pictures, the head is about 1/3 of the whole baby but this is normal at this time. Baby's brain develops quite quickly and the head has to make room for it. During this ultrasound the tech takes several pictures and then a physician measures the skin on the back of the next. This measurement, coupled with a blood test, can tell you your probability that your baby may have one of a couple of genetic disorders, including Downs Syndrome and Trisomy 18. Our tests came back looking good. This test does not rule out the possibility, but rather indicate (for example) you have a 1 in 1,000 risk that the baby will have one of these conditions. Our risks came back low, so we're looking good.
Finally, another update on the Pregnancy Symptom Tracker...
