I had to jump out of bed and write this down, because by tomorrow my brain will be mush and I will likely forget! =)

Today, 7/16/08, was the first day that I listened to my baby's heartbeat...not because I was scared, worried, or fearful of the unknown (like every other night) - but because I just wanted to say hi.

Infertility has had me on the ground and broken... I will never be the same. Today showed me that there is hope and that I won't always be that person... negative and fearful of things unknown. I'm not promising that I won't be broken tomorrow - but today I'm optimistic and I have faith that goods thing do happen.

Trust me, it's a pretty big day in my book.

DIY ultrasound =)

I went to my mom's office today to get a sneak peek at the baby! Her machine is super crappy and the quality of the pictures are super grainy but it was worth it! We weren't able to get a look at the gender, but that's okay. (That will be in another month or so!) The baby was moving all over the place! S/he was waving, kicking, flipping, doing backbends, etc! It was amazing to watch!!

It was so much fun to lay there and ultrasound myself - it was bonding time for baby and me! lol It was amazing to see how much the baby has grown from our last ultrasound!! Again, the pictures don't do the baby justice as the screen was much clearer - but you get the idea!

16w5d

Nothing new to report in regards to the pregnancy, except that I'm getting tons of growing pains! Today they were pretty strong, I just feel like everything is stretching out! Oh and I've been more hungry as well so I think I'm going through a growth spurt maybe?? My constant is just listening to the heartbeat every day, it's definitely my sanity through all of this! I have no idea when my next u/s is (hoping it's with my next appt on the 22nd!) so this is what will get me by! =)

Last night we enjoyed one of my favorite things and that's BD's Mongolian BBQ! I love that place so much! It stinks b/c I get full so much faster now (I guess that's not a bad thing, lol) so the "unlimited" doesn't really count for me anymore! Bummer! haha! I don't really like leftovers either (ones that include meat) so I couldn't even enjoy it for lunch today - Mike did instead...

We then headed over to Petsmart to play with all the puppies, it makes me so sad that they are without homes! :( I have a hard time in places like that because I get so emotional - I'm such a sap!! Anyways, we got Sadie an "Outward Hound" cooling bandana! lol She's so huge and gets so hot during her walks and when she's outside, so we thought it was fitting! She looks so darn cute in it too! I think if she could talk, she'd tell us thanks! lol

http://www.alphadogtoys.com/dog_bandana_cool-it_cooling_bandanna_pink.html

What is our poor dog going to do once we have a baby!?! She's our world now and so spoiled, I think she's in for a huge awakening!! haha!

Wanna hear my baby!? Come on, I know you want to! =) Turn the speakers up! There are moments where it fades out for a second, but be patient - it comes back! That little bugger is fast though - s/he is so hard to keep on the doppler!!

I'm in love...

Last night Mike & I finally heard the heartbeat on the doppler!!! It's been a long time coming as I've been listening patiently every day since we got back from vacation! It was about 160bpm! We're going to get it on an audio clip and I'll post it once I figure out how! =)

This is short - but I'm trying to do three things at once and it's not working! haha! I'll leave you with my cute picture.. I was bored and playing with photoshop! :)

Soooo big! =)

Finally, our baby is taking shape! =) I was so worried going into this ultrasound but things are looking great! The tech said the only thing she couldn't measure was the nuchal fold but she said that from what she saw, things looked perfect! Baby was being stubborn and we couldn't get a backside view, so she'll try again in a few weeks! The heartbeat was 158bpm and I was measuring 3 days ahead at 13w1d! Baby must have liked all that good southern food on vacation! haha!!

Relaxation and Pictures

So, nothing new on the pregnancy front! We have our 12w5d u/s on Tuesday 6/17 so we're excited about that. I have a doppler at home waiting on me... hoping to hear the heartbeat and keep my anxiety at bay! I have the common, "what if", worries plaguing my thoughts lately...but nothing too terrible. Mostly, I've been enjoying each day as the mother of our little fetus and can't wait to see it on Tuesday! My m/s has calmed down a lot but I still get occasion bouts of gagging and nausea...nothing too terrilble as it could be worse!

Okay, onto more exciting stuff! We're on vacation right now in Hilton Head, SC! It's been pretty relaxing minus all of the bad luck we've had since being down here! We missed our connecting flight in PA, arrived to our condo like 8 hrs late... realized the security tag on my swimsuit was still on and couldn't find a single flippin' store to remove it... Mike "took care of it" with a hammer and a plastic bag. Everyone survived, minus the flesh on Mike's finger that was ripped off by the rusty wrench! Sweet guy, huh? The things he'll do for love. (Or the things he'll do so I don't freak out! haha)

We've been doing a lot of sleeping in, walking the beach, swimming, and shopping! =) Gotta love the outlet malls down here! Here are a few pictures of our trip so far... we're headed to Savannah tomorrow so I'll have to add more!

Here's Mike after our bad day of traveling, LOL


Walking the beach at night (one of my fav things to do!)


It's too dark to see the ocean behind us... oh well =)


This one is hard to read, but I changed the color in hopes you could see it.


The view from our backdoor of the condo:


Just for you Tru, sorry they aren't fornicating this year! LOL


My favorite place down here - Harbour Town! Here's the lighthouse we always go up in:


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