The Most Amazing Little Heartbeat!

So, I come to the baby update! Today was our 12 week appointment with the OB! I was nervous, but so excited to get to hear the official heartbeat! Gregg and I waited in the waiting room for a bit and tried to remember all the questions weighing on my mind. One of which was the fact that we had not received any word on my lab results. Well, this was the first thing we discussed.

Most of the tests came back with negative results, which was great, but there are a couple reasons that show a little reason to be concerned. I did test positive for the Factor V Leiden gene, but the heterozygous type, meaning only one mutation instead of both. Typically, this would not concern my doctor all too much, but I also tested positive for something called MTHFR which is another genetic defect which can increase risk for blood clots. Apparently the two combined is what concerned her. She has referred me to the Maternal and Fetal Medicine clinic and I have an appointment next week. Apparently, they are Doctors that have more awareness regarding this condition and possible treatments and will decide what is best for me and my situations. I'm trying not to worry too much about it until we know. So, I guess it's GREAT that my mother is a little crazy and demanded we get the FVL test as it's turned out to possible be of some concern! We would much rather know and do what we can to take preventative measures than to have not known at all.

But the BEST part of the appointment by FAR, was getting to hear the heartbeat of our tiny little baby! It was crazy! I don't think you could have wiped the smiles off of Gregg and my faces! She said it sounded perfect and healthy at about 150-160 beats.... it was AMAZING! There, beating away is this wonderful, perfect little baby growing inside me! I'm not really showing yet... just feeling chubby... and this is assurance that there is a whole other being with a whole other heartbeat developing inside me! It was wonderful! Another couple weeks and I'll be past the first trimester! I'm sure I'll put something on here if I learn anything new!

We're headed to the Jones house in Wyoming for Thanksgiving. It's going to be brutal not seeing my family for either holiday, but hopefully they'll come out and visit soon enough... my brother is even talking about coming out to snowboard! It will great to hang with the fam in Wyoming and have a nice long weekend! It's definitely needed! My heart is definitely full this year and I am thankful for so many things! I hope all of you have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING and find that you have lots to be thankful for!

Utah v. BYU- 48-24 - Nov 22, 2008

Before I put up an update about the baby, I had to put up a few pics from Gregg's Utah v. BYU excitement! He was anxious ALL day and could hardly wait to get to the game. He got a new haircut that afternoon with me... I don't know if you can see it in this picture, but he is one stylin, sexy man! This is right before the big rivalry began... Gregg on the verge of a heart attack. The game would start out rather close, but Utah, being the amazing team they are, eventually pulled away and ran with it!

Utah beat BYU 48-24, it was amazing! Between crazy touchdowns and interceptions in our favor, it was a GREAT game! Mostly because we won it! But many of the players played the game of their lives! And Gregg was there to see it! 12-0 record and Mountain West Conference Champs! It will probably his only Utah v. BYU game of his college career, so he waited until all the young, crazy bucks stormed the field, then he and Mark made their way onto the field! Quite the treat for my man!

The final score, 48-24, Utah kicked butt and took names. By the end of the weekend, Utah made it's way to 6th in the BCS rankings and is a BCS Bowl Game buster for the second time! We're not just good... we're GREAT! Go Utes!

Some late pictures

As mentioned previously, Gregg and I went through a big of a nightmare in the 6th week thinking that we had lost our baby. But thankfully, we had my parents in town those couple days and Cherie, Katie and Ian came to visit a few days later. It was SUCH an emotional rollercoaster, but it was so great to have family around to help us through it. Here is a picture of my lovely parents, Marv and Ruby, who rarely come out to UT at the same time, but make us appreciate the fact that they did even more! Gregg and I have created an amazing support system for each other in the 7 years we've been together, but having my parents there, being so far from home, was a blessing in itself.

Awww, this is us with Cherie, Kaite and Ian during their visit to SLC. They came down with Cherie's friend, Cindy and her daughter Chelsea. We managed to get to see them a few times though. Gregg swam in the pool at their hotel with Ian and we did dinner twice. Once with EVERYONE to include my parents! And the second, the night before they left town. We love all our visits!

This was dinner on our 3 yr Anniversary. We thought we would commemorate the occasion. We were the only couple eating at the restaurant, so we did get excellent service!

Gregg and I at the Utah v. TCU game on Nov 6th! It was chilly, but lots of fun! A friend of Gregg's gave him one of his family's season tickets, so Gregg is going to get to go to the Utah v. BYU game on Nov 22nd. Gregg is SO excited! It's our biggest rivalry and it's at the U this year. It probably would've been Gregg's last chance to go, so while I will be sad that it's the only home game I'm missing, the excitement on his face and getting to watch it from our warm apartment will be more than enough for me!

Today, I am 10 weeks and 3 days, so slowly I'm getting there. I realized today that I am, apparently, not worrying as much or trying not to think about it as much? I feel like 10 weeks is pretty good! I just have to get through 2.5 more to be relieved of SOME of my worries!

Celebrated our 3 Year Anniversary!

Yesterday, Nov 5th, was our 3 year Anniversary and it was Great! I knew Gregg had planned something for a while, so he had told me to take Thursday off because we were going to spend the night somewhere. So, I left work a little early yesterday because he ended up letting go of the "surprise" a little early! ;-) He had booked a room at a really nice resort hotel at the Canyons Ski Resort in Park City, with a fireplace, jetted tub and balcony in the room! It was a little strange because the hotel was a bit like a ghost town being out of season... which is also why we got a great rate on the room! We had dinner at The Cabin which was within the hotel. We were the first table seated of the night.. ha ha, so we got the best table in the restaurant with a fireplace right next to the table! It was nice just having all that time together!

Today, we went back down to The Cabin for the breakfast that came with our room package. We were able to get whatever we wanted, so we had a super yummy breakfast as well! We hung out a little longer at the hotel and then headed to a Mexican restaurant on our way out of Park City... it was a Wonderful Anniversary! I had told Gregg that I would like to own Pretty Woman on DVD (I think I have it on video) because it is a classic and I love it, so that is what he got me. And I got tickets for he and I to a Jazz game on a Saturday in December, which he loved!

We have been more than ecstatic about the election results and it's been fun to talk about together because we are on the same page for a lot of our political beliefs. We have felt that Obama was what the country needed and we couldn't be more elated about the history this election made.

Today, we're getting ready for the big Utah v. TCU game tonight. Gregg is SUPER excited! It's going to be a tough game and we just want them to win! It's going to be super duper cold, so hopefully, I stay relatively warm!

This week I am 9 weeks pregnant. So, slowly, but surely I'm getting there! A friend of mine at work did a little research on the internet for me about the flu shot and most of what she found said that anyone who is going to be pregnant during flu season should get the shot. As well as it is more harmful for the baby should a woman get the actual flu. So, that makes me feel a lot better and I'm super thankful she did that. I just didn't want to look and find a lot of bad news. So, all is well! We're happy, healthy and excited for all that is to come!

A Fear

So, one thing I forgot to mention in my last post was something else from my 8 week nurse appointment that upset me quite a bit. When Gregg and I were sitting in one of the appointment rooms at 6 weeks from the scare we had, in the room a sign was posted. It read, "It is recommended that ALL pregnant women get the flu vaccine". Well, it just so happened that was a question I had because the Court was going to be giving out flue shots the next week. So, I thought, how convenient, they have it posted right there... looks like I'm supposed to get the shot! So, I get the shot.

So, at my 8 week appointment, I'm in a different room, but the same sign is posted. But like I said, she gave me a bit of handout information. While she left the room to prepare my lab sheet, I read over it. One of the pieces of information was about the flu shot. It said, "The flu vaccine is recommended for all pregnant women, AFTER their first trimester." So, I started to freak out and when she came back in the room, I asked her about it. She said things like, "yeah, we don't recommend it for women still in their first trimester" and "it doesn't matter if you haven't had any symptoms, it affects the pregnancy". She told me that she would talk to the Doctor for me and get back to me. But we ran into another one of the Doctors in the hallway as we left the room. The nurse told her about my fear now and the conflicting information and Dr. Morgan said that they changed the issue 2 or 3 years ago and that they now recommend it for all pregnant women and that I shouldn't worry. But I'm still worrying! Why would they still have that in the handout then? Why after I left the office did other pregnant women know about this first trimester thing and I didn't? Why wouldn't they have said something? Why do they have the sign posted if there is still concern? Even our friend that is a nurse said that the nurse that gives out their flu shots said that it is recommended for all pregnant women, but that most pregnant women don't get it during the first trimester. The problem is that now I'm paranoid. I still take my temperature every day to make sure it doesn't start to drop and it was down .2 degrees today. I did take it later than I normally would so I'm going to chalk it up to the time and hope all is well tomorrow. I just ask that if I still have people checking this out occasionally that you pray for the baby and that the flu shot not have any negative impacts on its health. And that I might stop worrying so much about it! ;-)

Estimated Due Date Given!

So, I had my 8 week appointment with the nurse on Thursday, 10/30. Not as exciting as getting to see an ultrasound and see a heartbeat, but I'll take anything! She gave me information about common symptoms, when to be concerned, any over the counter medication that is safe to take and answered any of my questions. The one fun piece of information I got to take away was an official estimated due date!! Ready?? Ready??? I don't know how accurate, but here it is..

June 8, 2009!

The other good thing to come out of it was a blood draw. My Mom has been pretty concerned for a while, since we had a good friend find out she had it during her pregancy, that there is a chance I could have Factor 5 Leiden, which is a common hereditary blood disorder. It's a Scandinavian thing and she convinced me to talk to my Doctor about it when I met with her during the 6th week. She did order it apparently along with a Lupus test, so I guess all we can hope is that everything comes out without any concerning results! That's all the news for now! June 2009 is going to be a Very busy month!

A Picture of our Rice Crispy!!

It's official (well, as official as the internet is!), I became 7 weeks pregnant on Wednesday. So, I guess that would make me 7 weeks 2 days! I'll take it any way it comes!

Today, I had my check up from last week's scare. It was the same Ultrasound Tech from last week, she was going to do the Ultrasound but brought in a female doctor as well. I wasn't sure how I felt about all of it at first. She wasn't nearly as gentle on me as Dr. Ball had been the week before and I had to ask what happened to the heartbeat! They just said, "Oh, it's there... we just haven't gone slow enough for you to see it yet... See, there it is". Ugh... hello! But shortly thereafter, they wanted to compare last week to this week, so they did find Dr. Ball and he completed the Ultrasound. He is SO GREAT! I'm not kidding, I am going to have to ask for him specifically from now on!

I am sad to say, although he/she will always be my little rice crispy, Dr. Ball said very soon, he/she will become more like a cocktail sausage... and eh hem, that doesn't sound nearly as endearing! He said it is still on the large scale for a rice crispy so I'm keeping the name for now!

What he determined... he believes he has ruled out the fact that it could've been a second baby. It looks like it was a hematoma that has largely cleared up. There is still a little blood pocket hanging out around the baby's sac, so he just said not to panic should I have a little bleeding. And as far as the ectopic goes, it must have looked a little better because he said that he thinks that there is an even smaller chance than he found last week that it would be ectopic. The fact that I haven't had any pain is also a good indicator. He thinks that whatever he is seeing might be a small blood clot. He didn't mention any concern over that though, so I'm guessing there isn't any?

But the good thing, Gregg and I were on such an emotional rollercoaster last time we were there, we fogot to ask for a picture to commemorate the occasion, so I made sure to ask for one this time! I have attached it above! The picture on the right is easier to see. The bigger mass is the baby. The little mass next to it is what's feeding it. And the line around all of it, which is hard to see, is the outside of the yolk sack that it's hanging out in! I will go have my 8 week check up with the nurse this next Thursday, on the 30th. Today... we are very happy!! It's been fun to get to show people an actual picture! He/she is really in there!

We also had the Pastor from our church over for a visit last night. It was really great to get to know each other better. Gregg and I decided we really liked the church after hearing him that first Sunday. He is truly a great Pastor and it's been nice that he has taken an interest in us and making us feel welcome. We have been invited to his family's house after church on Sunday to experience traditional Zambian food (He is from Zambia). It sounds delicious and was very kind of him! So, we're going to go to a movie this weekend with our friends, Jason and Ali, eat dinner for charity for cancer Saturday night and get to top it off with a nice lunch on Sunday with the Pastor's family. So, here is to what was a Great day and what will be a Great weekend!