A Surprising Birthday Present

It was during our visit to St. Louis that I had an inkling that I was pregnant. I was really tired and ate more than usual, which Michelle had commented on during dinner. I was due for my monthly friend to arrive the day we arrived in St. Louis. My cycles are pretty regular, usually showing up around the 28th day...plus or minus a couple days. I told myself if I hadn't gotten it by the time we fly back to San Diego, we'll take a pregnancy test. Well, that day came. Once we were back home, we bought a test and it was positive!

I say it was my birthday gift because it was during my birthday that I was ovulating. And what a surprising and wonderful birthday present!

I was scheduled for my first ob-gyn appointment at 8 weeks. And what a nerve wracking wait it was! I was around 5 weeks when I tested and I guess it's normal not to have your first appointment around 8 weeks...of course, if you don't have any complications. I wasn't showing any signs of complications, so I just had to be patient. Here is our first ultrasound. The ob-gyn predicated the embryo to be 8 weeks and 3 days. I was off by 4 days as I thought I was already 9 weeks pregnant.

So far, so good. It was so exciting to see the baby's heart beat. It is a strong heart beat at 170 bpm. Dr. Lee, my ob-gyn, said everything is looking good. And I'm feeling well. I have had bouts of nausea, but luckily no vomiting! And I think my most bothersome symptoms have been my stuffy nose, acne and now left-sided SI joint pain. I am suffering through the nasal congestion, but am seeing a dermatologist and have been doing some pelvic muscle stabilization exercises for my SI pain. I'm actually been doing the nasal rinse on and off....I've just been lazy. Dr. Lee said it's safe to take Claritin-D, but I'm going to hold off until the 2nd trimester if it doesn't get better.