Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Blueberry with a Beat

It's a bird...it's a plane...nope, it's a BLUEBERRY with a heartbeat. 7 weeks pregnant today, our little peanut is about the size of a blueberry. We had our first ultrasound yesterday afternoon, and man was it an incredible experience. As soon as the nurse got into "position" we could see our little peanut (yes, I did say peanut, singular) all cozy in my tummy. It took another moment for the nurse to get it into focus and then, incredibly, we could see the flicker of the little peanut's heartbeat. It was unbelievable! I don't know if I fully took it in because I just sat there ecstatic that there was something in there and that it had a heartbeat. But I was completely in awe that God has placed something to tiny in my belly, and has created it in a way that it can already have a heartbeat. Completely mind-blowing. I wasn't ready to stop looking at my little bean when the nurse moved onto my ovaries, but I figured she'd give us another chance to see our baby before it was all said and done.

So then it was onto my other baby-makin' parts. My ovaries look pretty good. They aren't too, too big, but they are covered in cysts (which I understand to actually just be the follicles filled up with fluid). The cysts are quite large, and to be honest, a bit alarming, but the nurse said it was nothing to be concerned about and that they'd resolve on their own (I guess the fluid just gets reabsorbed). She did say that it actually can be good for the pregnancy, though, because they "help support the pregnancy" by producing hormones. She didn't seem at all alarmed, so I'm not letting my mind wander. She did take measurements of many of the larger cysts and I assume they'll be monitoring them over the next few ultrasounds.

I am excited to share that our little 'nut is measuring exactly as it should (exactly 6 weeks 6 days, which we were yesterday) and the heartbeat was "perfect" at 169 - that little heart was flickering like mad!

We will have another ultrasound next Monday, and all will continue to cruise along as it is now (hopefully). I did find out that I should hold off running (I think in part because of the cysts), so it'll just be walking and the elliptical for me until after 8 weeks. I will be on the Progesterone until who knows when. I thought that I'd be done next Tuesday (based on what I was originally told) but it sounds like it may be longer than that (but who knows, I didn't ask questions, I was too excited about my 'nut).

Below are our first two pictures of our baby!!