An announcement...

(Linking up with Jen for my favorite Quick Takes ever)

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I really don't even know what to say, I'm just so excited! We can still hardly believe that we're going to be parents. Each day that goes by I feel more in awe of the fact that there is a little human person growing inside of me...

A few things:

- I've worried since the day we found out about something going wrong. I'm really trying harder to trust. Now that we are ending the first trimester I feel more at peace (but prayers are still much appreciated!)

- Pregnancy is way harder than I realized. The overwhelming fatigue and nausea at all times of the day (definitely wasn't just morning sickness) made it so hard to get through my hospital shifts the last couple of months. Now that we are just about in the second trimester, things are much, much better.

- Yes, we planned it. I think this is the question that everyone wants to ask (and some actually do) of couples that practice natural family planning. Especially couples who happen to be in medical school and starting residency mere weeks after said baby is due. Ha. But we 100% hoped and prayed and planned for this baby (although we would have loved him/her just as much if we hadn't planned it). And I credit NFP for opening my heart to having kids in med school/just before residency, which was one of my number one fears when we got married. But more on that another time...

6. Baby's first picture!

This ultrasound was done almost 6 weeks ago now because I was having sharp, one-sided pain at the beginning of the pregnancy. Of course my medically-oriented mind went straight to an ectopic pregnancy (despite the more common things I knew were on the differential, i.e. ovarian cyst and constipation). I was doing one of my away rotations at the time and this kind, old, OB/GYN got me on his schedule right away and put my fears to rest (it was an ovarian cyst...a completely normal corpus luteal cyst in medical terms). The best part was that at the follow-up ultrasound at 6 weeks and 4 days, Stephen and I got to see the heart beating for the first time. We also found out that I was exactly as far along as I thought (I credit NFP charting for that one). 

7. The heartbeat:

My sister-in-law sent me her home doppler and on the day that I got it in the mail, we found the heartbeat for the first time (just before 11 weeks). This is one of the most recent recordings and for you medical people, I'm pretty sure that I can distinguish S1 and S2 (incredible). Every morning I spend a few minutes listening (it's easiest to hear first thing in the morning) and it's so reassuring and beautiful.

Happy All Saint's Day!