9 weeks pregnant and counting

Today I am 9 weeks and 4 days pregnant. Only three more weeks until the second trimester and I cannot wait to get through this first trimester. Although I have not thrown up and have only had minor nausea, my skin has been terrible, my breasts have been really sore, and I have been pretty hormonal. This means that I am rapidly cycling between teary, bitchy and elated. Drew is particularly fond of this pregnancy symptom.

On February 6, 2009 Drew and I told Carol and everyone and everyone else in the lab that I was pregnant. It was relief to not be keeping the secret anymore and quite fun to spread the good news. Everyone in Oregon and our families were told weeks ago (around January 12th).

This past week I also found a doctor. For my pregnancy verification exam and my first blood work I went to Associates in Women’s Health. For several reasons this was not an ideal fit for me and my baby to be. First, they only deliver at Tucson Medical Center, and I want to deliver at St. Joseph’s hospital where I can be assured a private room. Additionally, there are 5 different doctors with this group and no guarantee of which one would be handling my delivery. Therefore, I switched to a private practice doctor. Dr. Lynell Gardner is now my doctor. I immediately took to her because I think she is a real foodie. Dr. Gardner spent at least 20 minutes talking to me about food and my pregnancy diet during my first appointment with her. I am really glad I found her because on February 10, 2009 I had some light spotting. Although this is fairly common during the first trimester (20-30% of pregnant women experience this), I was terrified that I might miscarry. I told Drew and he made a sad face that broke my heart. I then immediately called Dr. Gardner’s office and left work with Drew. We went to lunch and I ended up crying in the middle of Chipolte (thank you hormones). Drew then took me to Dr. Gardner’s office for a blood draw so they could test my hCG levels, which is human chorionic gonadotrophin hormone. It helps to build the corpus luteum causing it to secrete progesterone. Anyway, my levels came back the next day and were over 41,000 muL/mL. Normal for week 9 of pregnancy is over 25,700 muL/ml so I was very relieved. This hopefully means that the baby and the placenta are growing normally. Also because of the spotting I was told to adhere to a “light life”, which means no exercise for 2 weeks (I am still running a lot so this is a bit of a bummer), and I was scheduled for an early sonogram. Drew and I are going for the sonogram Monday morning at 7:45 am. I cannot wait to see that everything is ok. I just want to see that fast, little heartbeat!