Hi All, I just got back from week 21 sonogram...very exciting! Doctor says my placenta has moved up another 3 mm and my cervix looks good. One more appt. and she is going to feel confident that the 2 issues should be just fine. I must admit, I will really miss seeing the baby every week. I will have to go 4 whole weeks without seeing the baby. Kinda makes me sad but if that means that all is well, that's the important thing.
So, now on to the fun stuff. Last week I had the male sonographer and he had no interest in seeing anything but the cervix and placenta, boring! This week, I saw Linda again...thank heavens! She always checks the heartbeat and explores to make sure all looks well with the baby. She did a 3D scan today which is somewhat odd. She said it looks funny because the baby is still pretty skinny at this point in time. It was really neat though. The baby now has a sense of touch and books I have read say they begin investigating things on their bodies at this time. This must be true because during the entire 3D scan, he (or she) was touching his face and rubbing his eyes. I got to see him swallowing again which is really neat too. Cutest thing though was when he decides to investigate his foot. He raised his entire leg up and put his toes on his nose right while we were watching! I loved it!!! I have a great picture of it as well.
Everything looks great with the baby and things appear to be looking better for me as well. I am going to have a smile on my face all day and likely all weekend after seeing how cute our baby is.
What a miracle!
Friday, April 25, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
A sweet poem I found
I am not alone
Running errands and talking on the phone,
I am pleasantly reminded that I am not alone.
Little tiny hands, a precious rounded knee,
pushing and twisting that no one can see.
Oh sweet child kicking up your heels,
it is our little secret that only I can feel.
I look forward to your birth,
when I can kiss your skin,
but for now I will just smile,
as I feel you play within.
Running errands and talking on the phone,
I am pleasantly reminded that I am not alone.
Little tiny hands, a precious rounded knee,
pushing and twisting that no one can see.
Oh sweet child kicking up your heels,
it is our little secret that only I can feel.
I look forward to your birth,
when I can kiss your skin,
but for now I will just smile,
as I feel you play within.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Surprise or no surprise? That is the question.
I should start by saying I am not a surprise kinda girl. Derek is not only a surprise kinda guy but a very adamant one that doesn't appear to be anywhere near changing his mind. He doesn't want to know the sex of the baby (though we both have our opinions). First and foremost, both of us are just so happy that we are going to have a baby and know that this is such a blessing it won't matter if the baby is a boy or a girl. I have thought about both scenarios as I am sure he has and I just can't say one way or the other which I would prefer. Little girls vs. little boys, how could there be an argument over which you prefer when both are so cute in there very different little ways.
Derek has opted not to participate in the many sonograms I have had (at least from week 16 forward since this is the time of genital development) so he wouldn't accidentally see anything that might reveal the sex of the baby. I, on the other hand, have informed the sonographer to not tell me anything but not to avoid the area on my behalf. This is my attempt at trying to sneak a look to see if I might "accidentally" find out if the little sweet baby inside of me is a girl or boy. I have had no luck! This baby seems determined to not show his or her mother anything! Those cute little legs are either folded up tightly or crossed nice and neat so Mommy can't see anything. The guessing game will have to continue for now.
Derek has opted not to participate in the many sonograms I have had (at least from week 16 forward since this is the time of genital development) so he wouldn't accidentally see anything that might reveal the sex of the baby. I, on the other hand, have informed the sonographer to not tell me anything but not to avoid the area on my behalf. This is my attempt at trying to sneak a look to see if I might "accidentally" find out if the little sweet baby inside of me is a girl or boy. I have had no luck! This baby seems determined to not show his or her mother anything! Those cute little legs are either folded up tightly or crossed nice and neat so Mommy can't see anything. The guessing game will have to continue for now.
My many sonograms
To date, I have had 11 sonograms and I am in week 20. Sonograms at this frequency are discouraged unless there is reason to keep a close eye on the development of the baby or in my case, the mother. I am really glad that I have a doctor that caught a couple of potential issues and is willing to spend the time monitoring things to ensure we are aware of and prepared for potential problems.
In the meantime, while my doctor is monitoring things, I get that absolute pleasure of seeing my baby develop over time. Just a couple of weeks ago, the sonographer, Linda, began her assessment of my cervix and there, plain as day, are these 2 perfect little feet sticking straight out as if to say, someone pay attention to me! The following week as she was scanning for brain development, she suddenly stopped and got excited (which is nice to know other people that see this stuff all day long still get excited) and told me to look quickly. The baby was taking large gulps of fluid into his mouth! I was so amazed. His mouth and face were so distinct and easy to decipher. Linda said he must be hungry and I agreed since I had not had anything for lunch and I was starving. Honestly, that has to be the best thing I have seen to date on any sonogram. That does bring to mind my 12 week sonogram though. Derek and I went in for our 12 week video and the baby was in the wrong position to see a profile and was upside down, things just didn't seem to be going very well for the video and then suddenly, the baby starts jumping like a little bean, up and down, firmly pushing off with his feet and bouncing around. I loved that almost as much as the gulping. Last week, I saw the babies little nose and lips just as plain as day. I can't wait to see what this sweet baby is going to look like!
In the meantime, while my doctor is monitoring things, I get that absolute pleasure of seeing my baby develop over time. Just a couple of weeks ago, the sonographer, Linda, began her assessment of my cervix and there, plain as day, are these 2 perfect little feet sticking straight out as if to say, someone pay attention to me! The following week as she was scanning for brain development, she suddenly stopped and got excited (which is nice to know other people that see this stuff all day long still get excited) and told me to look quickly. The baby was taking large gulps of fluid into his mouth! I was so amazed. His mouth and face were so distinct and easy to decipher. Linda said he must be hungry and I agreed since I had not had anything for lunch and I was starving. Honestly, that has to be the best thing I have seen to date on any sonogram. That does bring to mind my 12 week sonogram though. Derek and I went in for our 12 week video and the baby was in the wrong position to see a profile and was upside down, things just didn't seem to be going very well for the video and then suddenly, the baby starts jumping like a little bean, up and down, firmly pushing off with his feet and bouncing around. I loved that almost as much as the gulping. Last week, I saw the babies little nose and lips just as plain as day. I can't wait to see what this sweet baby is going to look like!
The last several weeks
Shortly after week 12, I met with my OBGyn here in Austin for her initial check into the pregnancy. When I scheduled the appointment with her, I asked if I would be having anther sonogram and much to my sadness, she said no. A quick urine test and chat with the doctor (I am back at Austin Regional Clinic if that doesn't say enough) and I was out the door. I had read so many articles about your first meeting with your OBGyn and the lists of questions I should have asked her regarding the million and one things I should know about the pregnancy and delivery. Needless to say, it was in and out and all those questions I had read went out the door as quickly as she did. I left having heard the babies heartbeat which always makes me feel so relieved and excited and quite honestly, I couldn't recall all those questions I was supposed to ask. Derek would have told me to write them down but I didn't.
I received a call from the doctor's office two days later and anyone that has an OBGyn knows they don't call you unless you need to be informed of something. In other words, if all is well, you won't hear from them at all. The nurse let me know that the doctor had reviewed my entire file and noticed that 10 years prior, she performed a procedure on me to remove pre cancerous cells from my cervix (this is called a LEAP procedure) and that they wanted to monitor me for several weeks to ensure I had a healthy and strong cervix. Studies have shown that LEAP might be associated with pre-term labor and/or miscarriages late in pregnancy. I panicked like I usually do and immediately began researching the topic. I found lots of info to keep my mind occupied and unsettled. I went in the following week, week 15, for a sonogram to check my cervix and all looked fine. The sonographer was nice enough to let me look at the baby while she was investigating everything else. How cute! I went home a little less troubled and with some very cute pictures of the baby. Right now, I am 20 weeks and have been to the doctor at least once a week for the last 5 weeks and have 2 more appts scheduled before they give me a clean bill of health and consider my pregnancy to be normal as apposed to high risk. I have lots of pictures that have been added to my collection over the last few weeks as well as another potential issue to occupy my mind. They found a few weeks ago that my placenta is low lying and told me the risks involved followed of course, by the typical "really there's no need to worry just yet" comment they like to end their findings with. Finally this week, it had moved up about 2mm and they are excited and hopeful that it will be making its way back to where it belongs and all my worries can be put to rest for the remainder of the pregnancy.
I am sure everything will be just fine.
I received a call from the doctor's office two days later and anyone that has an OBGyn knows they don't call you unless you need to be informed of something. In other words, if all is well, you won't hear from them at all. The nurse let me know that the doctor had reviewed my entire file and noticed that 10 years prior, she performed a procedure on me to remove pre cancerous cells from my cervix (this is called a LEAP procedure) and that they wanted to monitor me for several weeks to ensure I had a healthy and strong cervix. Studies have shown that LEAP might be associated with pre-term labor and/or miscarriages late in pregnancy. I panicked like I usually do and immediately began researching the topic. I found lots of info to keep my mind occupied and unsettled. I went in the following week, week 15, for a sonogram to check my cervix and all looked fine. The sonographer was nice enough to let me look at the baby while she was investigating everything else. How cute! I went home a little less troubled and with some very cute pictures of the baby. Right now, I am 20 weeks and have been to the doctor at least once a week for the last 5 weeks and have 2 more appts scheduled before they give me a clean bill of health and consider my pregnancy to be normal as apposed to high risk. I have lots of pictures that have been added to my collection over the last few weeks as well as another potential issue to occupy my mind. They found a few weeks ago that my placenta is low lying and told me the risks involved followed of course, by the typical "really there's no need to worry just yet" comment they like to end their findings with. Finally this week, it had moved up about 2mm and they are excited and hopeful that it will be making its way back to where it belongs and all my worries can be put to rest for the remainder of the pregnancy.
I am sure everything will be just fine.
Friday, April 11, 2008
The first 12 wks
I consider myself very lucky as far as pregnancy is concerned. The first 9 weeks it was as if someone was slipping something into my drink everyday and causing me to live in a foggy and exhausting state. The couch became my favorite part of our house and my bed as well. I was nauseous every day for the same period of time but realized quickly that if I ate, I didn't feel bad. This meant that I was eating every 2 hours and while I gained a lot of weight in this time frame, I never threw up. :) Not exactly a nice trade. It was as if I woke up out of a daze around the 9 week mark and started regaining my energy and losing that need to eat so frequently.
Because I was considered "high risk" I went to the doctor every 2 weeks for a sono and lab work to make sure all was well with the baby. My first sono was shortly after we arrived back home from Christmas in Cincinatti. It was January 7th and I would go see the baby for the first time and without Derek, who had to travel for work. I will not forget it....there was this feeling inside of me that perhaps they would discover that it was a mistake, a false positive, and I would be told I wasn't really pregnant. Afterall, we had been trying for 727 days to concieve and been told repeatedly "not this month", "let's try again next month" etc. and honestly, I was scared.
The sonographer started the sonogram and low and behold, there was something there this time I had never seen, a large black area that had the tiniest little spec inside if it, the baby. She investigated all areas and found that the second embryo that was implanted had not developed and we only had one baby. I was so excited to see the one baby it didn't even seem sad that the other had not developed. She told me it was very unlikely that we would be able to hear the babies heartbeat but she would give it a try. I heard this very loud beating of a heart almost immediately and turned to her and asked, "is that my heart?", she laughed at me and said..."NO, that's the babies heartbeat!" It seemed absolutely amazing because at this point, the only thing I could see of the baby was this mass of something that was moving in a beating motion, the heart. The baby was only as big as the heart it seemed to me. How could this little thing have a heart that was able to beat already? Amazing.
I went back two weeks later, this time with Derek. I was so excited that he was going to see this little creation for the first time. This time, it seemed the baby had grown so much to me. What was only two weeks ago this tiny little thing that you could barely see was not much larger and now had these 4 little things protruding from the sides of its body, the beginning of arms and legs. What a sight!
While I was happy to be pregnant and excited about the baby, it wasn't until the week 10 sonogram that it all hit me. The development of the baby from week 8 to week 10 was unreal. I looked into the screen on week 10 and saw this tiny human being. The baby had a profile, full arms, legs, hands, feet, tummy, the list goes on. This was what looked like a complete yet very tiny little person. It changed the way I think about so many things in just that one moment. I had a different view on life.
Week 12 sonogram marked our final visit to the clinic in San Antonio. Derek and I were able to look at the baby together again and they even made a video for us. The baby was bigger and stronger it seemed as he was jumping around in the little space provided. So cute!! We were told we had "graduated" from the high risk group and could now proceed with a regular OBGyn in Austin. What a wonderful first 12 weeks!
Because I was considered "high risk" I went to the doctor every 2 weeks for a sono and lab work to make sure all was well with the baby. My first sono was shortly after we arrived back home from Christmas in Cincinatti. It was January 7th and I would go see the baby for the first time and without Derek, who had to travel for work. I will not forget it....there was this feeling inside of me that perhaps they would discover that it was a mistake, a false positive, and I would be told I wasn't really pregnant. Afterall, we had been trying for 727 days to concieve and been told repeatedly "not this month", "let's try again next month" etc. and honestly, I was scared.
The sonographer started the sonogram and low and behold, there was something there this time I had never seen, a large black area that had the tiniest little spec inside if it, the baby. She investigated all areas and found that the second embryo that was implanted had not developed and we only had one baby. I was so excited to see the one baby it didn't even seem sad that the other had not developed. She told me it was very unlikely that we would be able to hear the babies heartbeat but she would give it a try. I heard this very loud beating of a heart almost immediately and turned to her and asked, "is that my heart?", she laughed at me and said..."NO, that's the babies heartbeat!" It seemed absolutely amazing because at this point, the only thing I could see of the baby was this mass of something that was moving in a beating motion, the heart. The baby was only as big as the heart it seemed to me. How could this little thing have a heart that was able to beat already? Amazing.
I went back two weeks later, this time with Derek. I was so excited that he was going to see this little creation for the first time. This time, it seemed the baby had grown so much to me. What was only two weeks ago this tiny little thing that you could barely see was not much larger and now had these 4 little things protruding from the sides of its body, the beginning of arms and legs. What a sight!
While I was happy to be pregnant and excited about the baby, it wasn't until the week 10 sonogram that it all hit me. The development of the baby from week 8 to week 10 was unreal. I looked into the screen on week 10 and saw this tiny human being. The baby had a profile, full arms, legs, hands, feet, tummy, the list goes on. This was what looked like a complete yet very tiny little person. It changed the way I think about so many things in just that one moment. I had a different view on life.
Week 12 sonogram marked our final visit to the clinic in San Antonio. Derek and I were able to look at the baby together again and they even made a video for us. The baby was bigger and stronger it seemed as he was jumping around in the little space provided. So cute!! We were told we had "graduated" from the high risk group and could now proceed with a regular OBGyn in Austin. What a wonderful first 12 weeks!
Welcome!
Welcome to the Baby Eckert blog! I probably should have had this up and running months ago but like they say, "better late than never."
So, a quick catch up for everyone.
It was December 28th, 2007. We had just enjoyed a wonderful evening at The Nutcracker which was followed by drinks (yes, wine) at a nearby bar in Cincinnati with Manfred, Tina, Kilian, Tessa and Derek. I had been patiently (or not so) waiting on a call back from my doctor's office to inform us of the results from my pregnancy test. It was just about 11:00pm EST and I had folks in Texas that were anxiously awaiting a phone call with good news. Folks, I might add, that normally don't stay up after 9:30pm. The phone rang and quite honestly I was a little nervous to answer for fear of what could be news I didn't want to hear. Nonetheless, I had to answer and I could immediately tell, based on the tone of the women's voice, that there was the most wonderful news for our family. She said, "all your blood work looks great...."and that was followed by "congratulations, your pregnant." She continued to talk to me about next steps but I don't recall what she said. I was too elated to hear anything past "your pregnant". So, that leads us to the here and now. I am 19wks and 3 days today and couldn't be more amazed from day to day that I am pregnant with a little, tiny miracle made from Derek and me. I just can't wait to see what the baby is going to look like and fell like and sound like. It is such a wonderful feeling to know that we have created life and soon enough, we will be able to hold in our arms that creation.
So, a quick catch up for everyone.
It was December 28th, 2007. We had just enjoyed a wonderful evening at The Nutcracker which was followed by drinks (yes, wine) at a nearby bar in Cincinnati with Manfred, Tina, Kilian, Tessa and Derek. I had been patiently (or not so) waiting on a call back from my doctor's office to inform us of the results from my pregnancy test. It was just about 11:00pm EST and I had folks in Texas that were anxiously awaiting a phone call with good news. Folks, I might add, that normally don't stay up after 9:30pm. The phone rang and quite honestly I was a little nervous to answer for fear of what could be news I didn't want to hear. Nonetheless, I had to answer and I could immediately tell, based on the tone of the women's voice, that there was the most wonderful news for our family. She said, "all your blood work looks great...."and that was followed by "congratulations, your pregnant." She continued to talk to me about next steps but I don't recall what she said. I was too elated to hear anything past "your pregnant". So, that leads us to the here and now. I am 19wks and 3 days today and couldn't be more amazed from day to day that I am pregnant with a little, tiny miracle made from Derek and me. I just can't wait to see what the baby is going to look like and fell like and sound like. It is such a wonderful feeling to know that we have created life and soon enough, we will be able to hold in our arms that creation.
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