12 Weeks (!!)

Today I had my first appointment with the obstetrician and he surprised us with a quick ultrasound....cue much excitement (and nervousness!) on my part!
We got to see our baby on the screen.... not a blob, but a fully-formed (but tiny) baby! Sure, this picture doesn't quite do the experience justice, but it was amazing to see it moving around on the screen. In fact, the obstetrician commented on how active he/she was, and that may be a sign of things to come.... oh my! :O

Measuring three days ahead too - it must have our tall genes... I've never been so proud. :)




(Not the clearest angle, but here's our little one's second picture! (head to the left, legs to the right)
We have our 'proper' scan next week, so I'll be sure to update then.



And my twelve week tummy picture. Nearly out of the first trimester!!

P.S. - Hubby and I made the pregnancy public on Facebook tonight, now it's officially out there. :)

11.5 Weeks

I'm on school holidays from teaching at the moment (bliss!) so there's been a bit of relaxing as well as catching up with friends and family. I've been thoroughly enjoying my time off - still another week to go - and then it will be (hopefully) my last Term of classroom teaching before office duties for Feb/March next year before starting maternity leave. Can't get too ahead of myself though, I'll be meeting with management at some point in October or November to discuss exactly what the beginning of next year will bring (I'm due at a tricky time, with not being eligible for maternity leave until 4 weeks into the school year).

Lots of changes this week, including:
- A couple of bouts of (mild) random quasiness
- Light-headedness if I don't eat every two hours
- A total of 3kg gained so far this pregnancy
- The potential beginnings of colostrum (!)

Our first appointment with our obstetrician is on Wednesday, with our next ultrasound the following week (October 5th). So hopefully exciting times ahead!

P.S. - I think it's nearly time to (sadly) put away my favourite jeans:

10 Weeks

Well, here I am (roughly) 25% of the way through this pregnancy already. In one way it's been a very fast time, but in other ways it's been a slow crawl - ie, the IVF cycle that seemed to last six weeks, all the blood tests, waiting for an ultrasound, everything else that comes along with the first trimester etc.

And suddenly, wham... there's the beginning of a (tiny) tummy. It's hard to believe that these two pictures were taken only two weeks apart, or that I'm 5'11" to begin with and have quite a long waist. Genetics should tell me that I can't possibly be showing yet, but sure enough there are genuine changes here.

Image as proof (I debated about leaving my head in or cutting it out, then thought "bugger it") -

Hard to me to deny this, hey?

It's almost the term break at work, so with another three weeks under my belt I wonder if any further changes will be obvious by the time we come back in the beginning of October? It will be t-shirt weather very soon in Melbourne, so creative dressing may be appropriate until it's time to announce things formally.

Either way, these changes would probably explain why I've been feeling lots of pulls and tiny cramps (not in a bad way) lately.

9.5 Week Belly

This is what I'm seeing by the evenings lately, I've had lots of 'pulling' pains/twinges and the urge to wee has been stronger again in the last few days. My favourite pair of jeans are holding on for dear life!

Hubby and I had our first discussion about names the other night, he brought up a list I'd mentioned about names I'd liked during the years and then crossed off along the way. It turns out that there are at least a couple of girls names we agree partway on, but so far nothing for boys. Hopefully for our sake this little one turns out to be a girl (if my instinct is correct, then it will be the case!).

9 Weeks

I'm nine weeks today, with only one month to go until I'm out of the first trimester!

After getting over the initial shock of discovering that we were pregnant at the beginning of August, the last five weeks have been an interesting time: the never-ending appetite (including massive cravings for cheese that have only been getting stronger!), countless toilet trips, the tiredness and more. Morning sickness has been kind to me so far, with only a few queasy moments to date (my Mum jokes that I'll be in for it later down the track).

We have our first appointment with a hands-off obstetrician (who comes highly recommended) on September 29th, and our twelve-week scan on October 5th. Hubby wants to come to both, which I think is really quite sweet (though little does he know yet that I'll be having to take a urine sample to the OB appointment!).

The little bloaty bump that I posted last week has hung around, which leads me to believe that it's the beginning of something real. Skinny jeans have been put to the back of the wardrobe in favour of fitted pants with a little more stretch to them - hopefully these get me by for another 1-2 months, or until it's warm enough here for skirts/shorts again! (secretly I'm glad to be having a Summer baby because my wardrobe is more suited for it, with me probably only having to buy a few pieces here and there).

Anyway, enough of vanity, that's this week's update. ;)

8 Weeks

The last week has been a whirlwind affair, starting off with the all-important first ultrasound which made me cry when I got to see this on the screen:

Pregnancy at 7 weeks & 0 days

With a heartbeat of 133bpm, it was truly a beautiful sight to behold (even if it's difficult to make anything out yet). This little one was measuring ahead, which the technician said could either be because of our genes (I'm 6'0" and hubby is 6'2" - or in metric terms, 181cm and 186cm!) or that the blastocyst implanted early. Either way, I feel proud already. :)

We have officially 'graduated' from the IVF clinic and are currently in the process of being referred to more local care at a nearby private hospital. Our last HCG blood test results were really good, with the numbers being in the 105,000's! :O

Both families now know about the pregnancy and everyone seems thrilled for us! I'm ecstatic we've been able to share the good news with them all (even if we're not making it completely public until after our 12wk ultrasound).

I've been sleeping a lot more lately (tending to nap at about 3pm when I get the chance) and morning sickness is still fairly non-existant (I've only had a couple of days where I've woken up a little queasy).

And I think that's my update?

Oh wait, I forgot to show you what's appeared during the last week, a little teeny-tiny (probably all bloat) protrusion: