The Baby

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The wife called the Dr. the next day, Wednesday 2/6, turns out they had an opening on Thursday (2/7).

This is THE SAME DOCTOR who told me the day before that they did not have an opening for 5 weeks. Whadda gonna do? So Thursday is the big day.

I worked 3:45am-5pm on Wednesday and went in at 3:45am on Thursday.

Around 1:30, I left the office to pick up the wife and take her to our first doctor's visit. The last time I was in an exam room with a relative was with my mother as a child. Now it was my turn to sit in the chair while my wife sat on the exam table. It was surreal from the outset.

The nurse came in and asked a bunch of questions to which we gave answers. It turns out that we are 11 weeks along - almost through the first trimester. The wife was right about the date of conception but they measure the term of the baby from the first day of the last something-or-other.

Then it was our turn to ask a bunch of questions to which the nurse gave answers. The exchange of information concluded and all "hearts were clear". The nurse left the two of us alone to wait for the Dr.

The wife and I sat there in silence.

According to the instruction manual, most miscarriages occur in the first trimester. Some people even miscarry before they know they are pregnant. If you make it through the first trimester then your chances of miscarriage are greatly reduced.

That means that people who discover they are pregnant right away have to sweat it out through that three month period. On the other hand, they can adjust their diet and activities in an effort to care for the baby.

Here we were, three months along and we had only known we were pregant for the past 5 days. That's when you start thinking about the blue champagne you drank on New Year's Eve and all the other things you would have done differently had you only known . . .

There was a soft tapping on the door and in came the Dr. pushing a portable ultrasound. The big moment had arrived.

Was the pregnancy test accurate? Were we really pregnant? Was the baby ok? Was the baby a smurf the color of blue champagne?

The Dr. switched on the ultrasound and the wife and I stared intently.

The first thing we saw was a tiny heart beating away and we both sighed with relief. Then things came into focus . . .

Yep. It's a baby.

As an added bonus, the baby was active at the time so we could see it's arms and legs moving. You can barely make out four little light spots in the dark space above the baby's head on the left. That's the fingers of it's hand. The baby was waving it's arm around and it looked as if it was waving at the camera. The Dr. did her best to capture it but this is the best shot we got.

Tears came streaming down my wife's face and I stood there with my hand clasp across my mouth in wonder and amazement.

Whoa.

The doctor did some measurements and confirmed that we were 11 weeks along and that our due date is August 27th.

If the mother is 35 years old or older on the date of delivery, they put you in the "mature mothers" catagory. That means that they want us to see a specialist for an extra fancy ultrasound and some additional blood screening to rule out any abnormalities.

Our next appointment is March 3rd.