Little Miracles

Yesterday was incredible. There are very few other words that describe it, and that doesn't even really come close.

Our first doctors appointment went quickly and smoothly. We listened to the baby's heartbeat (it was loud and strong at 150 beats per minute). We found out that my arm numbness is pregnancy-induced carpal tunnel syndrome (Jill...you were right!). And we were told that no matter how much I, or my job, would like for me to attend a convention in St. Louis during my 7th month of pregnancy, my doctors wouldn't allow it!

After that, it was off to the ultrasound. The big one! There is a little story in there about me and how much fluid I had to drink...but I'm going to let my loving partner embarrass the hell out of me. I'm going to save some of my own pride...LOL!

We got there, though, and waited for about 10 minutes. We finally went in to the room, and our wonderful, wonderful ultrasound technition proceded to spent about an hour showing us our baby and all of our baby's parts. We saw his/her kidneys, bladder, brain, all the bones, the heart - everything. All organs are properly developed for a 20-week old fetus.

The better information, though, is that s/he was moving everywhere! S/he would flip around, kick his/her legs and arms and pretty much make the ultrasound technition's job as difficult as possible. It was so incredibly sweet and endearing. I cried. I couldn't help myself. Kelly just watched in awe, with the most beautiful smile I have ever seen on her face. At one point, at the tech was trying to get a profile shot for us, the baby covered his/her face with both hands. I will post the pictures tomorrow - but it was just as cute as could be. His/her little legs were drawn up (classic fetal position) and s/he covered his/her face with one hand and the side of his/her face with the other. We both laughed out loud.

We either have a shy little honey, or we have a little honey with a big personality!

The entire experience was amazing. The report that was run after all the pictures were taken showed that our little honey weighs about 14 ounces (only two ounces shy of a pound!), and that s/he is about 18 cm longs. They "aged" the fetus at 20 weeks, 6 days, so a little bit older than s/he actually is. The best part is that for all of the baby's moving around, the tech was unable to get one very important shot of the spine and we get to go back for another one...and this time they are going to do a 3-D!!!!!

After that experience, we went to lunch. Kelly really named it best when she said that she felt emotionally drained. That was exactly the feeling. It was so incredible, it was exhausting. We both just sat there at lunch staring at each other, lost in our own thoughts and feelings. I cried a lot. It was an intensely emotional experience for me, and being the hormonal pregnany lady that I am, it caused tears. Kelly tried not to giggle at me, as I stuffed pancakes in my mouth and cried. LOL!

I keep thinking - how amazing it is to love someone so intensely when you've never met them. Other parents tell you about this kind of love, but it's not something you understand until it's your child. And the descriptions from other people are meaningless when you compare them to the actually feelings. What an amazing thing it is.

Pictures will be posted tomorrow...