Sunday, October 6th
 Hi
everyone!
First of all, the answer to the most frequently asked question: No, we don't
know the gender yet, but we will find out as soon as possible.
Midwife Visit
We got to see our baby last week! It was just on the ultrasound, but it made
this whole pregnancy seem so much more real! It was amazing! Even though he/she
was only 11.5 weeks old (and 5cm long), he/she still looked like a baby! He/she
has a head, body, two arms and two legs. More details than that, we couldn't
see (yet).
 
More details on the Ultrasounds page.
Oh, and there is only one baby. We would love to have twins, but I'm sure that
one will be plenty for now!
The first thing that I saw was the heartbeat, just fluttering away in there.
Then the rest of the baby came into view, and we were awestruck. I have many
books with details about how the baby looks at various stages of development,
but somehow I never connected them with *my* baby. I expected to see a tiny
shapeless blob, but instead we saw a tiny baby-shaped blob. With the magnification,
it actually looked baby-sized, too.
We have some pictures of the baby, as well as a videotape of the ultrasound
itself. It is about 15 minutes long, and shows the baby turning over, rolling
around, waving his/her appendages, and doing little hops. It was amazing and
breathtaking. I kept looking at Travis, and saying, "Can you believe that
we made him/her?" He modestly informed me that I had done most of the work.
I'm glad that we got the videotape and the pictures, even though I know that
the baby (at least at this point) is indistinguishable from any other 11.5 week
old baby. I'm planning on scanning in the ultrasound pictures so I can put them
on the web page for those who are interested. I've watched the videotape a few
times already, and every time it makes me smile.
The ultrasound technician was excellent. She made sure that the gel (which
was blue!) was warm before she put it on me, which was good because the room
was freezing. She was very friendly and helpful. She said that the baby looks
very healthy, so far, and that there are no apparent problems at this point.
I'm a worrier, as most of you probably know, so that was nice to hear!
Yes, we will find out the gender, as soon as we can. All this 'he/she', 'him/her',
'his/hers' stuff gets pretty tiresome. This ultrasound was done too early to
tell, but we should be know after the next one (about 5 or 6 weeks, probably).
For now, we're referring to he/she as 'the little peanut'. I remember my parents
calling me that for many many years, so it seems appropriate.
Symptoms
I'm starting to show, just a little. Travis put his arm around me the other
night and said, "Wow, you're feeling very lush!" I said, "By
'lush', do you mean fat?" He said, with a grin, "Well, yes. But in
a good way!" It was very funny! My clothes certainly don't fit as well
as they did. I'll need to start getting some maternity clothes, I suppose. Luckily,
I like to wear skirts, and I have quite a few with elastic waistbands that should
be good for quite a while.
I'm feeling good... no more slight sickness. I still can't brush my teeth for
as long as I like because I start gagging. Nice. I never felt bad enough that
I wanted to throw up, but there were times that I didn't feel great. Mostly
I was really hungry and tired, and I still get hungry all the time, mostly after
I'm already in bed at night.
I'm still very tired, but that could also be because I'm spending a lot of
time on the class that I'm teaching, as well as working 25 hours/week at my
'real' job. Teaching is a lot of work, it turns out! I'll glad that I'm doing
it, and I'm learning so much! I kind of wish that I could teach it again next
quarter, because I've heard that the second time is really fun, but I'll be
pretty pregnant by then, and probably won't want to be on my feet that much.
Feel free to offer advice and ask questions! I can talk about this stuff for
hours, but Travis has other things that he needs to do. He'd probably love for
me to have other outlets for baby-talk.
Read Jen's Baby Updates: Week 13 next!
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