It's Alive!

We had our first prenatal visit yesterday and found out that Baby Anderson is doing just fine. We tried to hear the heartbeat, but it was very hard to hear, so we did an ultrasound and got our first glimpse at our little bean. Everything looks good, although Dr. Locke changed our due to date to September 28th. Mom had a lovely time saying I told you so because she has believed all along the baby would be born the first week of October. They gave us tons of free stuff and all these papers we have to study and fill out dealing with the actual birth of our child. Without further ado, here is our bean's first picture.

First Photo 

Pregnant or Just Fat and Lazy?

This is a question I have been asking myself quite a bit lately. I'm at a weird place right now--I have no morning sickness and lack other traditional signs. Sure, my waist is getting thick and my clothes are snug: I actually put on one of my favorite skirts the other day and noticed a distinctive pooch. I have to drape myself in shapeless skirts and baggy sweaters. But other than that, some mild cravings and aversions, and feeling like I've just run a 50 mile marathon, I have no signs.

I think the worst thing is that I can't feel the baby yet. I have no idea if it is okay. I am terrified that the baby is dead or something is wrong or I'm just not pregnant and it was all a misunderstanding. Maybe I'm not growing a new life; maybe I'm just fat and lazy. And maybe those aversions and cravings are all in my head.

Of course, everyone I tell this theory to laughs and Staylee doesn't like it when I mention the words "dead" and "baby" in the same sentence. (This from the man who used to like to tell dead baby jokes.)

Tomorrow Staylee and I attend our first doctor's appointment. I have read that sometimes they won't check for the heartbeat but I plan on begging and pleading (there maybe tears) to please let me listen to its heartbeat. I need to know the baby is alive. That I haven't inadvertently killed it, gotten it knocked out by flying puppy paws or tricked a blood test into believing water weight is a baby.

The Dentist, Broccoli, and Other Issues

It has been an incredibly long week. Last weekend I had my first graduate class of the semester and had to bashfully tell my teacher that I was pregnant and therefore could not wait two hours to take a bathroom break. She was very understanding about it, although it ended up opening a class discussion of weird cravings. I think the worst I heard was a woman who used to sprinkle Kool-Aid mix on dill pickles. That is too disgusting.

Beginning with lunch on Saturday I began having very strong cravings for pickled okra. Man, I felt like I could have eaten a vat of the stuff. I'm still craving it right now, actually. I'm going to have to get someone to take me somewhere with a salad bar so I can eat that and pickled beets.

Wednesday I made a trip to the dentist. I have heard that many woman have serious teeth problems resulting from pregnancy. I have never even had a cavity, so of course I am terrified that the baby is going to claim my teeth as the price of a healthy pregnancy. It turned out my hygienist was 7 months pregnant, so we chatted about various things early in pregnancy. She told me, to my extreme relief, that my teeth are in good shape and as long as I keep brushing (and remember to floss) things should be fine.

This was also a very frustrating week in that Tuesday afternoon Grandpa was checked into the hospital. Initially, we knew very little about why and Mom and I totally panicked. She was at work, so she couldn't go to see him and everyone voted that it was best for me to stay away from the hospital because of the baby. Luckily, Staylee went to see him and we found out it was just anemia and he needed a transfusion and some rest. He came home last night, looking and feeling much better. I was so glad Staylee went to see him. My mom was so grateful that she has such a loving, caring son-in-law.

I have another thing to add to the list of food aversions, although until now it was just yellow mustard. I now know I dislike the smell of cooked broccoli. Mom and Larry ordered some at dinner last night and the smell made me want to throw up. It was just disgusting.

I bought my first baby clothes this week. Toys R Us was having a clearance sale of all their winter baby stuff and so I bought some Christmas and other things (gender neutral, of course). Always the bargain hunter, I got three sleepers, two pairs of socks, two bibs, and two hats for under $20. Not too bad, in my humble opinion.