New little one on the way!

Baby Mrdutt at 9 weeks, 6 days

For those of you who haven't heard, I'm sure this blog gives it away. Ben and I are expecting our first little one early June of next year. We decided to start a blog to keep family and friends updated on our journey, along with the big arrival (hopefully a little early, not late... hint, hint baby).

So I will give it a shot to get everyone updated through now. Ben and I found out we were pregnant around the 20th of September, and began spilling the news to the immediate family later that month. We made everyone promise to keep the secret until after our first doctor's appointment on Nov 2nd just to make sure that everything checked out ok. If you ask my mother, she will tell you October was a very long month. I can't even count how many times I heard, "Can I at least tell ____?" She got the same response every time, "Nope, you have to wait just like we do. :)"

For the first few weeks of pregnancy everything was fairly smooth, a little extra fatigue, but being the napper that I am, it really wasn't out of my normal routine. Then week 7 hit, nausea started and never stopped. While the doctors tell you that morning sickness is a sign of a healthy pregnancy, laying on the couch for weeks straight, not even feeling good enough to get up and shower, really depresses a person. Thankfully by week 10, I started noticing definite improvements, with the nausea becoming less and less. By now, besides my early morning spells, I am feeling really good, a sign that the 2nd trimester is only a week and a half away!

November 2nd was our first appointment, very routine with mostly health questions and lab tests. After 20-30 minutes of talking with the nurse, we got the chance to hear the baby's heartbeat on the Doppler. While I laid there, waiting for her to find the little one, I became very anxious (it felt like it was taking forever!) but finally we heard the "whoosh, whoosh" very clearly, 176 beats strong. Due to a loss Ben and I experienced early this year the nurse talked with one of the doctors to fit me in for an ultrasound to calm everyone's nerves that this was a healthy pregnancy. So packed into a small room with a doctor, a nurse, and a nursing student we got to see our baby for the first time. The doctor had trouble getting a heartbeat, not because anything was wrong, but because the little one was moving so much that it won't sit still long enough to take a measurement. This time around, the heartbeat was 186 beats strong, measuring big at 10 weeks and 1 day (Calculations are at 9 weeks and 6 days). That is definitely a Mrdutt in there!! You could tell this made it very real for Ben, since before this I was just the tired, cranky, and irrational wife. I think now he better understands why, since he can now see obvious physical changes with the pregnancy.

So at this point, we felt comfortable spreading the news to extended family and close friends. And as of yesterday, we made the "official" announcement on Facebook, which of course, makes things all the more real. :)

So now we wait, 6 more months until the peanut arrives. Our next appointment in on December 7th so we will try to update then. Also, we are taking a poll, boy or girl??