Smooth Flowing

Well, not much to report here lately... which is why it's been a few weeks since there has been a post. I go back to see Dr. Godat on Tuesday for our 17 week appointment. Man has time flown! I can't believe we're already close to half-way there. Tuesday's appointment should be rather uneventful, with the exception of hearing the baby's heartbeat. :) Then next Monday is the big day! We go back to Dr. Weiss for the second part of the NT Scan AND to confirm that our little one is in fact a girl!!! We are so excited... we can't wait! Last Sunday we ordered the baby's furniture. It hasn't come in yet, and since we couldn't see it in the store before we bought it, we are really hoping that we love it as much in person as we did online. Below is a picture of the furniture and our 15 week belly pic. After the appointment this Tuesday and the belly pic on Wednesday, I'll be sure to post another update. Until then...

Feeling Blessed

At our 11 week appointment with Dr. Godat, we were told of a test, the NT Scan, that we could elect to have done if we wanted to know the chances of our baby having any chromosomal abnormalities. With all that we have been through just to get pregnant, we chose to have the test done just so that we could have time to process any results and be prepared, if need be. If we were to find out that we are having a special needs child, it would in NO WAY change the love or thoughts we already have about our baby. It would just give us time to join a support group so that we could learn more about the abnormality, as well as talk to families that would be/are dealing with the same situation. We went on September 26 to Dr. Weiss, and had the first part of the test done. It was an ultrasound test and a blood test. The results came back great! Once again, we are reminded of what an awesome God we serve!

During the ultrasound I asked Dr. Weiss if he would be able to tell the sex of the baby this early. He said that if it was cooperating that he'd be able to get a good idea... Well, SHE was cooperating! That's right... SHE! He said not to paint anything just yet, but to think pink :) And that he would confirm it 100% at the second part of the test on November 7. Here is the ultrasound picture from the NT Scan (she's upside down).

This week we went to our 13 week appointment with Dr. Godat. Everything went fine... even with the pity party I had :) I knew the day would come that seeing my baby every two weeks would stop, but I still wasn't ready for it! I went to this appointment thinking that I would get to see her one last time before having to wait a month until we go back to Dr. Weiss. However, since the results were great from Dr. Weiss, Dr. Godat decided not to do an ultrasound, but instead just listen for the heartbeat. While I LOVE hearing her heartbeat, I also LOVE seeing her move around on the screen. So I guess you could say that this appointment was a little bitter-sweet. While we were listening to the heartbeat she was moving all over the place! He had to keep readjusting so that we could hear it for longer than a couple of seconds at a time! With her being this active this early, she's destined to be a great athlete, right? :) I say soccer, dad says tennis!

We forgot to do a belly picture at week 12, so we took one at week 13 instead. As you can see, there's not much difference from week 10 to now... Even if our little one has graduated to the size of a lemon :) It's like my belly popped out early but then hasn't grown much since. Dr. Godat says that in about a month I should see a much bigger difference!

Plum Happy!

This post is going to be two weeks in one, but I'll try to make it short! The last time I blogged I mentioned that we were going to start the lovely belly pics at 10 weeks in order to continue documenting our journey... Well, here's the first one, and please pay no attention at all to the amount of tiredness on my face :) We are just going to do the pics every two weeks since there's not a ton of change right now from week to week.

This past Wednesday we had our first appointment with our OB/GYN, Dr. Godat. We were 11 weeks along, and as hoped, we got to see our little one on the big screen again! Since Dr. Godat's ultrasound machine is a dinosaur compared to the fertility clinic's, we didn't get to hear the heartbeat :( but could very clearly see it, and that's just as pleasing. Dr. Godat said that we had a VERY active baby and that everything looked great! Baby Cook was kicking its legs and moving its arms all over the place. It's amazing how something the size of a plum (according to What to Expect) can be so full of energy already... Travis and I may be in trouble once it gets here if it keeps this activity up :). We go back to see Dr. Godat again in two weeks for another ultrasound. We are so incredibly lucky to get to see our baby every two weeks!... I have definitely gotten spoiled to this privilege. I don't know what I'm going to do when he makes me wait a month or longer in between visits to see my baby! Here is Baby Cook at 11 weeks :) So darn cute, don't you think???

Medium Green Olive

We had our 9 week appointment this past Wednesday. The original appointment was set for 8am, but Dr. Mansfield got called into a surgery, so they had to split our appointment. :( Instead of doing the entire appointment at one time, they had me come in to do the bloodwork at 7:30 and then come back at 3:45 for the sono. Despite having to wait all day long to see our little one, the appointments went off without a hitch! My bloodwork came back great, and so did the sono. Once again, Dr. Mansfield was able to find the heartbeat easily. This time it was 182bpm! Even faster and louder than last time. It's such a wonderful sound... I wish I could listen to it all day every day! While Dr. Mansfield was doing the sono and trying to get a good 3D picture, our little one moved it's arm (well, it's really more like a paddle at this stage, but it still moved it)! It was so exciting! Here are a couple of the sono pictures.

  

This week Dr. Mansfield moved our counting day (week 1, week 2, etc.) back to Wednesdays, instead of Thursdays. And we are now measuring one week ahead. I'm not exactly sure what that really indicates, but I'd rather be ahead of schedule than behind schedule :) At the end of the appointment, Dr. Mansfield told us that we had graduated! We were done with the fertility clinic and were now released back to Dr. Godat. As we said goodbye to everyone and left the clinic I called Dr. Godat to set up our first appointment with him. We go on Wednesday, September 21. Another two week wait :) I have no idea what to expect at this appointment, but I definitely have lots of questions for him!

What to Expect When You're Expecting compared our little one to the size of a medium green olive for this week... but as long as it's growing healthy, they can compare it to whatever food they want! Starting this Wednesday (at week 10) we are going to start the "belly" pics. I'm not exactly fond of showing how big I'm getting each week, but we have been on such an amazing journey with this whole experience, I want to make sure I document everything so that I never forget! So there's a little something for you to look forward to, lol. Until next time...

O Happy Day!

Sorry it's been so long since my last post... several things have happened making our lives excitingly busy these past few weeks! So I'll try not to take the entire day to fill you in on everything :) To start off the excitement, my second nephew was born on Thursday, August 18th. Welcome to the world little Owen James Bhatia! Travis and I will be traveling down to Sugarland in a couple of weeks to meet him, and I can't wait! A few days after Owen was born, school started back. I have 59 wonderful 5th graders this year! It is a full house in 5th grade :) They are all very sweet, and I'm excited to see how the year will unfold with them.

Then came the much awaited first sono appointment. I was 6 weeks and 6 days. Such a happy day! Our appointment was at 8:00 on August 24. I was so thankful it was at the beginning of the day so that I didn't have to wait anxiously all day long! That morning we saw Dr. Mansfield (Dr. Kathy was out of state for a death in the family). It took her no time at all to find our little one. Such a relief! And it took her even less time to find the heartbeat. Hooray! An even bigger relief! Travis and I had been prepared to see the heartbeat at this appointment, but we didn't think we would be able to hear it just yet. However, without even hesitating, Dr. Mansfield clicked on the screen and then the most amazing sound filled the room! Travis and I both were in shock. It was so loud... and so strong (132 bpm)! Dr. Mansfield said everything looked absolutely perfect! I was even measuring ahead of schedule. We couldn't have been happier! Our due date is now April 11. Below are just a couple of the pics from the sono.

We go back to the doctor on Wednesday, September 7 (8 weeks 6 days). I can't wait to see my little one on the big screen again! At this appointment they will do another sono and then some bloodwork. If everything comes back okay, then at that point, Dr. Kathy will release me back to Dr. Godat. While we of course are hoping for more excellent news, I am kind of sad that we won't be seeing Dr. Kathy anymore. She is such a fabulous doctor, and I love her staff. We had such a wonderful experience with them. Hopefully on Wednesday we will have more pictures to share!... And I will do a better job of posting updates :) Until next time...

Mums the Word

Alright, so if you were able to muddle through the five posts I've posted so far today and read about our exciting news, we have a big favor to ask... While we are elated about starting our family, we are also still super cautious as it is so very early in our pregnancy. So, we would like to keep the news on the down low for a good while longer. I realize putting it on here is a form of announcing it, but I'm pretty positive the whole world (facebook) doesn't read my blog! And I actually debated for a really long time whether or not to even post it here. But we had so many people praying for us to get pregnant that I thought, "Hey, why not let some of them know so that now their prayer could be for a healthy pregnancy?" So that's why I'm letting a few of you in on the secret :) We by no means are out of the woods yet and are still very much in need of your prayers!!! So mums the word for now, okay? Until next time...

San Francisco Treat

Travis and I just celebrated our 3rd anniversary! And what better anniversary gift could there be than the miracle of starting our family??? We booked our trip to San Francisco before we started our IVF cycle. We figured it would either be a super celebratory anniversary trip, or a trip to get away from everything had our cycle not ended the way we hoped. Lucky for us though, we have a Wonderful God :)

We had such a great time on our trip! My legs and feet felt as if we walked every inch of that city! We ate so much good food and saw so many neat things... Giants Baseball Game, Alcatraz, Sausalito, Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown, Lombard Street, Japanese Tea Garden, Haight Ashbury, and more! I of course took tons of pictures and won't bore you with them all, but here are a few :)

I can't wait to see what next year's anniversary holds for us! Until next time...