Week 12

Okay, so I’ve been really bad lately about updating my blog, I’m sorry. On Tuesday, December 21^st, we went to my OB/GYN appointment to hear the baby’s heartbeat.  I was so nervous before the appointment, for some reason I was convinced that they would not be able to find the heartbeat and that I would leave the doctors devastated, not knowing if the baby was okay.  I jinxed myself at the beginning of the appointment by asking the doctor if they can generally hear the heartbeat at 11 weeks.  She quickly responded that they always get the heartbeat right-way at 11 weeks and that I had nothing to worry about.  Well…she looked….and looked….and looked…it took between 7-10 minutes before we finally heard this very faint, rapid heartbeat.  Before the appointment I thought that I was going to have a hormonal meltdown when I heard the heartbeat, but by the time we heard it I was just so relieved that she finally found it that all I could do was smile.  It was so amazing to hear the heartbeat, to be reassured that there really is a little one growing inside of me. 

Christmas was wonderful; I love spending so much time with our families.  I took extra anti-nausea medication Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so that I could get through each day without throwing up.  The medication doesn’t take the sickness completely away, it just helps control the vomiting, so I still felt lousy most of the day. One of the side effects of the med. is drowsiness, that mixed with not getting much sleep over the holidays, caused me to take naps at everyone’s houses on Christmas Day. I probably wasn’t much fun, but I had a nice day.   

In 4 days, Jan. 3^rd, we are going up to Mercy Hospital to get our 1^st ultrasound of the baby and I am so excited to see what our baby looks like!  I am even more nervous about seeing the baby than I was about hearing the heartbeat.  I so desperately want to know that our baby is growing okay and that they are healthy.  I’ve lost so much weight over the last 2 months and I haven’t been able to keep much of anything down including healthy food or my prenatal vitamins.

Mommy Update: Since Christmas I have been pretty sick, I think that I over did it a little.  I didn’t get to bed until midnight three nights in a row, which really negatively effects me. To have a good day I generally need to have gotten at least 10-12 hours of sleep the night before. I spent all of Sunday afternoon and all day Monday in bed, and haven been blessed to be able to leave work early every other day this week to allow me to be in bed by 3pm.  Sleeping is my favorite activity right now because it’s the only time that I get a break from the nausea. However, lying down is becoming more and more difficult because of the heartburn and acid-reflux, my giant bottle of Tums sit next to the bed.

Baby Update: The baby is now between 2-1/2”-3” long right now, all of the books compare the baby to the size of a lime, and weights about 1oz. The biggest development this week is the baby’s reflexes. The baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, their toes will curl, eye muscles will clench, and their mouth will make sucking movements.