Wild horses

Ryan and I had our first doctor’s appointment today with our little poppy seed…actually he/she is probably closer to an inch and a half by now and according to my handy apps is about the size of a prune or a big grape. The appointment went great and we both really like the new doctor on our payroll. The appointments are at a clinic right near our house but we’ll deliver up on 1^st Hill at Swedish. The doctor, Mike, has recently decided to stop delivering at Ballard Swedish in favor of 1^st Hill because of the NICU on campus as well as their lower C-section rate. Sounds good to me!

We had some concerns going in because I’ve experienced some spotting during the pregnancy. Nothing heavy by any means, but it’s always going to be disconcerting to see blood when you’re not supposed to. Mike put us at ease to start by telling us that it’s very common to experience some spotting and that as long as I’m not having cramps it’s likely nothing to worry about. This was good to hear after reading online (I know, pregnant lady’s worst enemy) that 20-40% of women experience spotting in the first trimester (relieving!) and up to 50% of them miscarry (terrifying!) Of course there are no statistics about how these rates increase or decrease over the 3 months that make up your first trimester so really you’re left feeling in the dark. Mike went on to say that once we hear a heartbeat the risk of miscarriage actually drops to less than 5%. That is a much much nicer number to have in the back of my head.

He warned us that we may still be too early to hear anything but pulled out the doppler and the gel and lubed me up….much lower than you would think that baby would be hanging out. I always forget that those adorable baby bumps are mostly intestines and other guts and the baby is hanging out down low for quite awhile.

He’s pretty good with that little wand and almost immediately we heard the whampah whampah whampah of a teeny tiny heart.

I’ve been looking forward to hearing this sound for a few weeks now but even more so with the recent worries. I think this is the point where Ryan heaved a big sigh of relief too, and he’s onboard my excitement train. He thinks it’s pretty cool that I have two heartbeats.

This weekend we’ll start telling more people, I can’t wait! The news won’t be Facebook ready until the end of the month but we want to start letting more of the family and our friends in on our little secret.