First appointments

Weeks 7-9

After what seemed like months of waiting, our first OB appointment arrived! I was nervous, excited, and hopeful. I really wanted hard proof that there was a baby in there and that it was in the right place. But when we got there, it seemed pretty clear that an ultrasound wasn't going to happen. The appointment went well, the doctor was nice, and she confirmed a due date of October 9th 2010. I think she could sense my nervousness though... and she suggested we come back the following Monday for an ultrasound. YES!!

One long weekend later...

And Monday arrived! After two visits to NWH I know now that I have to allow more time than I expect for parking. They've got a huge parking lot but it's a nightmare to navigate! Dan was meeting me there, and called to say he was running a few minutes late. I waited for him outside the office until 2:14 (for a 2:15 appointment). Dan was parking his car at that time and I didn't want to be disrespectful and arrive late. So I went to check in, assuming that he would be there by the time they called my name. We had waited for almost a half hour at the first appointment, afterall! WRONG! 30 seconds after I checked in someone called my name. Bummer! Dan wasn't there yet. The tech took me back to the ultrasound room and went to work. Within a few seconds she found the little bean and showed me the heartbeat- 150BPM! She confirmed that I was 7 weeks and a few days along, printed out some photos for me, and sent me on my way. I was back in the waiting room at 2:17 and Dan was there waiting for me :(

We were both bummed that he missed seeing the ultrasound, but relieved that everything looked good so far. We signed up for down syndrome testing at week 12.5 (March 31), for the sole purpose of having another ultrasound :)

Waiting

Weeks 4-6

I was still convinced that something must be wrong. When we got home from Park City, I scheduled an appointment at Newton Wellesley OBGYN. They scheduled me for Feb 19, which would be the end of week 7. Almost 3 weeks of waiting! It seemed like eternity!

I mostly kept up with my training for IMLP. It felt like bad luck to stop. Of course I kept an eye on my HR at all times, made sleep a priority (no more early morning swim sessions, oh darn ;), and didn't bother to make up any missed workouts. I eventually did tell coach Tim what was going on, and dropped off of his coaching plan. It wasn't fair to take up his time anymore.

Holy Cow!

Week 4!!

Well, we were hoping for a baby, but we were completely shocked to find out that one month was all it took. We were in Park City, Utah, with my family for a ski vacation when we found out. At that point I was still planning on competing in Ironman Lake Placid 2010, so I started each day really early at the gym before most of the house was up and about. Then most days we'd go skiing. The conditions were perfect- new powder on the mountain, and not many skiiers in town due to the Sundance Film Festival. Heaven! It snowed several days, but that never bothers me when I'm on skis :)

On Thursday, January 28, towards the end of the trip, I realized that I was had been experiencing some bizarre symptoms for a few days. I thought maybe it was the altitude or the combination of ironman training and skiing. However when I told Dan about it, we decided I should take a pregnancy test, just in case. The tricky part was that we didn't have an easy way to get to a drugstore by ourselves. The next morning, Elizabeth had gotten tickets for Dave, Dan, and myself to see "The Romantics", a Sundance film festival movie. Dan and I headed to the gym and then met them at the theater. The movie was great!! On the bus ride back into town where the house was, we passed by a Rite Aid. Dan and I saw our opportunity, yelled "headache, need advil, see you back at the house" to Elizabeth and Dave and jumped out of the bus before they had a chance to turn their heads. Later, back at the house, I tried the first of the three pregnancy tests. 3 long minutes later we saw a faint positive. !!!!. We sat on the bed with our mouths agape looking at each other. I took the remaining 2 tests over the next 24 hours, all with the same result!! It seemed too good to be true (I mean, it CAN'T really be that easy, can it??), so I convinced myself something must be wrong. We kept the news to ourselves and enjoyed the remaining hours in Park City.