first glimpse

we had our first prenatal exam today, and the nurse did a full physical on me. i am not sure brian was prepared for this. i tried to prep him beforehand of what they would do (the pelvic exam, pap, et cetera), but he still looked uncomfortable and a little stunned when the stirrups came out. poor guy. i feel for him (i mean, he's never had a pelvic exam, so how would he know what to expect?), but really, he has to toughen up if we're going to get through the whole labor-and-delivery thing.

along with the exams and my complete medical history (including when i had my last alcoholic drink - how should i know that date?), the nurse also did an ultrasound to determine fetal age. we thought i was 8 weeks 2 days along, but apparently it's only been 7 weeks 3 days, give or take two days. which puts conception right around august 11, which is what i've been thinking all along. which also pushes my due date back one week to may 11.

she also sent me down to the lab to have a bunch of bloodwork done. they took five vials of blood. five vials. what the heck do they need with five vials? sheesh. i wanted to ask the tech if she would like my credit card also? or fries with that? five vials.



we also got to see our baby's heartbeat, which brian said looked like tiny clapping hands. that has got to be the absolute most amazing, beautiful thing i have ever seen in my life. it's only about 1/2 inch long, about the size of a blueberry, and yet it has a beating heart that we could see. we both agreed that we could have stayed and just watched that little heartbeat all day.

brian is insanely concerned that i will miscarry. everything he's read says that the seventh, eleventh, and twelfth weeks are the most dangerous for miscarriage. here we are right in the seventh week, so he's a wreck that i'm up and walking around. he completely nixed me painting the wall in the living room also, which is annoying.